This month (Aug, 2018) we had the 45th year reunion of our Darien (Connecticut) High School class of 1973. One of the things we have all been amazed at over the years is how many of us ended up being artists of one sort or another. Some ended up being full-time professional artists, some part-time, but there were many more than you would figure from a class our size (about 300).
Jim Hett talking to a crowd in front of his artwork.
One of our alumnus (and artist), Jim Hett, also has had years of experience in museum work, installing, curating, organizing exhibitions. He took the initiative to organize an exhibition of many of the artists’ work and installed it at the Darien Public Library earlier this month. Even though I wasn’t able to attend I wanted to send some work. I had a small space to work with and I wanted something that would be thought-provoking in a library setting so I chose from my ‘I draw in church’ series. I sent a suite of 9 small framed pieces.
Here are pictures from the exhibition. Following those are the individual images.
Exhibition at the Darien Public Library
‘I Draw in Church’
‘I Draw in Church – Jan the Baptist’ | Ink on Paper | 2017
‘I Draw in Church – The Divine Calculator’ | Ink on Paper | 2018
‘I Draw in Church – Mary Magdalena’ | Ink on Paper | 2017
The following three drawings were done in an actual bible. It was given to me in 1997 and I stopped using it to draw in around 2001. I don’t know the specific dates I drew each of these images but I added color to all of them in 2018.
‘I Draw in Church – I Am Not Who I Appear To Be’ | Ink on Bible | 1997 – 2018
This drawing includes a poem I wrote.
I am not who
I appear to be.
You see beauty,
I see me.
I see me as
Far and away.
Helpless, hopeless,
Nowhere to stay.
I see me with
Aching bones,
Sagging skin and
Spiritual groans.
I see me as
Selfish and mean,
Trite and hateful,
Enviously green.
If you see me,
Truly you will know
My beauty proves
I don’t reap what I sow.
‘I Draw in Church – Thought in the Back of Her Mind’ | Ink on Bible | 1997 – 2018
‘ I Draw in Church – Prayers of a Pursed-Lipped Person’ | Ink on Bible | 1997 – 2018
These three drawings (one, ‘The Violinist’, is not pictured individually but you can see the image in the group picture above) do not include any words though one does still have thought bubbles. It’s just that there are images in the bubbles instead of words.
I Draw in Church – The Bible Reader | Ink on Paper | 2014
‘I Draw in Church – What They Thought’ | ink on paper | 2016-2018
(One piece is missing, ‘The Violinist’. I thought I had scanned it and had it in digital form but I haven’t been able to find it so I suspect I didn’t actually scan it.)
I’ve drawn in church since about 1980, probably because I started using sketchbooks small enough to carry into the building. When I tell people I do this often times I get the question, do people in church think that is rude? And here is the funny thing, while I have no doubt some do indeed think it is rude, not one time in close to 40 years has anyone ever said that to me directly. As a matter of fact most people who do talk to me about it are enthusiastic to see what I have drawn and want to know more about why I drew what I drew. This includes pastors, past and present, who sometimes are aware that I draw. The pastor at the church I currently attend will, on occasion, want to see my sketchbook, curious about what’s drawn my attention and how I may have interpreted a sermon or message. At least he knows when my head is facing down I am not asleep, just looking at my sketchbook!
Drawings © 2018 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com