What’s New

Collage Story Box: Psalm 148 in a Modern Reading by John Kohan

November 10, 2024

Collage Story Box: Psalm 148 in a Modern Reading by John Kohan

My fifth biblical diorama offers a modern reading of Psalm 148 aimed at climate change deniers. Each verse in this paean to God is matched with images of the ways humanity has despoiled and destroyed these wonders of Creation that praise their Maker in the ancient text. While God looks down in grief…

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Collage Story Box: "A City on a Hill" by John Kohan

November 3, 2024

Collage Story Box:

The Puritans came to the New World  to found what their leader, John Winthrop, using the words of Jesus, called “A City on a Hill,” a model society for all to follow based on Christian values. In my fourth collage story box, we fast forward to the…

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Collage Story Box: A Mess of Pottage by John Kohan

October 27, 2024

Collage Story Box:  A Mess of Pottage by John Kohan

Growing up in a Fundamentalist church, I came to know by heart moral tales in the Bible like the Old Testament story of how the ravenously hungry Esau gave his birthright away to his trickster brother, Jacob, for a bowl of soup—called “a mess of pottage.” My third collage box is directed at Evangelical Christians who have compromised their…

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Collage Story Box: "My Name is Legion" by John Kohan

October 20, 2024

Collage Story Box:

The assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 must never be forgotten, doubly disturbing for me because of the pictures of Christ carried by the rioters Donald Trump instigated to “Save America” and overturn the presidential election results by violent means. My second collage story box contrasts this event with a…

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Collage Story Box: Ukrainian Pieta by John Kohan

October 13, 2024

Collage Story Box: Ukrainian Pieta by John Kohan

Regular visitors to the website who know of my passion for the contemporary sacred art of Ukraine will not be surprised to learn the theme of my first collage story box in fifteen years is the tragic human cost of Ukraine's struggle against Russian invaders. Inspiration came from a sticker of "Saint Javelin"…

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Collage Story Boxes from the Sacred Art Pilgrim

October 5, 2024

Collage Story Boxes from the Sacred Art Pilgrim

While reorganizing my art collection recently, I took a closer look at three “found object” artworks in display boxes I made over 15 years ago. A lot has changed since then.Thousands of images can be downloaded on the internet, all kinds of unusual objects can be picked up from on-line sources, and there is no shortage of boxes from…

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Other Angel Artists Celebrating the Feast of Michaelmas

September 29, 2024

Other Angel Artists Celebrating the Feast of Michaelmas

On this day honoring the hosts of heaven, I've selected six images by international artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, depicting angelic activities in heaven and on earth. The top row shows angels praising God in heaven. French Printmaker Jacques Beltrand offers the most classical view of angelic music makers. An unknown Haitian metalworker has cut out two…

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Angel Artists: Konstantin Kalynovych (b. 1959)

September 22, 2024

Angel Artists: Konstantin Kalynovych (b. 1959)

My final "Angel Artist"in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is Russian-Ukrainian Printmaker Konstantin Kalynovych, best known for his exquisite book plates with borrowings from the works of Great Masters of Art like Bosch, Durer, and Rembrandt. Kalynovych describes these detailed pastiche pieces as “winter dreams,” where the meanings are “murky, like a dream on a foggy winter night.” He…

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Angel Artists: Benton Spruance (1904-1967)

September 15, 2024

Angel Artists: Benton Spruance (1904-1967)

My third featured "Angel Artist" in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is Benton Spruance, a Philadelphia-based printmaker who can rightly be called the lithographer's lithographer for his innovative use of this stone slab graphic art technique. Spruance had no great love for organized religion but was drawn to the great themes of the Bible. He was especially interested in…

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Angel Artists: Rudolph Valentino Bostic (1941-2021)

September 9, 2024

Angel Artists: Rudolph Valentino Bostic (1941-2021)

We return to Georgia this week to meet the second major "Angel Artist" in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection--Rudolph Valentino Bostic, the self-taught painter from Savannah who created illustrations of Bible stories with house paint on recycled cardboard. Bostic was a visionary artist who depicted what he saw with the eye of his imagination rather than copying from life,…

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Angel Artists: Howard Finster (1916-2001)

September 1, 2024

Angel Artists: Howard Finster (1916-2001)

Western Christians celebrate Michaelmas on September 29th, the feast day commemorating the Archangel Michael and All Angels. In this month devoted to the hosts of heaven, I'll be highlighting four "angel artists" in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection who have often depicted these divine emissaries in their art. Howard Finster, the preacher-folk artist…

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Pictures in Focus: Black Forest Cross and Scroll Cross by James Quentin Young

August 25, 2024

Pictures in Focus: Black Forest Cross and Scroll Cross by James Quentin Young

In this week's tribute to James Quentin Young, I have two newly acquired artworks by the late Minnesota assemblage artist to add to the gallery of his biosketch page, revealing the ingenious ways he transformed odds and ends of found objects into strikingly different cross images. Young expressed his lifelong fascination with roadside…

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Artist in Profile: James Quentin Young (1936-2022)

August 16, 2024

Artist in Profile: James Quentin Young (1936-2022)

One of the first artworks to be added to the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection was the beautifully minimalist assemblage cross, From His Side, by James Quentin Young, won in a silent auction at a 2009 Christians in the Visual Artists conference. It would be followed in the years since then by other "found object" cruciform pieces by the Minnesota…

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Picture in Focus: Streams of Living Water by Natalya Rusetska

June 30, 2024

Picture in Focus: Streams of Living Water by Natalya Rusetska

So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.( Psalm 79:13, KJV)
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears. (Revelation…

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Picture in Focus: The Good Shepherd by Natalya Rusetska

June 23, 2024

Picture in Focus: The Good Shepherd by Natalya Rusetska

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for…

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Picture in Focus: The Good Shepherd by Kateryna Shadrina

June 16, 2024

Picture in Focus: The Good Shepherd by Kateryna Shadrina

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not…

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Picture in Focus: The Good Shepherd by Andriy Vynnychok

June 9, 2024

Picture in Focus: The Good Shepherd by Andriy Vynnychok

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours,…

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Picture in Focus: Christ the Good Shepherd by Ivan Dashko

June 2, 2024

Picture in Focus: Christ the Good Shepherd by Ivan Dashko

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11, KJV)

Before you head off on a summer search for still waters and green pastures, I've selected art from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection with…

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Picture in Focus: The Virgin of Guadalupe by Juana Ponce

May 26, 2024

Picture in Focus: The Virgin of Guadalupe by Juana Ponce

My series on Marian art for the month of May from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection comes to end this Sunday with a depiction in ceramics of an image of Mary from Mexico that has found particular favor among Roman Catholics around the globe: the Virgin of Guadalupe. According to tradition, the Virgin appeared to the Aztec peasant, Juan…

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Pictures in Focus: Pentecost by Charles Plessard and J. Frederic Loisel

May 19, 2024

Pictures in Focus: Pentecost by Charles Plessard and J. Frederic Loisel

For Pentecost Sunday in this Marian month, I'm featuring artworks of the Virgin Mary and the Disciples at the descent of the Holy Spirit by two 20th century French artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. We see her depicted as the central figure amid Christ's followers at Pentecost in her role as Mother of the Church, a title…

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Picture in Focus: The Protection of the Mother of God by Kateryna Shadrina

May 12, 2024

Picture in Focus: The Protection of the Mother of God by Kateryna Shadrina

May is the month traditionally devoted to the Virgin Mary, and I'll be showcasing Marian-themed pieces in the coming weeks by international artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. As we remember our mothers this Sunday, I have a particularly caring and maternal image of the Mother of Christ to present known as the Madonna of Mercy, where the…

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Picture in Focus: The Harrowing of Hell by Natalya Rusetska

May 1, 2024

Picture in Focus: The Harrowing of Hell by Natalya Rusetska

                                
                                
Christos Anesti!
                                 Alithos Anesti!

                                  Khrystos Vokres!
                                  Voistynu Vokres!

                     Happy Easter to my Eastern Orthodox
                      and Ukrainian Greek Catholic friends!

                                  The Sacred Art Pilgrim

                             

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Post-Resurrection Appearances of Christ: Noli me tangere by Andriy Vynnychok

April 22, 2024

Post-Resurrection Appearances of Christ: Noli me tangere by Andriy Vynnychok

 Mary stood at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked in, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,…

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Post-Resurrection Appearances by Charalambos Epaminonda: Jesus and Doubting Thomas

April 21, 2024

Post-Resurrection Appearances by Charalambos Epaminonda: Jesus and Doubting Thomas

The first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst...But Thomas, one of the twelve...was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the…

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Post-Resurrection Appearances by Charalambos Epaminonda: The Supper at Emmaus

April 14, 2024

Post-Resurrection Appearances by Charalambos Epaminonda: The Supper at Emmaus

Two of [Jesus’ disciples] went that same day to a village called Emmaus... And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What…

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Post-Resurrection Appearances by Charalambos Epaminonda: The Risen Christ Encounters the Two Marys

April 7, 2024

Post-Resurrection Appearances by Charalambos Epaminonda:  The Risen Christ Encounters the Two Marys

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from…

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Ascension

March 31, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Ascension

                  
               Christ is risen!
             He is risen, indeed!

              HAPPY EASTER

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

March 24, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole
land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed,
and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus,
crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands
I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his…

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Head of Christ

March 17, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Head of Christ

I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know
me,  just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And
I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not
belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen
to my…

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Mountblow

March 10, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Mountblow

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing
in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised
and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with
infirmity, and as one from whom others hide their faces, he was
despised, and we held him of no account. Surely…

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Christ/Christ in Agony

March 3, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Christ/Christ in Agony

In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered
them. To you they cried and were saved; in you they trusted
and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not human,
scorned by others and despised by the people. All who see me
mock me; they sneer at me; they shake…

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Jesus is Carrying the Cross

February 25, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Jesus is Carrying the Cross

Then [Jesus] said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let
them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who
lose their life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit them

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: "What is Truth?"

February 18, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson:

Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say
that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the
world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth
listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”

(John 18: 37-38, NRSV)

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Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Study for "Ecce Homo"

February 11, 2024

Christ Portraits by Peter Howson: Study for

When I paint Jesus there are so many different facial expressions I can get. You could paint an infinity, millions, and trillions of pictures of Jesus and every single one will be different. (Peter Howson, When the Apple Ripens, documentary film, 2023)

British Artist Peter Howson has been fascinated by Christ portraiture,…

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Picture in Focus: The Stations of the Cross by Carl Dixon

February 4, 2024

Picture in Focus: The Stations of the Cross by Carl Dixon

Carl Dixon has taken on over forty commissions in the fifteen years he has worked with the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection.  My final new offering from the Mississipi-based self taught artist, on the eve of the season of Lent, posed a particular challenge for him. It is a single mixed media, carved wood…

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Picture in Focus: Thou Shalt Not Kill by Carl Dixon

January 28, 2024

Picture in Focus: Thou Shalt Not Kill by Carl Dixon

Southern Visionary Artist Carl Dixon takes on the contentious issue of gun violence in this week's new mixed media carved wood panel painting from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. The scene at the top of the picture shows Cain slaying his brother, Abel, tracing the murderous intentions of the human heart back to…

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Picture in Focus: Peter's Vision: "Do Not Call Anything Unclean" by Carl Dixon

January 21, 2024

Picture in Focus: Peter's Vision:

This week's new mixed media carved wood panel painting from Southern Folk Artist Carl Dixon illustrates a momentous event in the history of the Early Church, when the Apostle Peter had a vision, directing the first Jewish followers of Christ to welcome Gentiles into their emerging faith community. As recorded in the Book…

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Picture in Focus: "We Shall Overcome" by Carl Dixon

January 14, 2024

Picture in Focus:

In remembrance this week of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., I'm presenting a new work by Southern Visionary Artist Carl Dixon, commemorating a pivotal event in the civil rights leader's campaign to end racial discrimination against African-Americans. In Dixon's carved wood panel painting, "We Shall Overcome," he recreates a…

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Picture in Focus: Felicidades 1979 Poster by Isabel Bernal

January 7, 2024

Picture in Focus: Felicidades 1979 Poster by Isabel Bernal

The coming of the Wise Men is celebrated throughout the Hispanic world on January 6th, El Dia des Reyes (The Day of the Kings), a time when gifts are traditionally exchanged. In this 1979 serigraph poster, Puerto Rican Graphic Artist Isabel Bernal shows a young girl, smiling in anticipation of good things to come, as she walks past a…

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Picture in Focus: The Nativity by Jos Speybrouck

December 24, 2023

Picture in Focus: The Nativity by Jos Speybrouck

The Fourth Sunday of Advent: Love and Restoration

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17, KJV)

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Picture in Focus: The Virgin Mary by Martinus Sumbaji

December 17, 2023

Picture in Focus: The Virgin Mary by Martinus Sumbaji

The Third Sunday of Advent: Joy and Adoration

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior...For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. (Luke 1:46-47, 49-50, KJV)

The reading…

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Picture in Focus: John the Baptist by Lyuba Yatskiv

December 10, 2023

Picture in Focus: John the Baptist by Lyuba Yatskiv

The Second Sunday of Advent: Faith and Preparation

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exhalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough…

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Picture in Focus: A Star in the East by David Wojkowicz

December 3, 2023

Picture in Focus: A Star in the East by David Wojkowicz

First Sunday of Advent: Hope and Expectation

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined... For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:…

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Picture in Focus: St. Roch by Marianna Wisnios

November 26, 2023

Picture in Focus: St. Roch by Marianna Wisnios

The last in my curious quartet of holy men in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is Roch, a 14th century saint who is patron of invalids and the ailing, apothecaries and gravediggers, dogs and dog-lovers, the falsely accused and imprisoned, and bachelors. The son of the governor of the French city of Montpelier, Roch was marked from birth with…

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Picture in Focus: St. Anthony the Matchmaker by Jose Franciso Borges

November 19, 2023

Picture in Focus: St. Anthony the Matchmaker by Jose Franciso Borges

The saint known as Anthony of Padua was born as Fernando to a wealthy Portuguese family in Lisbon. He entered an Augustinian monastery at 15 but was drawn to the evangelical fervor of the Franciscan Order, where his intellectual prowess and rhetorical gifts soon made him one of the new movement’s most eloquent preachers and teachers. The personal sanctity…

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Picture in Focus: St. Isidore the Farmer by Santiago Lorenzo

November 12, 2023

Picture in Focus: St. Isidore the Farmer by Santiago Lorenzo

The story of Isidore the Farmer illustrates how saintliness has not so much to do with martyrdom or feats of self-denial but with honoring God in the workaday world with simple acts of devotion. Born around 1070 to devout Spanish peasants, Isidore lived out his life as a day laboror for a wealthy land-owner with an estate near Madrid.…

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Picture in Focus: Nativity by Kateryna Shadrina

December 25, 2022

Picture in Focus: Nativity by Kateryna Shadrina

 

                                      Merry Christmas
                                      Happy New Year
                                  Pray for Peace in 2023!

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