Artist Story: Sara Ronnevik
For hundreds of years the Church recognized the power of pairing beautiful artwork with the story of the Bible. Some examples are Celtic illuminated Bibles, church architecture, mosaics and stained-glass windows that still inspire awe. From 1490 to 1530, during a period called “The High Renaissance,” most of the art produced was commissioned by the Church.
Today, the majority of arts organizations receive their funding from the government and private secular donors. As a result, modern art often reflects and promotes the values and ideas of secular culture. When I was in college working on a studio art degree, I was in a very secular environment. I never met another Christian in the art program at that time. But I loved my classmates and formed strong connections with many of them. So, I used the freedom of my class assignments to paint scenes from Jesus’ life whenever possible. These paintings sparked so many interesting conversations that would often spill over from our class time and into coffee shops afterwards.
In Acts 17, Paul preached in Athens, using the words of two Greek poets, Epimenides and Aratus (italicized in the text below), as he shared the gospel:
“Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. …God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”
―Acts 17:22-28
This passage displays two specific purposes that God has for Christians in the arts. First, Christians can use their creativity to worship God and to reflect the beauty of creation. And second, when art is paired with the gospel, as in Paul’s use of Greek poetry, it can profoundly point people to the one true God.
In my work as an artist, I paint a wide variety of subjects from portraits and landscapes to local landmarks and buildings. But there is something extraordinary that happens when I work on a project that is directly inspired by God’s Word. I illustrated two books that were published by Nathanael and Carrie Szobody. These are some of the initial books that have been published in the Bagirmi language. The first book was the story of Creation and the Fall. The second book was a paraphrase of the story of Joseph. I truly felt like the Holy Spirit took over my body and mind when I was working on these projects. I was the tool, but God was the real Artist.
The artwork that I am currently working on is also inspired by stories from the Bible, and, as I finish these paintings, they will be shared on my history blog. The first painting in this series is called The Burial of Christ. In this painting I used myrrh, agarwood, and spikenard on the surface of the painting so that the viewer could experience some of the scents that were present as Joseph and Nicodemus tenderly cared for Jesus’ body after his death. The second painting that I am working on for this series is called The Road to Emmaus.
Besides being an artist, I am also a mom with four kids, ages nine to sixteen. At this stage in life, I do not have time for putting up and taking down art shows or delivering artwork to galleries. So, I have begun to use my blogs as a place where I can share my artwork and interact with the world. I know this is not the same as experiencing physical artwork in person, but hopefully there will be a time for that again.
Sara Ronnevik lives near Fergus Falls, MN, with her husband Erik and four kids. She blogs about history and art at thelibrarycardhistorian.home.blog and pro-child politics, theology, and cultural issues at minnesotatrue.blog