by Larry Chen, Elder for the Arts

Creative expression is often the product of a transformative process. In fact you could say that Christ’s work of transformation in our lives is the ultimate creative expression!

So as I was considering this amongst the lilies, I thought about how art can point both the artist and the audience to Christ.

Conveniently, Anne Baumgartner recently completed an MFA from The Art Institute of Boston and agreed to share some of her story. An art teacher and studio artist, she started to work with mixed media in the 1990’s.

“My work over the last two years has involved a process rather than a product,” she says. “The pieces here are like markers in the middle of a big time of change and growth. I am exploring everyday materials like cardboard, newspaper, ink and tape while working out new compositions and forms.

The shapes gather meaning in a collective sense. Because the work is abstract and yet incorporates familiar, everyday stuff, it draws the viewer in for closer examination. The large installation is such an overwhelming size that the associations vibrate. With the smaller package-sized pieces the response is more personal.

There is an up-beat, hopeful vibe around the wrappings and graphic patterns while they encase very broken-down forms. The work of Christ in my life brings up similar tensions. I want to explore this more.

I'm interested how collage involves wrapping and covering, and also in the tearing away of those layers. There is a compelling deeper meaning within all of that. It is a constant process of circumventing my critical mind and allowing inner impulses to guide me. At one point I started cutting open the box forms and flattening them back out. The back and forth points toward optimism and redemption.”