Passion Art – St. Thomas' Church

Mary Coleman + Kaylen Cox – 2024

About Mary

I have always had a passion in art, and I was able to make art at a professional level at age 15. Making art for others to enjoy is one of the main reasons I have stayed dedicated to drawing, alongside the personal joy I get from making paintings, usually with watercolor, inks, colored pencil, and gouache. I usually enjoy novelty concepts such as using things that aren’t meant to be canvases and painting on those instead, such as a record, frying pan, and a hubcap. Outside of art, I usually go out to inline skating, walking around, or reading. Doing these other activities can give me outside inspiration to develop and further advance my art even more. In the next year, I will be going to SCAD to major in architecture and hopefully see my artwork become a reality.

Jesus is Mocked

In this painting, a cut flower surrounds a pair of scissors. Dark areas are also shown surrounding the basic form of parts of the plant. Combined, the image represents the physical and abstract deconstruction of Jesus’ image. Like Jesus in this moment, the flower is something beautiful and good that is being destroyed by an outside force. Something I struggle with when reading the text, is understanding why a God that can make anything happen made this His plan. To show that God was present and did have a plan, I represented His presence in each of the paintings through balance.

Jesus Takes Up His Cross

The weight of the cross would make any who carry it feel small. A significant quality of Jesus is that he is human and can relate to the human tendency to feel small. However, like an ant, Jesus’ strength feels disproportionate to his physical realities. The painting shows a scene where two red ants, Jesus and Simon, struggle to hold a stick up on top of an ant hill while others watch. Another characteristic of ants that makes them so human is that they only achieve great tasks while using each other. Their cooperation and strength is why they are a good symbol to use to show how Simon helps Jesus during his struggles.

Jesus is Mocked on the Cross

For this painting, I focused in on the words “if he desires him.” This line forced me to think of God’s presence during this time. I assumed that God had to watch silently as all this pain was inflicted on His son of which He loved. I wanted to use this very recognizable image of God in the clouds to show how He is reaching out, shining the streams of light that can be seen in all of my paintings. Overall, I wanted to show God’s love for Jesus in line with His grief as Jesus feels the pain He had to plan for Jesus to bear.

Jesus is Pierced in the Side

When Jesus is pierced in the side, and bleeds water, I made the observation that the blade, not Jesus, is destroyed since Jesus would rise and the spear would rust. This is an example of when an instrument of hate and of pain is destroyed by the power of God, mirroring how Jesus would soon defeat death. My goal was to show the power and excellence in this narrative through a depiction of the “Spear of Destiny,” which is an artifact speculated to have been the real spear from the reading. My depiction shows the spear rusted, and surrounded by circles that resemble ripples of water to mimic the ideas of an effect and a series of abstract lines radiating from the spear to show God’s power that surrounds it.

Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

This painting is one of the most literal in the body of works. It depicts a sheepshead and two cockroaches pinned to a wall. The sheepshead, to resemble the lamb of God, is a species in Charleston that provides for people, and is generally beloved. Cockroaches, on the other hand, are seen with the same amount of affection as criminals. However, while being pinned to the walls, both are seen as trophies, demeaningly held on a dismal background.

Daniel Smith with Wife Sarah

Let Him be Crucified

Barabbas and Pilate are featured as the two smaller black birds among the crowds of trees, while Jesus is portrayed as a large white dove. The dove appears to be plastered onto the canvas like he doesn’t really belong, in the same way an innocent man would not belong in the place of a criminal.

Jesus Dies on the Cross

The storm here represents the death and piercing of Jesus with mighty and powerful clouds producing an intense rainstorm, signifying God’s wrath poured out on Jesus, and water coming out his side when he is pierced by the soldier. The echoes of pink in the painting signify the blood shed by Jesus on the cross. Going deeper, the storm, while being powerful and terrifying, waters and nourishes the ground below it, giving the expansive landscape the water it needs for life.

Father Forgive Them

Jesus on the cross is represented by the tree on the main island, with the two criminals portrayed on the smaller islands behind it. A storm looms behind them as the gravity of death looms over Jesus. The island also symbolizes Jesus’ isolation and desertion by those around him in his final hours.

A Temporary Tomb (Left)

The rocky mountainside represents the tomb Jesus was laid in, yet the light coming from inside the tomb portrays the truth that the Resurrected Jesus does not give death the final say and that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is good news to sinners like you and me, because we now have access to a loving God, who bore the sins that we could not.

Dale Watson

Jesus Condemned and Mocked

The right side is bright and light with a simple fishing boat and palms representing the triumphant and humble entry by Jesus into Jerusalem. As your eye moves from left to right the scene grows more somber and dark. The two canines-one with a calm pleasant look and the other more menacing- represent the choice the crowd would make between Jesus and Barabbas.

Jesus Dies on the Cross

Darkness, abandonment and the weight of all our sins placed on Christ is what I tried to depict in this muted painting. The owl represents God looking away as Jesus cries out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The boat, with no obvious motor or paddle represents Jesus totally alone and abandoned at that moment.

Terry Bradley

Jane Ann Sweeney