Friday, December 23, 2016

Indigenous Painting: Holy Spirit in This Land

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.


Holy Spirit in This Land by Lisa Buxton, Aboriginal Education Adviser, from the Catholic Education Office Sydney.  The painting was created to depict the theme of the inaugural Indigenous Mass at St Mary's Cathedral for Sydney's Catholic schools in 2013.  

The aim of the Mass is to show respect towards Australia's first people and to celebrate the indigenous culture and build bridges between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

African Madonna

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.

A striking Madonna image from MUTI, a creative studio founded in 2011 and based in the city of Cape Town, South Africa.  Click on the image for a larger version.



Sunday, June 12, 2016

The Image of God in an Image Driven Age

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.


Check out Victoria Emily Jones' review of The Image of God in an Image Driven Age: Explorations in Theological Anthropology (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2016) at her blog, Art & Theology.  She writes that the book

delves into [the imago Dei] doctrine, examining its implications for relationships, ethics, sexuality, consumer visual culture, art making, dissemination of the gospel, and more. Comprising twelve essays that resulted from the 2015 Wheaton Theology Conference, the book explores what it means to be made in God’s image and issues a challenge: that we resist all the false images that try to topple the one true image in our lives.

Of special interest to readers of this blog would be her comments on Chapters 7 (“What Does It Mean to See Someone? Icons and Identity” by Ian A. McFarland), 10 ("The Sin of Racism: Racialization of the Image of God" by Soong-Chan Rah) and 12 (“The Storm of Images: The Image of God in Global Faith” by Philip Jenkins).

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Painting of the Risen Christ in Nigeria

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.

Painting of the risen Christ in the parish of St. Peter in Benin City, Nigeria.  It was painted by the late Rev. Fr. Fernando Arizti SJ.  All of the following photos were taken by Huxley Benson Studios.







Left side

Right side.



Sunday, March 27, 2016

Reconciliation by Lillian Fourmile

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.


I love this painting by Aboriginal artist, Lillian Fourmile, which hangs in St Thomas’s Church in Mareeba, Australia.  It is titled, Reconciliation.  I wish I could see more detail, especially in the center.

The hand-printed cross above it was painted by an Arrernte woman from Santa Teresa Catholic Mission in Central Australia.

Have a blessed Easter!