Artists see a kingdom
Six creators come together for a virtual curator talk to discuss their artistic renditions of Edward Hick’s Isaiah 11:6-inspired works.
By Tiana Higgins | Reporter
Edward Hicks stared into the face of a lion crouched beneath the head of an Indian bison. In the background, a community of diverse peoples have their backs turned to a parade of wild animals led by a child in a red cape. The year was 1849 and he had just finished his last painting.
From 1780 until 1849, 19th-century American artist and Quaker minister Edward Hicks constructed a series of paintings he titled: Peaceable Kingdom. 174 years later, in 2023, Brooklyn-based artist Wayne Adams has decided to curate a show inspired by Hicks’ work at Bethel University’s campus in Minnesota. Bethel Gallery Director Michelle Westmark Wingard hosted a Zoom panel discussion March 2 to discuss the exhibit’s 18 works prior to their official reception.
“I spent a few minutes looking [at Edward Hicks’ works] probably in 2015, and I couldn’t get it out of my head,” Adams said. “I think what we need is a new idea of a peaceable kingdom.” –Wayne Adams, Brooklyn artist
Originally a series of 62 painted works by Hicks, the first modern Peaceable Kingdom exhibit was curated by Adams at the New York Equity Gallery in 2018. It has once again returned featuring additional works from six inspired artists: Wayne Adams, Brent Everett Dickinson, Michelle Mackey, Steve Prince, Kenneth Steinbach and Michelle Westmark Wingard. The latter two artists are employed in Bethel’s art department.
“I spent a few minutes looking [at Hicks’ works] probably in 2015, and I couldn’t get it out of my head,” Adams said. “I think what we need is a new idea of a peaceable kingdom.”
In line with Edward’s idyllic vision inspired by Isaiah 11:6, which describes a future of harmony between all living creatures, the exhibit consists of these artists’ reconstructed ideas of the prophecy of heaven on Earth, or a “Peaceable Kingdom.”
“We are the weight upon our minds and yet we keep on going.” — Steve Prince, Director of Engagement and Artist in Residence at Muscarelle Museum of Art
The Zoom meeting, lasting a full hour and 24 minutes with a turnout of 94 participants, allotted 15 minutes for each artist to discuss the importance of their pieces and their meaning of the kingdom in today’s age. The artists compiled works ranging from an audio of an Eastern goldfinch singing the Nicean Creed in Morse code to children’s superimposed drawings over professional artworks into a kingdom of their own. Using a series of presentation slides, artists offered perspectives on the state of today’s world. Each one begging the question: What is the modern peaceable kingdom if heaven is not here yet?
“This whole thought of the way in which we carry generations: each and every one of us carries generations, for better or for worse,” said Steve Prince, the Director of Engagement and an artist in residence at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia. “It’s the stories that we pack inside of our cheeks and in our minds and we hold underneath our arms. We are the weight upon our minds and yet we keep on going.”
Inspired by the idea of peace on Earth, one Quaker artist spent his last 30 years painting his vision of peace, and a century later six outlooks attempt to create what they see, hear and feel in the kingdom of today.
“I think that’s where my title [Savant] is coming from,” painter and writer for artcritical.com Michelle Mackey said. “To sort of listen to the stories of the rocks and feel this. The created world has more to say than maybe you do.”
Bethel will host the Peaceable Kingdom exhibit in the Olson Art Gallery located on the second floor of Benson Great Hall Feb. 12–April 16. An in-person curator talk and following reception will be held in the Lundquist Community Life Center’s Eastlund Room at 6 p.m. March 23.
