Work of Art

I am not generally an art gallery kind of gal. You know the saying about beauty being in the eye of the beholder…works for art too I’m thinking!

We did recently take a quick tour of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. To be fair, we did not see all of the exhibits but some of them did seem decidedly…”artsy” by my standards!

We actually went to the gallery specifically to see the Maud Lewis exhibit. She is a Nova Scotia folk artist. One thing that we went looking for and that I found utterly fascinating was the part of the exhibit that was her home…her actual home – not a reproduction and not a scale model. Her actual home…a home does not even come close to filling the gallery space! The house is actually a little less than 16 square meters – one room with an attic space for sleeping.

The reason for the home being included in the art gallery is that it became her canvas. Every imaginable surface bears the mark of the artist. Simple everyday objects are turned into works of art. The walls, chairs and table…the rickety staircase, the door and even the window panes… ordinary items – enamel basins, the wood stove and the dust pan…all are adorned with brightly coloured birds, butterflies and flowers.

The beauty that begins with objects that are so everyday … the evidence of joy spilling out in spite of lack…that crippled, arthritic hands picked up a paint brush and that the result was such fun…it just amazes me!

It reminds me that when all I have to offer is brokenness and pain, there is One who offers “…a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…” (Is. 61:3b)

It reminds me that I serve a God who takes my ordinary and creatively makes extraordinary!

It reminds me to give thanks…for what has been, for what is and for what will be the way that He works in me…the brush strokes that may not seem to fit on their own but that in the end will show a complete and perfect work of art.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)

Ruth