Awake My Soul II, 2024
Encaustic on wood panel
36 x 48 inches
Encaustic on wood panel
36 x 48 inches
Awake My Soul II was the result of a commission by VU VI VO Ministries to create a piece of public art reflecting on the Bible story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). After Jesus says, “…neither do I condemn you. Go now & leave your life of sin”, what would this woman look or feel like?
Awake My Soul II represents the woman’s life journey, one of fundamental change and growth that presumably happened during the remainder of her time on earth. While the Bible story is about a woman from a different culture, time, and place, her story is really the story of all our lives.
Unveiled Sept 2024 during an event at the Orlo House in Tampa, FL, Awake My Soul II is available for viewing in public spaces throughout the Tampa Bay Area.
Awake My Soul II represents the woman’s life journey, one of fundamental change and growth that presumably happened during the remainder of her time on earth. While the Bible story is about a woman from a different culture, time, and place, her story is really the story of all our lives.
Unveiled Sept 2024 during an event at the Orlo House in Tampa, FL, Awake My Soul II is available for viewing in public spaces throughout the Tampa Bay Area.
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INSPIRATIONS
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Thomas Merton’s poem, The Sowing of Meanings
For, like a grain of fire Smouldering in the heart of every living essence God plants His undivided power – Buries His thought too vast for worlds In seed and root and blade and flower, Until, in the amazing light of April, Surcharging the religious silence of the spring Creation finds the pressure of His everlasting secret Too terrible to bear. Then every way we look, lo! rocks and trees Pastures and hills and streams and firmament And our own souls within us flash, and shower us with light, While the wild countryside, unknown, unvisited of men, Bears sheaves of clean, transforming fire. |
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Mumford & Sons song, Awake My Soul
In these bodies we will live In these bodies we will die Where you invest your love You invest your life Awake my soul Awake my soul Awake my soul For you were made to meet your maker |
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Awake my Soul, created in 2013, was inspired by the same Mumford & Sons song. That piece, however, was a reflection of the moment of awakening, and not the lifelong journey such an experience necessitates. |
SYMBOLISM
The piece starts in top left corner with a remnant of dirty gauze, symbolizes the woman’s burial shroud
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Ribbon is a spiral not a straight path, symbolizes our transformational life journeys
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Kantha embroidery transitions to tea bags embroidered with grapevines (a nod to the special roles Italian Israeli women have traditionally held in their communities, as embellishers of Torah skirts).
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Kantha is often fashioned by women who are on the margins of society, while Torah skirts are created by women who are honored and esteemed in their communities for their important roles. Both of these styles of embroidery are equally beautiful, and both created by women equally endowed with talent and worth, all image-bearers of God.
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Israeli embroidery transitions to encaustic flowers & birds, ending in a crescendo of life (a nod to Psalm 108:1). The ribbon disappears into the distance in a trail of frankincense & myrrh, a symbol of Jesus and our partnership with him in our lifelong journey of transformation and growth.