Exhibition Statement

​Introduction

Organized religion is not for everyone, and realizing that sooner could have saved a lot of time and distress. As an idea and practice, Catholicism is familiar to many people and can provide a community with comfort and faith. However, some people who reach out to religion may instead find themselves hurt and confused. The artist was raised as a devout member of the Catholic Church, attending religious services every week, as well as a Catholic school. However, as they got older and started to ask more questions, personal and religious beliefs came into conflict. As a way to explore their relationship with Catholicism, this project portrays many of the different feelings towards religion that the artist experienced during their life, both positive and negative. The final piece is a framed Bible containing four images in ink to showcase the artist's lifetime journey with religion.

Literature Review 

Personal experience has shown that religion, specifically Catholicism, can simultaneously be a positive and negative influence on someone. To understand their complicated relationship with religion through art, the artist explored techniques such as bible journaling, which helps people connect more with their faith through art (Fischer and Peiffer). They also researched religious symbolism, which can provide a connection to religion and be manipulated to portray both the good and bad in religion. In an article about different religious symbols and their meanings, it reads, “The animals that have scriptural symbolical meanings are the lion…and bull.” (“Religious Symbolism in Art” 38). They also looked at ink paintings and religious artwork online to see examples and inspiration from other artists (“Pen and Ink Drawings”). Ink painting, bible journaling, and the topic of religion were unfamiliar to the artist, but learning them was part of the process and helped with the creation of a final art piece they are proud of. 

Methods

For this project, the artist used an iPad to digitally sketch and plan, then learned how to paint with loose ink as the main medium using an instructional book (Cilmi). Throughout the process, journaling was used to reflect on the artist’s emotions and experiences, and the composition of the final project is inspired by bible journaling (Fischer and Peiffer). The artist also utilized archival research to find inspiration, as well as background information on Catholicism to expand on their existing knowledge of religious symbolism and portrayal in art (“Religion”). 

Audience & Impact 

Anyone in a general audience should be able to get something out of this work since some people may connect with the message while others may just appreciate the visual aspects. The impact that the artist hopes to achieve is to present a piece that portrays an experience with religion that is both positive and negative. Such a perspective is important, as it represents a more accurate representation of some people’s experiences than is usually seen in artworks concerning religion. This project is also beneficial for the artist, as they learned a new medium to work with in the future and utilized this project as a personal reflection to settle an inner conflict. 

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to all my peers, friends, and faculty who helped me during the process of completing this project. I would especially like to acknowledge my classmates and my faculty advisor Gabrielle Tillenburg, for their feedback and advice throughout the semester.