An art exhibit entitled "The Mysteries of Jesus" was hosted by the Vintage Group through the Campus Ministry Association in 145 Student Union Thursday.
"We wanted to create a space for students to engage and examine the life and person of Jesus Christ," said Wes Aarum, a pastor at Vintage. "We look to connect students in a spiritual way with Jesus."
Aarum pointed out that there were no speakers at the exhibit and said that there was "no message" so that students could come just to experience the artwork.
"It's your call - I'm not a car salesman. God gives you the choice to accept or reject Him," Aarum said.
Several pieces of art by Denise Armstrong, a painter with Vintage who has been a professional artist for 32 years, were on display. Also, serene music played in the background as a presentation lit up a screen with passages from the Bible.
"This particular exhibit was totally compelled by God...mostly about the transformation of a life when Jesus becomes part of it," Armstrong said. "It's kind of like divine inspiration."
Religious art has been the focus of Armstrong's creativity for the past 18 years, she said.
Armstrong also contributed a "performance art" aspect to the exhibit.
This allowed students to watch as she stroked the paintbrush, saturated with one of her favorite media - sumi ink - and created an image of a man looking upward toward the shadow of a cross, and a group of people turning away from accepting Jesus as their Savior.
"It must be fascinating to watch," she said. "Recently I've found that more and more people ask me to do performance art...in the last year, I've done it 12 times."
According to Armstrong, her art is deeply influenced by Scripture. The piece she created during the performance painting was based on a parable in the Bible's Book of Luke. The story is about making a choice of whether to believe in Jesus and receive an eternal life in heaven or to take a different path, Armstrong said.
Tiffany Robinson, a senior psychology major, enjoyed the music and watching an artist at work.
"The live artist was cool with the music in the background," Robinson said.
Armstrong periodically paints throughout sermons as the pastor speaks to illustrate his words.
"It's a great visual to bring alongside of a sermon - people can grasp a visual when words don't seem like enough to explain," she said.
According to Armstrong, the integration of art and church services through performance painting is common in larger churches in the South.
The Vintage church meets every Tuesday and draws a crowd of typically over 300 students, according to Aarum. The meetings feature readings from the Bible and a time for students to recount their personal religious experiences.
Vintage hopes to bring services to campus, Aarum said. The group plans on establishing a shuttle system from the campus to the church and back, but ideally he would like to bring the Tuesday meetings to campus.
The group sponsors the Web site www.thensomethinghappened.com to encourage communication with students, according to Aarum.
The exhibit reached out to students who had never attended such a display of religious art.
"This is the first time I've walked into a religious exhibit, but it was interesting," Robinson said. "As a college student, anything that brings you closer to God, closer to home, brings peace sometimes. You lose your way a lot - you conform to things you know you shouldn't."
Falania Pierrelouis, a junior psychology major, agreed that the exhibit offered a way for her to get away from the stresses of college life.
"This brings peace in such a stressful environment," she said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
