Comment by juror Linda Witte Henke, for first prize for Sola: Grace-Faith-Scripture at Good Shepherd Institute, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN November 5 2017 – January 31, 2018

Sandra Bowden makes art out of words about words. She links letters with letters in patterned text blocks, layers book page atop book page in collages, and even turns book bindings into sculpted forms, holding everything from icons to nails. At a time when post-modernist semioticians cast doubt on language as a bearer of meaning, this American artist of faith from New England celebrates words as the chosen medium of the Judeo-Christian God who speaks and can be understood. When Bowden deconstructs texts, she transforms them into visual mediations. They become artistic variations on the Christian devotional practice of lectio divina. Letters resonate with mystical meaning like the Hebrew alphabet of Kabbalah.

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Visual Arts and the Church

In this episode, Sandra Bowden discusses the relationship between the artist, visual arts and the church. Sandra is an artist and painter from New York and is the past president of Christians in the Visual Arts. This interview was recorded at the Transforming Culture: A Vision for the Church and the Arts Symposium.

The total length of this episode is 9:29 minutes