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The Vigil Icon Ink on paper, digitally scanned for digital print transfer to Dibond (an aluminum composite with a polyethelene core) |
Artist Statement: The Vigil Icon was created for a niche above and behind an altar. The words are drawn from the Exsultet, the opening prayer of the Great Vigil of Easter. Mary and the young Christ echo the text, joining Heaven (represented by the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere) and Earth (represented by continents and oceans of the Southern Hemisphere.) Christ stretches his arms as if on the Cross, his hands extended in welcome and blessing. (This gesture will be echoed by those of the priest at the altar.) This youthful Christ bears the marks of the nails in his hands and feet: a reminder that he was born in order to die for us. Mary offers her Son and also supports him, in her person taking the place of the Cross. Bio: Margaret Adams Parker is an artist and theological educator. Her commissions include sculpture for Virginia Seminary, Duke Divinity School, Washington National Cathedral, and churches across the country. This past Lent her painted Stations of the Cross panels were offered by VTS’ Lifelong Learning as an online resource. A VTS adjunct instructor since 1991, Parker is the co-author, with Ellen Davis, of Who Are You, My Daughter? Reading Ruth through Image and Text and, with Katherine Sonderegger, of Praying the Stations of the Cross – Finding Hope in a Weary Land. |
