Psalm 39

ARTIST STATEMENT:


Derek Cook





The light projection portion of the piece is primarily intended
to reflect the brevity of humanity as displayed in this Psalm.
The man exists only as long as the projector burns and he walks
only as long as the mechanism runs. If any of the many factors
fall out of sync, his journey comes to a quick end.





The assembly of the projector mechanism tells a similar story.
The entire assembly is built around a slide projector from the
1950s. In it’s time it was impressive technology, but only one
generation later it’s simply a novelty. Similarly, the animation
mechanism uses out of date technology to produce its effect. A
geneva mechanism creates the intermittent motion necessary to
produce a visible animation— the same mechanism was used in the
oldest film projectors. This technology allowed people to view
recorded video for the first time, but in the same way, not even
150 years later its usefulness for this purpose has long since
gone. The showcase of obsolete technology is intended to display
the brevity of human achievements.





I believe there’s an invitation in this Psalm to consider our
lives and accomplishments with a sober mind, gaining the
perspective necessary to realize that truly our only hope is in
the Lord.





Materials: Light, Wood, Brass, Aluminum, Plastics





ARTIST STATEMENT:


Jenna Hurt








This piece is a prayer of lament.





God, may this art help us lament our sins. For the moments of
trusting my


own desires more than my Creator’s. If my sin is not mourned, how
else will I


taste true redemption from it? How else will I look upon the
cross with


appropriate posture?





God, may this art help us express our grief, born not from
personal sin, but


from the brokenness of the world. Sometimes hopeful words aren’t
fitting.


God, may this art help us comfort the mourner. For the call to
“weep with


those who weep.” I realize that I often allow a society that
values convenience


and ease to overshadow this call.





The Process and the Meaning:


The process of this piece was deeply intertwined with the
symbolism found in


Psalm 39. I painted shadows formed by plants in the sunlight
(“Surely man


goes about as a shadow” vs. 6). Then I took weed-like plants and
printed


them directly on the piece by rolling them in ink and pressing
them down. I


created a linoleum carving of a thistle to represent bitterness
and a decaying


moth for verse 11: “You consume like a moth what is dear to him.”
I wanted


this bottom area of the piece to represent fragility and
empathize with the


mourner by visually representing how lament feels to the spirit.





In the upper portion, I used plaster to represent flourishing in
a more tangible


way than the fading nature of the lower portion. Verse 10
illustrates that when


we suffer, we can feel a sort of weight from God’s sovereignty
(“Remove your


stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand”). We
don’t know


what to do with God’s goodness in the midst of a troubling world
that He


created and of which He is in control. It may feel like He is
bearing down and


caging us in. His goodness is glaring to us, as shown by the
effect of the gold


leaf. Yet, when we trust our “seeds” or tears into the presence
of God, we find


these emotions are actually safe and welcomed by Him.





Website: jennajaneart.com Instagram: @jennajane.art