ECVA - Quarantine Artwork - Margaret Adams Parker

American Diptych
The Burning Bush & The Robe of Mercy

Acrylic on Dibond (an aluminum composite with a polyethelene core)
Two images, each h - 48" w - 30"

Artist Statement:I created American Diptych for “De-Colonizing the Christ”, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Harrisburg, PA. An African-American Mary & Christ are set against hardscrabble rural & derelict urban backgrounds that evoke the Great Migration. The Burning Bush recalls the ancient icon of Mary as the Burning Bush and cites words from an Orthodox Coptic hymn. The “burning” dogwood honors both icon and hymn. The Robe of Mercy quotes F.Pratt Green’s hymn, To Mock Your Reign. Fusing Passion and Resurrection imagery, Christ is a majestic presence who bears the wounds of crucifixion and throws his purple cloak "around" the viewer.

These paintings emerge out my long-time interest in including images of African Americans in my work. This practice dates to 1993, when I created three small sculptures responding to an early sermon by the Rev. Michael Curry, now Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. I have recently come to understand that this is my form of reparation for the actions of my slave-holding forbears. I now hold the words from Revelation 7:9 in mind as I work: from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. My goal is to enlarge the canon of religious imagery by depicting holy figures as persons from diverse periods, cultures, and peoples.

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.