Beautiful Church Artwork

I saw a lot of artwork that I really loved while we were in Utah.  I wish I had taken more pictures, honestly.  But here are some of my favorites...  (Most of these are pictures I took, but whenever I could, I linked to a website so you can see a better version of it.  A few of them I forgot to take pictures, so you actually get the best version of those, rather than having to deal with my iffy photography skills!)

This is called The Color of Water I: Colton so, naturally, I had to take a picture of Colton with it.  It's meant to portray a moment in the memoir, The Color of Water, where a biracial boy asks his mother if God is black or white, and his mother responds that God is the color of water, we can all see God in our reflection.  I love that so much.

The light is doing weird things to this, but it's called Man of Sorrows. This is not how we usually portray Christ, but I think it's an important aspect of who He is.

Our Divine Family Tree.  No photograph can ever do justice to a sculpture.  But this is made up of different kinds of metals and the leaves are butterflies and it's so lovely!

The Redeemer of All.  We rarely show the angel strengthening Jesus during the atonement, but this is very powerful, I think.  

Growing Light by Elspeth Young.  This portrays Mary Elizabeth Rollins, whose family joined the church when she was 12.  She was so determined to actually read The Book of Mormon that she kept seeking out various copies to borrow.   When Joseph Smith learned of this, he was so impressed that he gave her her very own copy to keep.  

Till We Meet Again by Elspeth Young.  This portrays Jane Manning, another early convert to the church and a close friend of Joseph and Emma Smith's.  

I didn't get the title or artist of this one, but it's hanging in the conference center.  I mostly like the woman in the foreground looking at you-- she seems to know that even though everyone is excited to see Christ coming into Jerusalem, things are going to south very quickly...

Certain Women by Walter Rane.  Rane is one of my favorite church artists (it probably helps that the building I grew up in commissioned some of his works and he gave a fireside there).  This portrays the women who followed Christ during His ministry.

I Remember Those Who Are on the Isles of the Sea by Shelby Stroud.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's a mosaic made from seashells.  The first time I saw it I was too close and I didn't even realize that it was actually a picture of a girl!  I still thought it was cool, if a bit abstract.  So then when I glanced at it from farther away and actually SAW it, I was blown away!

I also really liked this painting, Greater Love Hath No Man by Casey Childs, at the Church History Museum.  This depicts the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith (which we learned a lot about in Nauvoo).  The way the artist uses the door to divide the painting, and John Taylor looking at you (I guess I really enjoy artists breaking that fourth wall?) is very powerful.

I've always been something of a snob when it comes to church music, so it made me so happy to see such wonderful artwork created by my people!  If you want to see more, there's tons here and trust me, I did not scratch the surface of what was good here!  

When I hung out with Laresa I told her how impressed with everything I was (she's a fellow humanities major, so we have a lot of fun geeking out together over stuff like this!) and she said that President Kimball had prophesied that we would have more great artists in our midst.  She sent me the talk later, and it's also wonderful!