BFA THESIS
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on it’s stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16 NIV
Artist Statement
Upon observation, it’s common to see those who follow Christianity as casual about their faith; they only ever go to service once a week, and never apply the concepts they learn in the Bible to their lives outside of church. I had been raised as a Christian, and have lived a majority of my life the same way. Alternatively, what I had devoted my time to was creating artwork. While this focus is not inherently bad, I made the decision that it was about time to really grow into my faith. I’ve decided to use my God-given gift for visual art as a way of accomplishing this.
A common thread in my artwork is the use of metaphor because they are appealing to me. When used as a figure of speech, the phrase may place an image in the audience’s head, and thus help them remember the concepts involved. This personal interest led me to be intrigued by various specific instances in the Bible, considering how often metaphors are used to teach. Examples of this are the lessons Jesus taught through parables, or when the followers of Christ are compared to salt. With these two interests in mind, I have used figures of speech from the Bible, along with ones I have created myself, to create labels for food products that relate to different topics from scripture. I put these pieces together as a message to show how we should focus on these Christian concepts in our daily lives.