HIS-STORY… MY STORY –THE ART STORY -LAYERS OF REVELATION
 -Glenda Wilson


Other related insights:
An Onion Before Christ
An Emptying Out
Sharing The Journey
Double Grace (still applies)
Moments of Visitation

This Story tells how the art was birthed as well as the process.

Many have commented and questioned the new thing that God is doing through the Renderings of the Heart Collection. Some have said, “I have never seen or experienced anything like this before”.  My response is, "Neither have I". The experience of cooperating with the Great Artisan in pouring out His heart and Spirit ….watching Him express Himself is the most rewarding –the most profound thing I have ever observed. The collection was named from a passage in Joel 2, “Rend your heart, not your garment”.

THE PHOTOSHOP DREAM

In 1997 I bought Photoshop (a high-end graphics program). I began working with it and could not see how it would benefit me. Photoshop offers the capability of building a piece of art in layers beginning with an empty canvas. Not long after I began to work in Photoshop, I dreamed I was viewing a picture in the program. To the side I could see the layer pallet. I saw the hand of the Lord come and begin to strip the layers one by one and throw them in the trash until there was an empty canvas. Then He began a new picture one layer at a time.

The interpretation that came was twofold. I never once thought it literally referred to the program itself. At the time I had been asking the Lord to strip me…empty me of everything that was not of Him. I perceived that the picture represented me and that He was creating a new me …one that was pleasing to Him. I was reminded of the poem, “An Onion Before Christ”. I have provided it elsewhere for additional revelation and understanding. The other analogy was that revelation comes in layers. I also took it to mean that I was in process; He was building revelation in me. The word comes and layers itself “line upon line, precept upon precept”. Sometimes a word from the Lord or just reading the word does not make any sense when it stands alone. Some revelation cannot come because it has to be layered upon foundations. Every time we are in His presence, there is an impartation of revelation even if our five natural senses do not comprehend it. When we receive answers they fit so perfectly in our “puzzle”, it does not occur to us that within the answer is “the present, past and future. It is timeless and will become a layer upon which to build more revelation. So it was with the Photoshop Dream.

I HAD NO IDEA

A few years went by and I still did not know how to do anything significant in Photoshop. In fact, in February 2001, I had to hire a graphic designer to create the art for a website I designed. In 2001, Christian and Robin Harfouche a Prophetic/ Apostolic husband wife team from Pensacola, Florida held a 6-week revival at the church I was attending. They held services twice a day for most of that time and left toward the end of August that year. It was such an incredible time of teaching and impartation.

Then suddenly after 9/11, I heard the Lord saying that the door had cracked open and He had some things He wanted to say through visuals. I sat down at the computer and “thought” I was going to work on bumper stickers. As I began working I felt urged to collect pictures that represented familiar things that had to do with the 9/11 tragedy. I began to place them in Photoshop on layers. At first, I thought it was going to be a collage, but then began to evolve into an illustrated message straight from the Heart and Hand of the Lord. I did not know what I was doing, but I knew the Lord begin working through me. Then the yielding began to stir revelation, dreams, and visions. When I would feel the stirring of the Spirit or a word or two, I would move either to the computer or to the word whichever He seemed to be prompting me.

As I began allowing Him to work the revelation into pieces of art, I began to remember the dream that I had about Photoshop. In the beginning, I did not know what I was doing. Those pieces have become some of the most profound pieces because as the scripture says, it is not me but Christ in me that was doing them. Many times, the pieces would literally unfold. I could feel the intent and impartation within them and could see that He was working in me as well as through me. The first ones especially brought me through the grief process of the events of 9/11. As I worked through the collection, I call the Tribute Collection, tears poured down my cheeks. They ministered healing to my broken heart, peace, and security to a world where nothing made sense. Then came the Time Collection, which was prompted by a vision of time rushing upon those lost that day, time seem to run into eternity. Even as each piece unfolded, I experienced that which it was ministering. At times, it felt as if the process was accelerated. Yet surprisingly, each time I look again, it brings new revelation.

In each layer, I could feel great purpose and intent …the forceful colors and special effects, which brought an ethereal appearance, which is emotionally and spiritually intense. Each piece is power-packed with revelation tailored to minister at the level of the viewer.

The writings that accompany the pieces are as life changing as the art.  God beckons the viewer to go that place of revelation that He has imparted in each piece …there the Holy Spirit ministers it in a most personal way. There in that place of revelation… in the privacy of their own home, God works through the art and writing to minister His purpose which for many is something that is better experienced alone with God.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM –THE GREAT DEBATE

As I began to try to research the style of the art, I found that Abstract Expressionism described the style.  Some people might disagree. Read the description and explanations and let me know what you style you think it is.

Excerpt from compilation of material  found on the internet.  http://www.artlex.com

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM – (parenthesis and italics my explanation.)

Their art was often made of shapes, lines, and forms not meant to depict a "reality" from the visible world. (Although these are not undefined forms, lines, or forms as described above, the pieces do indeed depict reality from the invisible world. There is no tangible way to depict things of the spirit, which is the only reliable reality. The strategies in the pieces are the same as the ones Jesus used. His messages (parables) were laced with object lessons that ministered to the sense knowledge –things that to which people of the day could relate.)

**”The parables found earlier are scattered and so plain as to be rather illustrations than judicial veilings of the truth (Matt 7:24-27; 9:16; 12:25; Mark 3:23; Luke 6:39). Not that a merciful aspect is excluded even for the heretofore carnal hearers. The change of mode would awaken attention, and judgment thus end in mercy, when the message of reconciliation addressed to them first after Jesus' resurrection (Acts 3:26) would remind them of parables not understood at the time.

The Holy Spirit would "bring all things to their remembrance" (John 14:26). When explained, the parables would be the clearest illustration of truth. The parable, which was to the carnal a veiling, to the receptive was a revealing of the truth, not immediate but progressive (Prov 4:18).”** (from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1998 by Biblesoft)

They believed that non-representational painting could express spiritual and emotional truths in the most direct way. These artists often used a spontaneous and physical process in order to present an immediate response to emotion.

The Abstract Expressionists addressed the great questions of human existence. The internal psychological (soulish and spiritual) struggle, the external struggle of man against nature, the spiritual quest for God -- these were topics that these artists felt needed to find expression in abstraction  (the pieces actually ignite the passion for a quest for God –He draws His viewers with loving-kindness. The ultimate artist who stretched forth the heavens –who created all the colors in the pallet is once again expressing Himself in layers of revelation).

For the Abstract Expressionists, understanding the process of painting (art) meant understanding something at the core of the human desire to express oneself. (The Divine Expressionist –the one who understands better than anyone the desire to express Himself –look at creation. He understands how to communicate to the hearts of those who He created).  In the end, making the process of painting an existential endeavor may have been their major achievement.

(ex·is·ten·tial) 1 : of, relating to, or affirming existence <existential propositions> 2 a : grounded in existence or the experience of existence Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

One of the major things about this art is that it causes people to experience the God they cannot see in a most profound way. In every piece, He proves His EXISTENCE, His love, His Wisdom, His essence to the masses.) See the Witnesses

... The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where THEIR VOICE (WITNESS) is not heard. (Psa 19:1-3 KJV) He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. ... And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?" (Job 26:7-9, 14 NIV)  

Their – (Abstract Expressionist) work is characterized by a strong dependence on what appears to be accident and chance, but which is actually highly planned. (I sensed this strongly many times, not that I am ever the one who highly plans it. I find many of the special effect colors, textures and layers, especially in the earlier years were quite by accident. Later, I realized they must have been planned to have created the desired result).

Some Abstract Expressionist artists were concerned with adopting a peaceful and mystical approach to a purely abstract (intangible concept) image. Usually there was no effort to represent subject matter. (An amazing thing I have observed is that many times the intent and purpose has very little to do with what one would expect the piece would mean).

Not all work was abstract, nor was all work expressive, but it was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artists' approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds (released from the heart and Spirit of God). The expressive method of painting (illustrating) was often considered as important as the painting (piece) itself. (I believe this speaks to the method of special effects and deliberate mixture of layering colors and textures to produce the ethereal and spiritual realities, which are laced into the pieces.)

End of excerpt from information derived from the internet on Abstract Expressionist

SUMMING IT UP

In summing up, it seems that He chooses the names deliberately to create common ground with the viewer… something with which they are familiar or identify. From there it may or may not go in the same direction that one may expect. Then He proceeds to pour out what is in His heart for the moment. Most of the time, I have very little influence on the direction the piece takes and sometimes do not “get it” right away. I have discovered His strategy is to bring new insight into familiar scriptural concepts. The Renderings of the Heart Collection is created digitally rather than painted. You will find the myriad of colors, textures, and special effects different from what you may be accustomed to seeing in paintings. The emphasis is on what the Lord chooses and often other things seem muted and the colors incongruent. These are not flaws; they are a part of a deliberate plan or strategy and part of the supernatural appeal of the piece.