Prayer Drawings [2017-2019]
"From the very earliest accounts of monastic practice—dating back to the fourth century—it is evident that a form of reading called lectio divina ("divine" or "spiritual reading") was essential to any deliberate spiritual life. This kind of reading is quite different from that of scanning a text for useful facts and bits of information, or advancing along an exciting plot line to a climax in the action. It is, rather, a meditative approach, by which the reader seeks to taste and savor the beauty and truth of every phrase and passage. This process of contemplative reading has the effect of enkindling in the reader compunction for past behavior that has been less than beautiful or true. At the same time, it increases the desire to seek a realm where all that is lovely and unspoiled may be found. There are four steps in lectio divina: first, to read, next to meditate, then to rest in the sense of God's nearness, and ultimately, to resolve to govern one's actions in the light of new understanding. This kind of reading is itself an act of prayer. And, indeed, it is in prayer that God manifests [God's] Presence to us." —John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne, in The Rule of Saint Benedict (New York: Vintage Spiritual Classics, 1981).
Just so, these drawings were made with the same intention. Automatic language; muttered, handwritten prayers; and copied passages of scripture in Koine Greek these meditative drawings became "ikons" in graphite. Intentions are recanted and obscured with page rubbings and burnishing, off-printed images allow for new orientations and possibility with time.
Selections from "Prayer Drawings"
Graphite, ink, acrylic on bound paper
Graphite, ink, acrylic on bound paper
8 1/2 x 14 in.
2017-2019
