Last month, the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center (located on Independence Mall in Philly) launched a new series titled, “Illuminations.” This series involved many contributions from various artists including a few art majors from our own Cairn University! On November 3rd, the artists unveiled their murals at the center after Professor Gleason spoke publicly to all who gathered. It was an excellent opportunity for Ali, Tishara, Katrina, Amanda, Mackenzie, and Chara to express their passions professionally. These six artists were chosen to create murals based on FLDC’s six core values: faith, liberty, justice, hope, unity, and love. 

Ali chose to base her mural on the value of hope. Ali’s mural was inspired by Romans 5:5 which reads, “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Tishara chose to portray the value of justice in her mural. She writes, 

“Justice means restoring balance and mending the broken areas within our society. The piece portrays broken, fragile, and unstable vessels that are being held up by a body of water. Rolling down like a never-failing stream, the water depicts the verse Amos 5:24. The vessels in the imagery stack up on top of one another in reference to 2 Corinthians 4:7. As humans, we are broken and only the Lord can sustain and uphold us. The vessels are not balanced upright and should fall apart but the water overflows, sustains, and breaks through the boundaries and limitations of our hardened stubborn hearts. With the love that God gives us, we can stretch out our hand to those who are hurting and help issues that need mending in today’s society.”

Katrina (who goes by Kat, or Kit-Kat) decided to paint her mural on the value of unity. Her piece was based on Psalms 133:1 which states, “how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” Kat writes, “On my mural, there is a huge vine that connects those in the city together. Like a garden, we must work in our relationships to work through the conflicts and hardships (weeds) and bring forth beauty (a garden).” Kat had a few friends (including me :)) work on the mural with her to symbolize unity among all people who don’t have the same gifts. 

Ali, Tishara, and Kat weren’t the only artists who painted beautiful murals for FLDC, Amanda Mackenzie and Chara also created amazing pieces. Amanda’s mural was about faith. She painted a flower that extends to the edge of the painting. There are deep roots beneath the flower to represent the security of faith. Mackenzie designed her article based on the value of liberty. She writes:

“Being adopted into the family of Christ, He has graciously gifted us the love of freedom from the shame and despair of our past selves. Being united with a new family, I came suffering hopelessness to a life of greater privilege. In my work, the bird below seeks the need to fly in freedom, and the Eagle’s wings arches over the second bird in love and care. Below, a crowd of people celebrate their civil liberty established through the government, acknowledging the right to participate in voting, to share ideas, to be a craftsman, to grow businesses, and to speak freely of their rights. When I consider liberty, it shows no violence, enmity, lethal acts, or obscenity; but we are led to “serve one another humbly in love” according to what Paul says in Galatians. To be living as if we are free, we love and serve one another through the freedom we have been given.”

Chara painted her mural on the value of love. She writes, “The two figures in this mural are giving significant pieces of themselves to build up and show the other but the most important feature is that they do not look to the other for approval. Love is not self-serving, it is unconditionally self-giving.” She also states, “Love is truly the greatest of these, and my deepest hope is that the love shown by my family, friends, and teachers throughout my life shines in this project.”

As an innocent bystander of the difficult, yet rewarding work these artists put into their murals, I am amazed by the passion of everyone involved. The diligence and dedication that I observed during the process of this project reflects the heart of God. God as the ultimate creator, designed us to diligently reflect His nature through art and imagery which these artists have done beautifully. While looking at these murals I can clearly see how the artists tied these themes to today’s culture. The messages of truth within this project are relevant to today can reach people on an emotional and spiritual level. I believe that these murals will touch the hearts of everyone at the Faith and Liberty discovery center and point them to the Ultimate Artist.

Photo from the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center’s Instagram. Follow them @faithandlibertydiscoverycenter!