David Versluis
Enlaced: a Burning Bush, Psalm 19
COR-TEN Steel
18'H x 8'W x 8'D
Dordt College Permanent Art Collection, 2013
photograph by Rick Valicenti
The Dordt College Department of Art and Design was recently asked by the director of Dordt’s Andreas Center to respond to this question, “What art is and how we see God in and through art ?”
The following answer, in 500 words or less, convey the views of David Versluis:
In today’s visual culture art can represent virtually any idea and be made from practically any material. But despite the fact that artworks may look different today than they did in the past, we still mainly experience art by making objects and viewing images.
Art can be figurative or it can be socially relational or contemplative; it can also exhibit a variety of other characteristics.
The best Christian art communicates and projects a world that is implicitly meaningful and poignant. It is sentient and serves humanity in a way that values integrity and veracity.
Art helps reveal and unfold the patterns woven into the structure of God’s creation. It is a gift of life and reminds us of God’s blessing and faithful covenantal grace.
By working out of a biblical framework, Christian artists and their art humbly and sensitively engage the paradox of sin and redemption by representing a world of sorrow and joy with acute awareness and skill. Christian art may allude to the light of hope that can overcome pessimistic distrust. In doing so, artistic action becomes service to humankind and enriches life.
The artistic spirit that drives the imagination of Christian art may evoke images of God’s creative work at the beginning of time. It can also honor the compassionate example of Jesus Christ by challenging indifference and cynicism and by respecting creational diversity.
—David Versluis, 20 August 2014
Saturday, August 30, 2014
what art is; and how we see God in and through art
Thursday, August 28, 2014
“Evocative Poetry: Colossians 1:15-20” — a collaborative work by David Versluis and Jacob Van Wyk
Evocative Poetry: Colossians 1:15-20
David Versluis (designer) and Jacob Van Wyk (ceramic artist)
Ceramic Tile Mural (Glazed Stoneware)
10 x 17 feet—approx. 3,000 lbs.
A 2014 Dordt College art commission for the Science Building Addition.
This view shows Versluis (dark shirt) and Van Wyk (red shirt) who are beginning to layout the finished tiles on the template. Eventually this preparation step will lead the mounting the tiles to the aluminum support panels that are adjacent to the template in this picture.
Nelson Wynia, the metal fabricator and Van Wyk are shown mounting the aluminum baseplate to 30, one and a half inch, protruding wall standoffs.
The work is based on the following Biblical passage:
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Col 1: 15-20
Artists’ Statement:
The title “Evocative Poetry: Colossians 1:15–20” was derived from two significant books on Colossians. In The Climax of the Covenant theologian N.T. Wright describes Colossians 1:15–20 as “Paul’s poetry.” Keesmaat and Walsh in Colossians Revisited call it “radical and evocative poetry.”
This relief sculpture is meant to reflect what Colossians says about Jesus, in creation and in covenant with his people. Through the square-cut tiles we want to suggest, as songwriter Matthew Westerholm does in “The First Place,” that “Every inch of this universe belongs to you, O Christ. For through you and for you it was made. Your creation endures by the order of your hand.”
The suggested topographic geographical map alludes to God’s blessing on all creation, all things, and all humankind. With N.T. Wright, we proclaim that “the creator God is also the redeeming, covenant God, and vice versa.”
In the coloration of the piece, we tried to compliment and anchor the interior space in this building. Even though the ceramic tiles are heavy, they seem to float against the wall, creating a sense of dynamic and kinetic energy in this space in which students and faculty will explore and discover the endless wonder and complexity of what God has made.
Monday, August 18, 2014
At the Walker: Art Expanded, 1958–1978—Fluxus / Zaj
ZAJ
José Luis Castillejo
1968/1969
9.25 × 7.25 inches
Screen printing in pink and black ink on white card stock
This strikingly simple large pink “C” is juxtaposed elegantly with a big black dot in this design for a Fluxus style, Zaj performance announcement—the text is in Spanish. Printed on front and back.
Walker Art Center didactic states that this piece in their collection is one of:
Dozens of pieces of ephemera—posters, programs, announcements, postcards, and the like—document the activities of Fluxus and like-minded artist groups such as Zaj and Aktual Art.”
Fluxus rejected the values and conventions of high art in favor of new forms that were accessible, interactive, hybrid, and playful.… For many, Fluxus is a concept expansive enough to include the minimal compositions of La Monte Young, the mystically tinged performances of Joseph Beuys, the wry photographic sculpture of Robert Watts, the Concrete poetry of Emmett Williams, the manifestos and historiographic charts of George Maciunas, and the conceptual objects and films of Yoko Ono—all artists who stood under the Fluxus banner at some point during their careers.… (1)
- Rothfuss, Joan. "Fluxus." Collections. Walker Art Center, 2005. Web. 18 Aug. 2014.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
At the Walker: Art Expanded, 1958–1978
George Brecht (American, 1926–2008)
No Smoking
c.1973
Offset Lithograph on Paper
Collection of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
photo by versluis
George Brecht, was a vital proponent of Fluxus, the loosely connected international group of spirited Conceptualists who were mainly active in the 1960s and 1970s. Below is a promotional clip produced by the Walker.
The following lyrics by Jasper Johns greets the viewer as one enters the exhibition:
One thing working one way
Another thing working another way.
One thing working different ways
at different times.
Take an object.
Do something to it.
Do something else to it.
" " " " "
Take a canvas.
Put a mark on it.
Put another mark on it.
" " " " "
Make something.
Find a use for it.
AND OR
Invent a function.
Find an object.
—Jasper Johns 1965
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Goodrich House, Oak Park, Illinois
Harry C. Goodrich House, 1896
Oak Park, Illinois
Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
Current renovations have removed the third story dormers on the east and west sides, leaving the exterior much as Wright had designed it originally. At this point the house is in the process of being prepped for exterior painting.
photograph by versluis, March, 2013
Renovations are being implemented by:
Eifler & Associates Architects, Chicago, Illinois
Bosi Construction, Orland Park, Illinois
Along with the house’s substantial sheltering eves the following quote seems apropos when viewing this house. In an 1894 essay/presentation, possibly titled The Architect and the Machine, Frank Lloyd Wright wrote:
Let your home appear to grow easily from its site and shape it to sympathize with the surroundings if Nature is manifest there, and if not, try and be as quiet, substantial, and organic as she would have been if she had the chance.…
I might enter here into a discussion of the various merits of the various styles of “house” building, but would end by saying that it matters very little what “style” your house was as long as it was built like a home and with a true consideration for harmony. There should be as many types of homes as there are types of people, for it is the individuality of the occupants that should give character and color to the buildings and furnishings. (1)
- Wright, Frank Lloyd. “The Architect and the Machine.” Vol. 1. Frank Lloyd Wright Collected Writings, 1894–1930. Ed. Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer. New York: Rizzoli/The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, 1992. 23. Print.
Friday, June 20, 2014
the facination of the uplifting authority word / message
David M. Versluis, ©2014
Redemption
3-color Monoprint
12" x 18"
2014 Society of Typographic Arts Letterpress Workshop:
Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
New work by versluis:
Orchestrating and printing large archaic woodtype letterforms or letter-units by spelling out a word or message. Dividing the word according to syllables suggests a more kinetic effect and message.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Society of Typographic Arts & Hamilton Wood Type Museum: 2014 Letterpress Workshop
Recently, the Society of Typographic Arts celebrated the Hamilton Wood Type Museum’s 15th Anniversary with a weekend letterpress workshop, May 31—June 1 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
The workshop was lead by Jim Moran, Director of the Museum and Stephanie Carpenter, Assistant Director of the Museum. The above photograph of one of the wood type displays is courtesy of the STA.
David Versluis, one of the participants, is shown inking wood type from the Museum’s collection, on a Showcard Machine Co. proof press. Versluis states, “Working with wood type is not about nostalgia, but about the unique look and feel of the print quality.” The Museum has 12 presses available for workshop groups. Originally, the Showcard press was used primarily for department stores, libraries, and shop owners to print signs and advertisements.
Photograph by Stephanie Carpenter
Reformation
David M. Versluis ©2014
12 in. x 18 in.
This is a 4-color print. After the first color yellow was printed, the subsequent colors in the order of orange, red, blue were printed and overlaid while the ink was still wet, resulting in textured areas. The kinetic effect is achieved by intentionally revealing registration issues.
