Type of Submission
Art Exhibit
Keywords
Sculpture, wood, art, Christian, sanctification, carving, flower
Proposal
This piece, titled Sanctification, is intended to be a visual representation of its namesake: the process of sanctification done by God—through the will of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the effect of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is composed only of wood and fake blood, and was crafted through various woodcarving techniques, including chiseling, whittling, grinding, and dremeling. It depicts a large chunk of rot, which represents the corrupt, depraved nature of humanity upon which God enacts the process of sanctification. From this rot, however, a beautiful Asiatic Lily is being carved. The lily itself has blood coming out from where it is being carved out, which is meant to symbolize the pain that is inherent to sanctification, while at the same time serving to represent Christ’s blood, shed for us in order that we could be sanctified. The whole piece is meant to convey a sense of redemption through the contrast between the rotten and the beautiful; the unclean and the clean. This redemption is not without its cost, though, in both our suffering and in Jesus’ suffering on the cross.
My intention through this piece is to acknowledge the suffering one must go through to become what God desires them to be, while still displaying the beauty that comes through it and outweighs the suffering that led to it. As it says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us,” and in James 1:2-4, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Publication Date
2024
Sanctification
This piece, titled Sanctification, is intended to be a visual representation of its namesake: the process of sanctification done by God—through the will of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the effect of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is composed only of wood and fake blood, and was crafted through various woodcarving techniques, including chiseling, whittling, grinding, and dremeling. It depicts a large chunk of rot, which represents the corrupt, depraved nature of humanity upon which God enacts the process of sanctification. From this rot, however, a beautiful Asiatic Lily is being carved. The lily itself has blood coming out from where it is being carved out, which is meant to symbolize the pain that is inherent to sanctification, while at the same time serving to represent Christ’s blood, shed for us in order that we could be sanctified. The whole piece is meant to convey a sense of redemption through the contrast between the rotten and the beautiful; the unclean and the clean. This redemption is not without its cost, though, in both our suffering and in Jesus’ suffering on the cross.
My intention through this piece is to acknowledge the suffering one must go through to become what God desires them to be, while still displaying the beauty that comes through it and outweighs the suffering that led to it. As it says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us,” and in James 1:2-4, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
