The Art of Summer
Shan Yang
For the month of July, my pieces "Friendly Otter" and "Double Blessing" were on display at Remain Real Fine Art Gallery along with many other artists' pieces. Each month, Remain Real Fine Art has a main show (usually featuring a single artist) and an accompanying supporting show, whose theme changes each month.
Sandra Ceas
During the summer I cast porcelain doves. This is a tedious summer project to prepare for a year of dove blessings around the world. Visit www.blessingdoves.com or @blessingdoves on Instagram and check out the project.
In June, I was invited to teach classes at the Cultural Art Center of Cape Cod. I taught drawing and did an evening critique. I enjoyed a new setting to share my gifts and talents and get to know new people to share my testimony to a blessed life. I also got to bless Cape Cod with little doves.
Jennifer Bunge
Christos artist Jennifer Bunge has been exploring how poetry can enhance faith, and therefore she has been reading poetry by various Christian poets. In June, Jennifer finished a biography on Alfred, Lord Tennyson by John Batchelor. Despite Batchelor's focus on facts, class, and fame, Jennifer was inspired by Tennyson's life struggles and his slow-developing faith. When she finished the biography Jennifer was compelled to paint a portrait of the poet; within his famously scraggly beard she included excerpts from ten of Tennyson's well-known works. Here is a short video of Jennifer's progress on that painting.
Galina Hitching
Over the summer, Galina explored painting on wood panel instead of canvas. She completed two paintings in her Starsighted series and loved the process of painting with oil on panel. She also co-facilitated a healing art workshop at her church, and co-facilitated a 7-week trauma healing program called Heart Restoration. She valued the time to invest in the lives of others using healing art while balancing that with enough time to create he own art. Her painting Winter’s Thaw was on exhibit at Union Hall from May through July.
Melissa Pape
This month I am doing a two-week at-home art residency. I have blocked off time and set up a temporary outdoor studio in my backyard. I am working on some large paintings and also using this time to explore new materials and methods of creating art using paper, fabric, thread, and wire. I am excited to see what develops from this concentrated time of art-making.
Garrett Larson
I just recently got back from England and Italy. While I was there Sandra Ceas gave me some of her Blessing Doves to participate in some art while traveling which was a fun time for me. I was able to see great architecture and the David sculpture by Michelangelo.
I have been playing around with making mini art pieces either 4’x4’ canvas’ or expanding my art into stickers. I wanted something to make my art more easily accessible and affordable for everyone to enjoy.
Kathy Self
I created 3 paintings for Acton Institute this summer. The theme of their conference (Acton University) was flourishing, and I was inspired by the trees mentioned in the Bible, and how they represent the flourishing and abundance the Lord desires for our lives. Each painting is an original oil painting on canvas, 12"x12" (I had to fit them in my suitcase!). The almond branch in bloom speaks of the Lord's calling and anointing in our lives. The pomegranate represents the fullness of life and beauty that God has for us, and the figs are all about redemption. I thought about Zacchaeus climbing the fig tree to see Jesus, and I pray that when people see me and my art, they will have a better glimpse of Jesus.
The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty was founded in 1990 by Father Robert Sirico and Kris Alan Mauren. It is a Catholic think-tank whose mission is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles. I am so honored that they purchased all 3 of my paintings about flourishing, and they will be a permanent part of their art collection. There is a wonderful gallery space in the Acton headquarters, that includes an exquisite 16th century table with intricate inlaid stones.
Jeff Gagliardi
This summer I sold 'Humans Being’, 18 inches x 4 feet, oil on plywood panel
In short, the message of the painting is tolerance and beyond. The people we interact with each day are sacred beings created in the image of our Creator — full of consciousness, capable of thought, creativity and love. If that is true we should ask ourselves what sort of lives should we live in accordance with one another? The two people in the photo are the new owners and she said she wants it to be a reminder every day to heed that message.
