Arma Christi

Arma Christi by James B. Janknegt

The workshop I conducted at the Laity Lodge retreat centered around the Arma Christi or Instruments of the passion. The idea is a traditional one with many expressions in art, some 2 dimensional and some 3 dimensional. The painting is made up of objects mentioned in the passion narratives. The painting becomes a shorthand way of contemplating the events of Jesus institution of the last supper, his trial and crucifixion.

During the work shop I also tried to get the participants to think about how the various symbols might interesect with their own lives. As a jumping off point I talked about Gal. 2: 20 - I have been crucified with Christ... So each symbol might mean something personal to them, some way in which they had participated with Jesus in his crucifixion. As always, when you give ten people an assignment you get ten very different results. The folks really seemed to get interested in the project, worked very hard and came up with some very unique results. I was very pleased with the results.

Laity Lodge Retreat

The Great Hall is were the lectures and the Sunday worship take place. It overlooks the Frio river.
Calvin Miller was one of the speakers. He is pictured here with his wife, Barbara. The other speaker was Lauren Winner. Calvin is wicked funny and prophetic at the same time. Reminds me of the Billy Wilder quote, "If you're going to tell people the truth make it funny or else they'll kill you."
I love the architecture . It is all so well designed and beautifully made but not ostentatious.
You have to drive in the Frio river to get to the road that takes you to Laity Lodge. It's a unique experience in itself.

I had the privilege of being the artist in residence at Laity Lodge last weekend. It was a great retreat. I got to hang out with some old friends and make some new ones. And as always the food was fabulous.

Water of Life Mural

I finally finished my Water of Life Mural. The mural is paintined in the hallway of the religious ed building of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Elgin Ts. The wall is 38'long and 8'high. I did a painting that we worked from which got approved by Father George.

I had some really good helpers: Emma, my daughter; my wife, Lissa; Ricky and Laura, youth from Sacred Heart. We worked on the mural for four Saturdays, one to transfer the drawing and three for painting.

I really enjoyed working on this project. It is so much fun to paint big. And it was fun to get to do a sacred painting for a church. If you are wondering how much it costs?? I donated my time for this project and raised the money to buy supplies by auctioning off the small painting that we worked from. It seems like a pretty good method for doing this kind of project.

For more details of the mural check out the photo album on my Facebook page.

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