Art in Advent
When you aren't feeling very Christmassy
Advent this year has come as such a relief, stepping outside of the “Christmas season”( which nowadays stretches from Halloween until Christmas Day, directly after which we are meant to start our January fitness frenzy) to 4 week period of contemplation that leads to the feast of Christmas, feels so much more emotionally manageable. I’m not in a Christmas mood, my Christmas decorations aren’t up yet a week into December, and it’s okay. I have however been thinking about and creating art for advent.
In November I’m always amused by the juxtaposition of Halloween decorations left up and Christmas decorations put up early. the prevalence of the giant skeletons in the last few years has especially been interesting, a monument to the truth of our mortality next to remembrances of the Savior who embraced flesh and death to bring us life, it is poetic.
It also is time for one of my favorite artworks to be on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Neapolitan Creche is a gorgeous nativity scene that is a part of the permanent collection at the AIC, but only is opened to view Advent through Epiphany. The creche is huge, made in Naples in the 18th century and contains biblical and contemporary (to 18th century Naples) figures and settings. The Holy Family is stationed at the top and the angels celebrate above them. But the world that Christ has come into is one that would have been familiar to the neighbors of the artists who made it. While I am all for historically and biblically accurate imagery, I also love the way every culture and time has depicted Christ, not as separated by centuries but as coming, ever fresh into their own world.
The past few years I have made art, for the church and for my own devotion. In 2022 I made small sketches of Mary working with Jesus tied on, as women of every culture and every time have always done with their babies. I plan to continue this series, pulling from more cultures for ways of baby wearing.
Another year I created an icon of the just born Christ, as an antidote to the song “Away in the Manger” I hated the phrase “ The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes, But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes” as though a baby crying were somehow indicative of their sin nature and exactly how babies were created to be.
This year, as much as I am not feeling the “Christmas Spirit” I have been leaning into some very traditional imagery. My young apprentice ( in traditional renaissance fashion)got to work with me on a seven foot by 6 foot canvas that I then cut in two for banners for behind the altar.
The banners haven’t been hung yet, as a snowstorm gave us an unexpected gift for Advent One: an extraordinarily beautiful simple service. We are a mobile church and 11 inches of snow on Saturday night means the trailer can’t get through. So there was no tech, no backdrops just the small processional cross and a folding table to act as an altar. the 60 or so people who ventured out prayed the Great Litany on their knees, sang hymns acapella and gathered around the table for communion. The flock was waiting.
I’m going to close out this post with 7 more images that I’m working on, the O Antiphons, traditional images with the prayers that are added during evening prayer the 7 days prior to Christmas. Enjoy.
