REFRACTIONS: Every mystery needs its image.
“Every mystery needs its image.”
-Lewis Hyde, The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World
The Paintings
I recently completed a series of paintings and accompanying multimedia art that was commissioned by Abingdon Press in conjunction with my friend Matt Rawle’s forthcoming book. We first embarked on this project more than ten years ago and reimagined it this year for publication. It was interesting timing for me to return to this work with my understanding of God, spirituality, history, and language having evolved significantly over the past decade. I also started the paintings one month after leaving my last remaining church job, realizing it was no longer tenable to work in settings that conflicted so deeply with my current values.
I mention these things because the commission for these paintings involved creating a visual expression of 6 of the “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John. And while there are myriad ways to read John’s gospel, it remains most compelling to me as a work of literature. Not as a first-hand historical account—likely written between 90CE and 110CE, it hardly could be—but as a brilliantly crafted text infused with Jewish mysticism and the influence of Greek philosophy. John is, to me, about a universal invitation to vitality, depth of experience, and awareness of our interconnectedness.
This invitation is offered through narratives ripe with symbolism about characters who act as a “prism” that refracts what is illuminated “into colors the reader can see.”* I was inspired by this image of a prism refracting light to reveal multifaceted realities in a way that we can understand, and it lends itself well to the geometric abstraction technique I often use in painting. It was liberating to pursue this expression outside the limits of language, without the words that so often carry a weight of certainty that they were never meant to hold.
All to say, I hope these paintings are accessible to everyone—whether you simply feel drawn to them visually or you are more interested in their points of origin. Ultimately, I returned to Lewis Hyde’s assertion that, “Every mystery needs its image” as a mantra while making this work. These are the images I could offer in response to the mysteries at hand.
*from Portraits of Jesus in the Gospel of John, edited by Craig Koester
Sign up for the waitlist
The paintings will be available for purchase in August 2022, but you can add your name to the waitlist if you are interested and be the first to know when they release! Click on a painting below to do that in the shop. If you or your organization are interested in collecting the series as a whole, feel free to contact me directly about a series discount and delivery. Thank you!
The first painting in my REFRACTIONS series. Available now.
30”x40” (Acrylic, pencil, & paper on canvas)
Delivery included within 150 miles of 71106. Choose option that includes shipping if outside that radius.
Feel free to reach out to me directly at sarah@sarahduet.com with questions or for more information!
The third painting in my REFRACTIONS series. Available now exclusively to waitlist.
30”x40” (Acrylic, pencil, & paper on canvas)
Delivery included within 150 miles of 71106. Choose option that includes shipping if outside that radius.
Feel free to reach out to me directly at sarah@sarahduet.com with questions or for more information!
The fifth painting in my REFRACTIONS series. Available now.
30”x40” (Acrylic, pencil, & paper on canvas)
Delivery included within 150 miles of 71106. Choose option that includes shipping if outside that radius.
Feel free to reach out to me directly at sarah@sarahduet.com with questions or for more information!
The second painting in my REFRACTIONS series. Available now.
30”x40” (Acrylic, pencil, & paper on canvas)
Delivery included within 150 miles of 71106. Choose “Shipping Included” option if outside that radius.
Feel free to reach out to me directly at sarah@sarahduet.com with questions or for more information!
The fourth painting in my REFRACTIONS series. Available now.
30”x40” (Acrylic, pencil, & paper on canvas)
Delivery included within 150 miles of 71106. Choose option that includes shipping if outside that radius.
Feel free to reach out to me directly at sarah@sarahduet.com with questions or for more information!
The Music
In addition to the paintings, I recorded videos of the process that will be available this Fall from Abingdon Press and composed music to score those short films.
You can listen to the score now by clicking the button below: