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Students and Faculty Showcase Art at D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center
Five Southern Virginia students and Art Professor Douglas Himes had works accepted into Fulfill the Vision, an exhibit at the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center on display until March 27.
Selections for the exhibit were made by a panel of experienced artists and art critics. Works were judged on their quality of both concept and execution, as well as their compatibility with the spirit and purpose of the Temple Visitors’ Center. Additionally, only pieces in keeping with the theme, fulfill the vision — which relates to the realization and interpretation of Heavenly Father’s vision for His creations — were selected.
Professor Douglas Himes asked members of an advanced oil painting class last August to produce works specifically for the show.
“I asked them to produce something that related in a fundamental way to the theme of the show,” he said. “Approaches varied from the semi-abstract to non-objective.”
Five of these students’ paintings were accepted for the exhibit, along with a painting by Professor Himes entitled, “Jacob’s Ladder.”
Although the students’ approaches varied greatly, each produced a work that reflected spiritual beliefs.
“My painting was inspired by a painting by Caravaggio about mourning,” said Carrie Brotherson — a faculty member who enrolled in the class and whose painting was accepted — who created her piece in a traditional style. “I wanted to do a companion piece that was more hopeful, about resurrection and the future.”
Emmelin Himes — whose non-realistic, abstract painting differed greatly in style from Brotherson’s — also created a painting from a spiritual standpoint.
“I based it off a scripture in Isaiah,” she said. In the passage, Isaiah sees an angel who purifies his lips with a coal. “The angel says ‘Lo, this hath touched thy lips,’ which is my title, and then Isaiah is clean and he goes to preach the gospel” (Isaiah 6:7).
Beyond the spiritual aspect, students appreciated the assignment because it allowed them to gain experience in a professional setting.
“I was very grateful for the opportunity because it built my confidence,” said Emmelin Himes. “Professor Himes pushed us along and really encouraged us to make work that we would feel good about putting in a show.”
“It gave me an idea of what it’s like to be a professional artist,” Brotherson said. “Academically, the show was a great leap forward. We were challenged to do things on a large scale, to push ourselves beyond what we had already done and to do new things.”
