• Print

The Church History Museum presented 38 purchase and merit awards to artists who submitted artwork as part of the Eighth International Art Competition. The competition received 1,089 pieces of artwork from 44 countries. The museum is displaying some 200 pieces in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The exhibit opened on March 20, 2009, with the award ceremony and opening reception and will stay open to the public until October 11, 2009.

This competition’s theme was, “Remembering the Great Things of God.” Jurors chose pieces to include by evaluating their artistry and how well each one expressed the theme.

The artists who attended the awards ceremony mingled with the crowd at the opening reception and spoke with visitors. They shared their inspiration and efforts connected with their artwork.

Rose Datoc Dall, from Virginia, USA, who received a purchase award for her painting, Flight, depicted Joseph and Mary taking baby Jesus to Egypt. She said she chose the subject matter after praying about a short list of topics.

“I would work on several ideas and wait for one to just sit right, and this one hit me like a ton of bricks,” she said.

Jacob Elton Dobson, from Indiana, USA, said the idea for his merit award-winning plaster and bronze sculpture, Articles of Faith 2 and 3, came to him while he was sitting in sacrament meeting. He said he wanted to create a visual representation of the Articles of Faith so people would be able to see what the Church believes.

Carol Byington Johnson, from Utah, USA, said she initially made her quilt, Tree of Life II, to give to some family members who had recently gone through a hard time. She said even during the trial, their family could see how God was blessing them. The quilt, she said, reflected her belief in the love of God and in eternal families.

In the ceramic tile piece, Thou Art Everywhere, by Caren Lynn Durrant, from Utah, USA, a baby holds its mother’s hand. The background of the image contains many of Heavenly Father’s creations.

“The title [Thou Art Everywhere] is an expression of my faith,” Sister Durrant said. “Everything we have is because of Him.”

We Will See Each Other Again on the Other Side is the painting that Jubal Aviles Saenz, from Mexico, submitted to the art competition. He received a purchase award for his painting of a woman carrying flowers to a gravesite to remember her ancestors. Brother Aviles’ son, Leonardo, represented him at the award ceremony. Leonardo said his father tried to portray a woman who celebrated her ancestors on the Day of the Dead (a day to honor the dead) in Mexico, but who also could celebrate her ancestors’ lives by performing their temple work.

In the painting The Spirit of Prayer, which received a purchase award, Claudio Roberto Aguiar Ramires, from Brazil, painted three images of Nephi kneeling to pray. The first image shows Nephi kneeling to pray for help as he was building the ship. The second image depicts him tied to the ship during the storm as he struggled to kneel and pray. The third image portrays him praying after arriving at the promised land.

“He was always thankful to the Lord and recognized His hand in his life,” Brother Ramires said explaining why he had painted each of the images.

Adam Abram, from Utah, USA, who received a merit award for his painting, Gethsemane, said about his artwork, “This isn’t a painting about suffering, it’s a painting about getting through the suffering.” He said his hope for the painting is that people will look at their own struggles and trials in life and know that with the Savior’s help they can prevail.

In the painting Whereas I Was Blind, Now I See, Tyson Snow, from Arizona, USA, painted a portrait of a blind man whom the Savior healed. He took the idea for the painting from the scriptural account in John, chapter 9. After the Savior healed the blind man, the man testified of the healing to the Pharisees and was consequently expelled from the synagogue. The Savior then found the man, and the man became a disciple. The painting depicts the man as if the healing had taken place many years earlier. Brother Snow wanted the painting to show the emotion that this man might have felt while relating this experience to others.

The exhibit is in the Grand Atrium Foyer at the Conference Center, 60 West North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, at door 15. Exhibit hours are Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The Liahona and Ensign often feature many of the submissions. Selections from this year’s exhibit as well as past exhibits are also available on the Church History Web site.

 

The following received awards in the Eighth International Art Competition:

Merit Awards

Adam Abram, Utah, USA, Gethsemane

Ruben Alfredo Cabrera, Uruguay, Together Forever

Jaimie Davis, Montana, USA, Schimmelbusch Family Quilt

Jacob Elton Dobson, Indiana, USA, Articles of Faith 2 and 3

Tracy Ann Holmes, California, USA, The Three Gardens

Irene Monson Jenkins, Utah, USA, Heirloom Blessing Dress

Lurain Lyman, California, USA, Garden Tomb

Donna Moyer, California, USA, Consider the Lilies

Nnamdi Okonkwo, Nigeria, Love

Kathleen Bateman Peterson, Utah, USA, The Child

Walter Clair Rane, California, USA, Blessed Are They Who Are Faithful and Endure

J. Kirk Richards, Utah, USA, The Greatest in the Kingdom

Randall Todd Stilson, Utah, USA, Salvador Mundi

Leroy Transfield, New Zealand, Joseph and the Boy Jesus

Lesa Udall, Utah, USA, Whenever I Hear the Song of a Bird

Rebecca Wagstaff, Utah, USA, Passageway

William Whitaker, Illinois, USA, Seven Generations: Rachel Wears Black

Sherri Williams, Utah, USA, Behold Your Little Ones

Blanche Wilson, Utah, USA, I Remember

Janis Lorene Wunderlich, Ohio, USA, Family Frenzy

 

Purchase Awards

Jubal Aviles Saenz, Mexico, We Will See Each Other Again on the Other Side

Cassandra Barney, Utah, USA, Atonement

Chin Tai Cheng, Taiwan, Many People Shall Go

Rose Datoc Dall, Virginia, USA, Flight

Ramon Ely Garcia Rivas, Ecuador, I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go

Filiberto Gutierrez, Texas, USA, Come unto Jesus

Michael Tom Malm, Utah, USA, Saving That Which Was Lost

Eréndira de Martínez Hernández, Mexico, With No Exception of Persons

Emily McPhie, Utah, USA, Windows of Heaven

Valentina Olekseeyeevna Museeyenko, Ukraine, As Sisters in Zion

Louise Parker, South Africa, Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman? II

Emmalee Rose Glauser Powell, Utah, USA, Joseph William Billy Johnson: Holiness to the Lord

Claudio Roberto Ramires, Brazil, The Spirit of Prayer

GayLynn Lorene Ribeira, California, USA, Bring Up Your Children in Light and Truth

Ai Meng Tsai, Taiwan, Teach Me to Walk in the Light

Colleen Wallace, Australia, Coming of Christ

Elspeth Young, Utah, USA, For Such a Time as This

Josephus Matheus Wilhelmus Van Gemert, Netherlands, I Am the Alpha and the Omega