Jacob's Exhibit: The Book of John

I had booked an art exhibit at St. John the Divine that would open in 15 months. I had no idea that I would be five months pregnant with Jacob. I could not have planned this. It was during this pregnancy and this out pouring of creativity that I considered this thought for the first time: I AM MOST CREATIVE WHEN I AM WITH CHILD. This made sense, God is the ultimate artisian and He created me in His image therefore I was created to create. This is the vision that I would base all of my work on in the following years. When I got started on the exhibit it was Fall 2002. I prayed that the Lord would reveal the number of paintings and the scipture that I would dive into. We had been at Gateway for one year and I was sitting in the auditorium soaking up John Burke's words of experience and wisdom. He said, "if you are ready to get close to Jesus reading His word is the best way. Read either the Gospel of Mark or John." That was it. After church I opened up my Life Application Bible and began to read the prelude. The commentator opened with this, "He spoke, and whirled into place, stared burned the heavens and planets began orbiting their suns-words of awesome, unlimited,unleashed power." He spoke of "personal and creative glory" and that"He is the word; He is Jesus, the Christ." This meditation began where I left off with Jonah's Paintings of Creation. John discloses the identity of Christ in the first words, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He continues this theme throughout the book. John the eyewitness chose eight of Christ's miracles to reveal the His nature. These miracles are 1) water into wine 2) healing the official's son 3) healing the invaild at Bethesda 4) feeding the 5000 with just a two loaves and fish 5) waling on the water 6) restoring sight to the blind man 7) raising Lazarus from the dead 8) giving the disciples an overwhelming catch of fish. You may also see Jesus' nature underscored by the eight names His disciples called Him: Word, the One and Only, Lamb of God, Son of God, True bread, Life, Resurrection and Vine. You can also see the eight names Jesus called himself...The I Am..the bread of life...light of the world...the gate...the good shepherd...the resurrection and the life...the way, the truth and the life...the true vine. Here was the number. I would paint eight paintings that reveal the identity and nature of Christ. The paintings would include the eight miracles that Jesus performed, the eight names his disciples called him and the eight names that He called himself.





Bryan and Stephanie Kuel











Emily Conner












Jessica Bailey

Sarah Cline

Jacob Frost

Sam Frost