More Devotional Art Ideas

I blogged a while back about how I enjoy making triptychs based on holy themes, and suggest this as a great, easy and thrifty activity to do with children. Here is more about what I’ve been working on and thus some ideas; although I’m sure you have many of your own.

I just did a triptych of Pope John Paul II and I love how it came out. I bought at Wal-Mart a gallery style frame for 3 4x6” photos. I printed 3 photos of JP in the vertical orientation. The first photo is of him leaning on his crosier, eyes shut, when he was older and ailing but still absorbed in prayer. The middle photo is a photo of the younger and strong JP performing the Elevation of the Host in a beautiful monstrance. The third photo is one that had become very well known. It shows the extremely ailing Pope during Mass sprinkling holy water while reading the liturgy while being supported by an aide at one elbow, out of view of the photo, but on the left being observed by the concerned (and ready to intercede) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The impact of these three photos is very powerful. I have the framed gallery of photos sitting on an artist easel where I can see it while I’m using this computer.

At Dollar General today I bought a gallery frame for six 4x6” photographs. I made the theme of that display “devotion and piety.” The photos are from top left to right Pope Benedict XVI kneeling in prayer, Cardinal Sean in Boston carrying a candle on the St. Francis feast day, and Archbishop Burke at prayer in his residential chapel. From left to right on the bottom row are a photo of a woman prone in front of the altar in a church in the Holy Land, a brother kneeling in prayer in his room at St. Joseph’s Friary in the Bronx, and an old holy card of a girl child praying before the cross before going to bed. I love how this gallery came out. It would be a wonderful arrangement for a child’s room. It is dark in a comforting way as these are representations of men and a child at prayer in the darkness of their rooms or in a church, and is a great “nighty night” kind of picture for a young child.

When I was a kid and parents decorated a child’s room there were not the hundred percent emphases on an entertainment theme as there is today. While parents would select a theme suitable for children there would also be a crucifix and holy pictures too. This is crucial for young children to be properly formed in love of the Lord. So while I love decorating a child’s nursery or room with a theme (an acquaintance of mine once did a room totally in “the cow jumped over the moon” for her twins, which I thought was creative) there should also be ample representation of the Lord. Children learn that God loves them and to trust him by parents teaching, for example, the child to say “nighty night” to Jesus before bed and knowing Jesus is watching over them. This is why photos of people at prayer before going to bed is also an ideal devotional art form for a young child’s room, especially when they are in their “afraid of the dark” phase.

I’m now collecting photos of antique and current scenes in Syria, a country of which I am very fond. I also have the photos for a triptych of Pope Paul VI.
And I am working on a gallery frame of four 4x6” photos of St Peter the Apostle and Jesus. One of my favorite paintings is a Dutch school of Jesus handing the keys to Peter, so I have that on top in horizontal layout. To the right of it is a painting of St. Peter in vertical layout as he holds the keys and looks heavenward. On the bottom left I have in vertical layout a painting of Jesus walking on water and putting out his hand to rescue the sinking St. Peter. And I’m now going to browse to find a suitable horizontal layout photo for the fourth place in the frame.

I bought two of the above four photo format frames from Dollar General. I just completed one in the theme of “Jesus Christ first priest.” The first photo top left is a church mosaic of Jesus with the Eucharist and chalice. Top right is a black and white holy card of Jesus crowning a priest as the priest performs the elevation of the chalice. Bottom left is a holy card that shows Jesus as priest overlooking a consecration of priests. And the bottom right is a photo of Cardinal Pell raising his arms in front and over the chalice during the celebration of the Mass.

Other obvious ideas for a child’s room would be the theme of the baby Jesus, Jesus as shepherd with lambs (you could include a great photo of the Pope blessing the lambs on the feast of St. Agnes for use in weaving the paliums.

Other ideas, ones that I am working on, include using a six photo frame to create a kind of virtual representation of a specific church building or room. Redemptoris Mater is a Vatican chapel with the most amazing floor to ceiling paintings in the most vivid colors and I’m working on collecting good representations of the walls and close ups of scenes. I’d like to put together a gallery that arranges the photos in a virtual representation of the actual chapel layout. If I had had my head about me back when I visited the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul back in 1995 I would have photographed each wall in order to have created such a virtual reality layout of that amazing place of Christian (and Islam) worship. So when you visit a shrine or a church you might want to photograph layouts with this idea in mind. Hope you find these ideas interesting and inspires your own devotional creativity!