Rudy Bostic, who died in June two months short of his 80th birthday, was one of a small group of artists in the Collection, whom I count as a friend. I remember well helping him one warm summer day to organize dozens of painted cardboard panels, gathering dust in the attic of his home in Savannah, Georgia! Rudy had the rare ability to transform what would have been waste paper in the eyes of others into shimmering sacred visions, peopled with the hosts of heaven. Plagued by poor health in his final years, he was still able to create images of astonishing visual complexity with brilliantily colored pointillist touches. My featured piece this week is one of his last works to enter the Collection. Simply titled, The Story, it brings together some of Rudy's favorite scriptural motifs in a decorative jewel box frame, including the temptation of Adam and Eve, David the shepherd boy, Daniel in the lion's den, a healing miracle of Jesus, and what might be the Prophet Elijah taken into heaven or the Ancient of Days of biblical prophecy. There are, of course, angels in plenty in this fitting final tribute to a consummate teller of tales--not in words but in paint. (John Kohan)