Love
Astounding Anne
Wetzel, Curator presented June 19, 2006
Emily
by Joe Kenney (Plaster with
acrylic paint, 2005, 41" tall) Trinity Episcopal Church
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Tulsa, OK kenneyjw3@sbcglobal.net
Emily reflects the General Convention theme of She
is the Breadth of the Power of God in the presentation
of a peaceful child who is strongly influenced in her
spiritual journey by her maternal grandmother, an Episcopal
Priest. The inspiration for this piece is that a young
girl should aspire to be whatever she wants to become.
The artist was influenced by a sermon he heard in the
early 1970's by a laywoman who had aspired for about
40 years to become ordained as a Episcopal Priest. Subsequently,
she was ordained 30 years ago with the first eleven.
Joe Kenney's artistic interests include realistic figurative
sculpture of historic figures, adults and children that
represent everyday human behavior, and religious oriented
sculpture that evokes in the viewer a realization of
the spiritual aspect of humanity and the struggle between
good and evil. His artistic goal is to achieve clarity
as an observer of human behavior and authenticity in
sculpture so that his work brings forth an awareness
of the connectedness of humanity and the spirituality
of our journey in life.