The Visual Word

"Benevolence" by Justin Lewis

2008-07-06T22:37:00.001+08:00

Watch this short film "Benevolence" by Justin Lewis. There is something gospel about this...

Short Video Clips for Teaching

2008-05-23T02:33:00.003+08:00

Here is a really nice site which provides short movie clips which you can use for teaching purposes.

URL: www.wingclips.com

Line Drawing Source

2008-04-07T01:17:00.005+08:00

Here's a nice site where you can download line drawings. Actually, what is amazing is that you can create line drawings out of actual photos which you upload

Here's one I created - the identity of the person I used is secret!URL: http://www.caricature-software.com/gallery/index.php

Comic Resources

2008-02-26T22:43:00.003+08:00

Comic resources are great for conversational starters or for catching attention in a lecture because they reflect human interests and life situation so well.

A wonderful one stop comic resource you can visit for comic strips is Go Comics. There are many strips you can view for a week after which they go into a pay to view archive.

URL: http://www.gocomics.com/

Holy Lands Photos

2007-04-21T06:24:00.001+08:00

This is a really nice site which provides free high quality pictures of Bible Lands taken by Dr Carl Rasmussen. Those of you who are familiar with the Zondervan NIV Bible Atlas know that Dr Rasmussen was the author of that volume.

The site allows you to browse in three ways: a) Daily Life and Artifacts, b) People and c) By Region. What is nice is some of these images are ready sized available for use in Powerpoint teaching.

Here's a research question: In the Bible, there are passages which describe the Tabernacle. Where are these passages to be found and how would you describe the tabernacle?

OK, here's the answer. To the question, "Where are these passages to be found?", go to www.biblegateway.com Clue: Check "Exodus".

To the second question, visit www.holylandphotos.org. Go on the top right corner and click on Daily Life and Artifacts>Religion>Tabernacle.
Here's one of the sacrificial altar outside the Tabernacle but within the curtained area of the Tabernacle structure.
URL: http://www.holylandphotos.org/

Bible Lands Dot Com

2007-04-20T16:13:00.001+08:00

URL:

Emerging church cartoon

2007-04-07T10:31:00.001+08:00

I just couldn't resist sharing this cartoon from http://www.cartoonchurch.com

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Colouring pages for Sunday School

2007-04-07T08:38:00.003+08:00

Sometimes, Sunday school teachers wish they could find instant resources for their kids to colour.

Here are links to some sites.

a) Sermon for Kids Colouring Pages
John the Baptist
URL: http://sermons4kids.com/colorpg.htm

b) Touch of Fire Site
Scroll down to the bottom third of the webpage where it reads:
"Free! Our Bible A-Z coloring book is ready for download. All the stories from our book are available for easy download and print. This is free (all our downloads are). There are about 120 high-quality A4 size pages with lovely pictures and text."

There you can get nice pdf files of Bible stories, each of which contain a few pictures from a story. Here's one of Balaam and the donkey!
URL: http://www.touchoffire.com/

c) Christian (Bible) Coloring Pages
Ruth gathering her sheaths
URL: http://www.coloring.ws/christian.htm

d) TeacherHelp Coloring Pages
This is a great resource because it has compiled many links to different sites which offer free coloring pages. No lack of choices here! The first link, which is the link to Calvary Chapel provides a very comprehensive curriculum for teaching bible to kids. That is to say, its not just coloring pages, its a whole curriculum plus ideas to help promote learning which accompany the pictures.
A page from the story of Hagar and Ishmael
http://www.teacherhelp.org/color.htm#bible

More Asian face pictures in Flash Face

2007-04-06T00:37:00.000+08:00

Here's a face created with changes in hair style and lip shapes in http://flashface.ctapt.de. I then created 4 powerpoint slides, inserted the images and the text, saved the slides as gif images, and then made an animated gif of the 4 gif images.

Recognize the potential of creating such images for learning? What if I created an animated gif which was a dialogue between bible characters? What if I created an animated gif of ordinary people talking about issues in the Bible which invited discussion/study?
Growing bald!

An experiment with Asian faces on Flash Face

2007-04-04T22:36:00.000+08:00

Guess what? The Flash Face site can create great Asian faces. Here's my sketch of an Asian male.

I love this site. Go discover the really nice features! I think I will only focus on creating Asian faces as well as imaginary Biblical characters.

URL: http://flashface.ctapt.de

Oh, remember that by manipulating just the eyes and mouth (and occasionally the nose), you can get so many different possible facial expressions.

Flash Face

2007-04-03T05:34:00.000+08:00

Flash Face is similar to the Face Game. Here is a picture that was sketched in a few minutes. The site is great!

This one is entitled "OT Prophet...or emo guy?" Suddenly, any one can be a sketch artiste....

URL: http://flashface.ctapt.de

National Geographic's Face Game

2007-04-02T21:46:00.000+08:00

The Face Game is a image generator that allows you to create "realistic", photofit type pictures by chosing different face shapes, hairdo, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.

This is Jane...

URL: http://natgeochannel.co.uk/play/faceGame/

URL: http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html

Caricature Generator Site

2007-03-19T22:49:00.000+08:00

Here's a nice site which allows you to be a "talented caricature artist."
Why so sad?

URL: http://www.magixl.com/heads/poir.html

Tombstone Generator Site

2007-03-17T23:54:00.000+08:00

Here's a site you may want to use to get people to reflect on lives and how they live it. Tombstone Generator allows you to write your epitaph. What would you want people to remember you by? What, on the other hand, would someone else who really knew you write on it?

URL: http://www.jjchandler.com/tombstone/download.php

An iCard Generator

2007-03-06T05:31:00.000+08:00

Here's a site you'll like. You can create free e-cards (here called i-cards) and send them to friends or even yourself. I send them to myself all the time to use as visuals in powerpoint/blogs.

Here's one I created to promote the idea of developing the discipline of listening to the Word of God for the ipod/postliterate generation.

URL: http://www.mac.com/WebObjects/iCards.woa?aff=consumer&lang=en (then click on the iCard tab)

Mr. PicassoHead

2007-03-05T22:26:00.000+08:00

Bring out the artist in you. Here's a unique site which allows you to create different artistic expressions on a canvas (presumably in the style of Picasso, but in the manner of Mr Potato Head where you stick together the different parts of the body.

My picture here ( created in just 3 minutes) illustrates James 1:19 where we are called to be slow to anger and slow to speak, but quick to listen. After all, didn't God give us one mouth and two ears?

URL: http://www.mrpicassohead.com/

Creating your own comic characters

2007-03-04T21:37:00.000+08:00

Here is a great site for create your own comic character. The site allows many variations on the same character which is great for illustrating plot development and characterization.

URL: http://www.dookyweb.com/avatars.swf

Garfield Comic Strip Creation site

2007-02-26T18:41:00.000+08:00

Here is a site for creating Garfield comic strips.
OK, I am not a great fan of Garfield, but it might work for some of you.

URL: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/starslp/missionz/comic.swf
(Click here)

Comic Creation websites (i)

2007-02-25T14:35:00.000+08:00

Here are a couple of sites which can be used for creating cartoons/comic strips. I find these resources useful because most of the time we use other people's cartoons and hope they communicate in our contexts.

How you can create very context specific strips.

The first site i wish to highlight is the Strip Generator. It is really easy to use. Just choose from over a hundred characters and objects, drag the items into the panels, add your captions and dialogue/thought bubbles and voila! Done!

I dare say if you already have the idea, you can do most comics in under 3 minutes.

Here's one I did for my Visual Communications Special Interest Group website (if you click on the image, you will see a bigger image).
URL: http://stripgenerator.com/

Oh, one more thing, the question of how to download the comic strip after you have created it needs to be answered.

For Apple users, you have a built in software called Grab. Using Grab, you can take a "snapshot" or a "screengrab" of any webpage (or any part of a webpage, an image, etc). Note however that Grab only allows you to save the image as a .tiff file. .tiff files can be inserted into Powerpoint/Word, but cannot be upload in Blogger. How did I manage to get around the problem for this picture? Yes, its true, I did use Grab to cut the image as a .tiff file, but I also used a free program called Toy Viewer to convert the .tiff file to a .jpg file. Toy Viewer is one of the Internet's best gifts (read F-R-E-E!!!) for Mac Users.

For PC users, you need to download a free software called ScreenGrabPro. For that you need to visit http://www.traction-software.co.uk/screengrabpro/

Web Generators

2007-02-23T23:59:00.000+08:00

I want to move on to online sites which allow you to generate images which you can use for visual communication purposes. Some of these generators include comic strip generators, digital characters (or avatars) generator, cross word puzzle generator, book cover generator, etc.

Here is my first installment: A "Dummies" book cover generator.

(OK, for those who haven't got it, the real book doesn't exist!)

You could try "Genesis for Newbies" "Church History for Dummies" etc.
URL: http://www.signgenerator.org/books/dummies/

BibleMap.Org - an interactive map site

2007-02-13T23:32:00.000+08:00

Here is a really interesting site which uses the interactive features of the Internet to promote learning.

When you first access the site, you are greeted by a satellite map plus a text box on the Left Hand of the screen. Type in the Bible passage, and when text comes up, you want to click on the highlighted place name. Clicking on the place name calls up a map.

I typed in Ruth chap 2 and got the satellite image of Bethelehem which I have posted below:

Screenshot of the Satellite image of Bethlehem

If you notice up on the right hand side, instead of a satellite image, you can click on the "Map" option. The screenshot below is what I got when I clicked on "Map" as well as "Hide This Window" for the text book:

Screenshot of the Map of Bethlehem without the text in the way

URL: http://www.biblemap.org/

Bible.ca Maps

2007-02-13T22:27:00.000+08:00

Here is a website where you can find free high and ultra hight resolution maps in black and white.
Map of Abraham's Journey in the Ancient Near East
Map of Jerusalem

URL: http://www.bible.ca/maps/

Jonathan HipKiss's Scanned Old Maps site

2007-02-13T00:11:00.000+08:00

Here is an interesting site which features scanned old maps. This is a project by Jonathan Hipkiss.
Journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan
Palestine in the Time of Jesus
URL: http://www.hipkiss.org/cgi-bin/maps.pl?cat=bible

The Net Bible

2007-02-09T15:59:00.000+08:00

The Net Bible site has a small collection of beautiful satellite maps of the Bible lands. The maps are there to support the great work of the NET Bible, a project of www.bible.org.
Galilee and the North

In addition to the satellite maps, there is also a very good collection of black and white maps which you can use for classroom map work.
Paul's First Missionary Journey
URL: http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=2055

Manna Bible Maps/Bible History Online Maps

2007-01-31T21:17:00.000+08:00

This is a site which does beautiful online maps which are not intended to be downloaded, but viewed online.

URL: http://www.biblemaps.com/onlinemaps/
Hmm...just checked out the site and they don't do free views anymore. You have to pay for the maps, but they are worth purchasing for their beauty.

But wait,here's a really nice site - Bible History Online. Check out especially the color maps which are closer to the bottom of the webpage.

URL:http://www.bible-history.com/biblehistoryonline_biblemaps.php

Bible Maps from StudyLight.Org

2007-01-19T22:39:00.000+08:00

This site offers scanned pages of a complete Bible Atlas with colour maps. The headings in the table of contents will give you an idea of the scope of this online resource:

PART I: THE BIBLICAL SETTING

Chapter 1 The Face of the Ancient Near East
The Ancient Near East 001
Biblical Regions 001a
Modern States and the Ancient Near East 002
Mesopotamia: Homeland of Abraham 003
Egypt: Land of Bondage 004
Syria and Lebanon 005
International Routes, The King's Highway 006
Geography and Trade Routes of the Middle East 006a

Chapter 2 Natural Regions of Palestine
National Regions of Ancient Palestine 007
Physical Geography of Palestine 007a
Topography of Palestine 007b*
Cross Sectional Views of Longitudinal Zones 008
Northern Coastal Plains 009
Plain of Dor, Plain of Sharon, Samaria, et al. 010
Philistine Plain, Shephelah, Judah, and the Dead Sea 011
Arabah, Negeb, Wildernesses of Zin and Paran 012
The Old City of Jerusalem Today 012a
Modern Political Divisions of Ancient Palestine 013
Climate Patterns of Ancient Palestine 014
.
.
.
etc (there are 173 high quality maps available in this site - see below for examples)
Topographical Map of Northern Costal Plain, the Jezreel Valley, Galillee and Bashan
Expansion of Christianity in the 2nd to 3rd Century AD
URL: http://www.studylight.org/se/maps/browse.cgi?st=1&pn=1

Shifting our emphasis onto Bible maps/Smith Bible Atlas (1915, London)

2007-01-16T23:39:00.000+08:00

I will be shifting our emphasis from visuals which tell the Bible story to Maps which help us develop better understanding of Biblical history and geography. You will be able to find beautiful collections which you can use for teaching purposes.

I tell the story of how I gave my precious Moody Bible Atlas transparency set to my Cambodian student. Years ago, I bought this set of transparencies for a lot of money. The reason why I gave it away? I can get all the maps resources I need online!

The first collection I will feature is a rather old collection - the Smith Bible Atlas

URL: http://www.creationism.org/images/SmithBibleAtlas/index.htm

The Brick Testament and the Rev Brendon Powell Smith

2007-01-13T07:25:00.000+08:00

The Brick Testament is an interesting site which tells many of the narratives which are not found in the Sunday School Curriculum. The scope of stories found in this site reminds us that the package of stories offered to to our kids through the "canned curricula" offered by publishing houses often selectively edit out important narratives. That being the case, how do our children understand the full counsel of the Lord (Acts 20)?

On the other hand, the way the stories are told lend themselves to criticism. First of all the use of Lego Brick characters can be problematic. You see, Jesus is really ObiWan Kenobi in the Star Wars series and John the Baptist, Hagrid in the Harry Potter series. The narrative associations made by kids distract and thus add "noise" to the Biblical story.

Second, if you notice, this site provides ratings. N = nudity, S = sexuality, C = cursing and V = violence. While I would be the first to agree that Biblical narratives (esp from the Old Testament) have a certain degree of sex and violence, the specific portrayal in the Brick Testament often leaves nothing to the imagination. What? How nude, sexual, violent, curse filled can the site be? Well, you check it out for yourself and come to your own conclusion. For that reason, I find this site more useful for clarifying points in the Biblical narrative rather than for use as illustration.
Scene from Judges 9
URL: http://www.thebricktestament.org

Medieval Woodcuts

2007-01-13T01:08:00.000+08:00

Here is a very small collection of Medieval woodcuts by various artists/craftsmen.

The one above depicts the beheading of John the Baptist at the request of Salome.

URL: http://www.godecookery.com/clipart/biblical/clbibl.htm"

Microsoft Clipart Online

2007-01-08T00:17:00.000+08:00

If you wish Microsoft's online resource center and look under their Clipart section, you will be able to find some really nice Bible Cliparts for use.

If you do a search and type in "Biblical Scenes," you will find some nice Biblical Scenery.
Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14)
Samson and the Philistine woman, Delilah
URL: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/

Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible

2007-01-07T22:56:00.000+08:00

What if someone had a vision to illustrate all the verses of the Bible? Instead of trying to do it by him or herself, the person enlists the help of artists from all over the world and gets them to do the job. All the person needs to do is to provide the space and be the point person to organize and arrange the work sent to him.

Well, that's what The Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible project is all about.

Our goal is to illustrate the entire bible verse–by–verse— one illustration per verse. We plan to enlist artists and illustrators from all over the world— including you!— to help us bring each of the 36,665 verses in our database to life....

Here's the Genesis 2:3 illustration.

My favourite artist? Brian Dewan

Dewan illustrating Leviticus 4:3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.

Note: Not all illustrations are of equal quality. I really don't like many of the illustrations at all. In a sense, the very pluralistic vision of this site makes it interesting, yet it is the very diversity which makes me appreciate some of the collections where you can see a style and a coherence repeated throughout.
URL: http://www.flamingfire.com/bible.html

Matt Stone's Blog

2007-01-06T15:20:00.000+08:00

Here is a really interesting blog site which if you were attentive enough earlier, you would have visited already (there was an innocuous link in the Dec 14 '06 entry). Matt Stone has a blog exploring religious pluralism, secular spirituality, and emerging expressions of Christianity. The "non traditional visual expressions of Christian faith" make for fascinating discussion.

If you scroll down the blog, you will find toward the right hand side of the page, links to several image collections including Aboriginal images Jesus, African images Jesus, ancient images of Jesus, Anglo images of Jesus, Asian images of Jesus, Esoteric images of Jesus, and Native American images of Jesus.
Life in Nazareth (from the Asian Jesus Images Collection)
Interesting question raised through viewing all the images: When does contextualization of Christian faith end and syncretism or even blasphemy begin?

URL: http://mattstone.blogs.com/

HolyBible Sketchpad by Deborah A. Reed

2007-01-05T04:38:00.000+08:00

There is a really nice site which hosts a really creative collection of sketches inspired by the Bible. The artist is Deborah Reeder. There is no additional information about her in the website, but you do want to visit the site to view her great sketches. Some of them have very contemporary interpretation and special cultural applications embedded in the sketches. All in all, this is a great collection of 152 sketches.
Abasalom's Hair (2 Sam 18:9)
King Joash - he started off a good king, go read about the rest of his life (2 Chron 24)
URL: http://www.holybiblesketchpad.com

Shlomo Katz (1937 - 1992)

2007-01-04T00:23:00.000+08:00

There is another very stylized collection of biblical lithographs found in the Shlomo Katz Gallery. This is a commercial artist who portrays his characters with slender, angular forms. Let's put it this way, it's not quite Botero!

The 10 commandments Exodus 20
Here's a mnemonic: Exodus comprises 40 chapters. Divide that by 2 gives you 20. That's the chapter where you will find the (20 divided by 2) 10 commandments
URL: http://strictlylimited.com/katz_gallery.html

John August Swanson (1938-)

2007-01-03T00:02:00.000+08:00

A contemporary collection which you can view is at the gallery of John August Swanson. I just love this collection. Its beautiful! The information below is from his website:

JOHN AUGUST SWANSON makes his home in Los Angeles, California, where he was born in 1938. He paints in oil, watercolor, acrylic and mixed media, and is an independent printmaker of limited edition serigraphs, lithographs and etchings.

His art reflects the strong heritage of storytelling he inherited from his Mexican mother and Swedish father. John Swanson’s narrative is direct and easily understood. He addresses himself to human values, cultural roots, and his quest for self-discovery through visual images. These include Bible stories and social celebrations such as attending the circus, the concert, and the opera. He also tells of everyday existence, of city and country walks, of visits to the library, the train station or the schoolroom. All his parables optimistically embrace life and one’s spiritual transformation.
(...read more on his website)

URL: http://www.johnaugustswanson.com/

Sadao Watanabe (1913-1996)

2007-01-02T08:13:00.000+08:00

Another interesting Asian collection is by the Japanese artist Sadao Watanabe. Watanabe's work is very stylized, but he uses very strong and vibrant images. This picture has its reference, the encounter between Abraham, Sarah and the three angels, and is found in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. The picture is entitled Sarah, Abraham, and the 3 visitors. You can visit the rest of his collection at The Scriptum, a gallery which specializes in 19th and 20th century contemporary Japanese prints in woodblock, etchings, engraving, stencil and mixed media. More information about him can be accessed here.
URL: http://www.japaneseprintart.com

Asian Christian Art Association (ii)

2007-01-01T06:15:00.000+08:00

While you are at the Asian Christian Art Association site, visit the galleries of two other Asian artists:

Hanna Varghese, a Malaysian artist who began painting religious/biblical themes after she was inspired by artworks of Asian Christians in the early issues of IMAGE magazine. The spritual images made by other Asian Christian artists prompted her to explore the possibilities of making tangible her own understanding of her Christian sprituality and faith - for the first time.Who will roll away the stone...? (in Batik) Mark 16:3

Li Wei San, a Christian artist from China, was an engineer. After retiring, he painted nearly 1000 Christian art works for calendars, cards, slides, book covers, and illustrations. Published works include a 300 picture "Pictorial of Jesus' story", 70 picture "Pictorial of Salvation", 110 picture "Pictorial of Revelation". Some of his Chinese traditional painting was included in several joint exhibitions in Beijing, Nanjing, Singapore, Vienna, Toronto and New York. Nail marks (John 20:24-30)
URL: http://www.asianchristianart.org/profile/profile.htm

Asian Christian Art Association

2006-12-31T00:02:00.000+08:00

There is a really interesting website hosted by the Asian Christan Art Association which features various Asian artists. The featured artists include i) Ni Ketut Sri Wardani (Indonesia), ii) Kim Jae Im (Korea), iii) Hari Santosa (Indonesia), iv) Hanna Cheriyan Varghese (Malaysia), v) Geoff Todd (Australia), vi) He Qi (China), vii) Li Wei San (China), viii) Dr. P. Solomon RAJ (India), ix) Kang Joon-Ho (Korea), x) Shim Hyun-Joo (Korea), and xi) Wisnu Sasongko (Indonesia).

I like the work of two artists and have reproduced information about them taken from the website:

Hari Santosa (Indonesia) is an Indonesian Christian artist and ACAA member live in Yogyakarta. In 1979 he established and organized 'Sanggar Melati', children art studio, which has accomplished various achievements in both national and international scopes. He seriously started painting in 1998. The pictures displayed on this gallery are some of his new paintings in 2001 and 2002.
Note the elephant in the nativity scene above Matthew 2 (not in the original text, but drawn in to achieve cultural relevance)

He Qi (China)is a professor at the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary and a tutor for master candidate students in the Philosophy Department of Nanjing University. He is also a member of the China Art Association and a council member of the Asian Christian Art Association. He has been committed to the artistic creation of modern Chinese Christian Art for more then twelve years. He hopes to help change the "foreign image" of Christianity in China by using artistic language, and at the same time, to supplement Chinese Art the way Buddhist art did in ancient times.
Saul and David 1 (1Sam 18:10)
Pilate washes his hands Matthew 27:11-26 He Qi also has his own website where a lot of his works (including his most recent works) are featured. If you click on that link, you really won't be disappointed. He is my favourite artist for now!
URL: http://www.asianchristianart.org/profile/profile.htm

A collection of Black and white images with a hispanic emphasis...

2006-12-30T05:42:00.000+08:00

Here is an interesting site which has Hispanic roots. Honestly, I don't understand too much of what is written there, but you have a nice collection of Black and White images of biblical scenes drawn with a Hispanic audience in mind. I can't be sure, but I think the artist is Cerezo Barredo. If so, here is some bibliographic information taken from a pdf article issued by The Archdiocese of Seattle

Maximino Cerezo Barredo is a painter of the theology of liberation. He was born in Villaviciosa, Asturias in 1932. Entered the Congregation of the Claritian Missionaries in 1950 and was ordained a priest in 1957. He began to paint murals in his environments of apostolate: University Residences of Oviedo, Valladolid and Madrid, Colleges in Madrid and Lisbon, Chapel of Chateau- southern Marne and the Spanish Patronato in Paris. He exposed at the Spanish pavilion at the Expo in New York, collaborated in the II Exposition of Sacred Art in León, Spain, and was named a member of the National Commission of Sacred Art.

Pentecostes (Acts 2)

URL: http://www.servicioskoinonia.org/cerezo/indexB.php

Here is another link where Cerezo Barredo tries to interpret Christ for a context relevant to him.

Jesus Mafa: African Jesus

2006-12-29T10:55:00.000+08:00

In this generation there are so many sites which present the biblical story dressed in cross-cultural trappings. I will feature several sites later which is uniquely Asian, but I want to start with African Jesus.

The site I want to feature is “The life of Jesus Mafa: Jésus in Black African Countries.” The following is a short writeup which you can find in their website:
The MAFA pictures are a coherent set of African illustrations of the Gospel. They permit a good visualisation of the Sunday mass texts for the believer's faith, the catechist's comment and the celebrant's homely. Moreover they lead to prayer and, in a spirit of acculturation, the contemplation of a black Jesus.

So why an African Christ? Click here to read the reasons!

URL" http://www.jesusmafa.com/anglais/pagetprod2.htm The catalogue contains 7 parts: Part one: Virgins with the Child, Part two: Childhood of Jesus, Part Three: Life and Teaching of Jesus, Part four: Miracles of Jesus, Part five: Parables, Part six: Passion of Jesus, and Part seven: Jesus has been raised. The seven parts show the 65 pictures of LIFE OF JESUS MAFA. 62 evangelic scenes and 3 pictures of Virgins with the Child.

Walter Habdank (1930-2001)

2006-12-28T00:05:00.000+08:00

Here is a site which you will love. This is a collection of art in various media by Walter Habdank. I have included his bios from his website:

Walter Habdank is an artist of engaging and representational expression. For him, the human being balances in the tension between the extremes of joy and pain, comfort and desolation. The artist presents this again and again in his woodcuts, water-colours, and paintings in symbols and parables of mythological or biblical origin – they are prototypes of human existence. With his works, Walter Habdank inspires his “picture viewers,” as he often said, to accept the whole of creation, to encounter themselves and their own sensibilities critically and without pretense. This perspective is one of affection and comfort and directs one beyond oneself and one’s own life.

Read more about Habdank here.
Incarnation (Watercolor, 1992) Simeon (Woodcut, 1973 based on Luke 2:25-32)

Check out his lithographs, paintings, woodcuts, watercolors, etc at the URL below:
URL: http://www.habdank-walter.de/2english/seiten/uebersicht.html

The Artwork of Michael Falk (b. 1929)

2006-12-27T00:53:00.000+08:00

One of the most beautiful contemporary collections of biblical scenes I know of is by an artist named Michael Falk. Falk is a commercial artist and his works are posted online for viewing. The picture below is entitled "Jacob Blessing Ephraim and Manasseh." Here is a little bibliographic information of Falk:

Michael Falk was born in Germany in 1929. Following the events of the Crystal Night in November 1938, his parents, recognizing the dangers ahead, managed to obtain permission for him to leave the country. At the age of 10, he left his parents behind in Germany and traveled alone to Ireland, where he found refuge. Michael was taken in by a foster family in Dublin, who cared for him until the end of World War II. While in Dublin, Michael was accepted at the National College of Art, where he studied until 1946.

In 1946 Michael rejoined his parents, who had managed to escape the holocaust and were able to settle in the U.S. In New York, he continued his studies in art, attending the Cooper Union School of Art and Engineering in New York.

In 1950 Michael immigrated to Israel, joining Kibbutz Gal-On in the Northen Negev of Israel, where he worked in farming. In 1957 he moved his family to a moshav (small holders co-op) where he raised sheep and grew avocados. Throughout the entire period, Michael continued to engage in art, spending whatever free time he could find to paint.

Since retiring from farming in 1991, Michael Falk has devoted himself entirely to painting. Many of his themes are taken from the Old Testament, but his paintings also reveal his deep love for the land and animals which have been so much a part of his adult life.

Michael's paintings have been exhibited in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and are to be found in private collections in Israel and abroad.
A sample of Falk's beautiful work in his website
URL: http://www27.brinkster.com/mfalk/BibleStories.htm Make sure you view his 10 plagues of Egypt collection.

The Borg

2006-12-26T21:52:00.000+08:00

Here is site where you can get a few extensive collections of more contemporary pictures which tell the story. If you visit the URL below, you will find yourself at a site called the Borg. On the LHS, you will find several links. Click on the "Spiritual" link as indicated in the screenshot below:

In just page 1 of "Spiritual," you will find some nice collections. My favourites include:
i) the entry dated 12-6-05 entitled "Jesus." Here is a nice picture from the subsection "Jesus and women."
ii) the entry dated 1-3-05 entitled "Hundreds of beautiful pictures from the Bible." Here is a nice picture of Daniel in the lion's den.
iii) the entry dated 6-21-04 entitled "Bible." Here is a great picture from the Acts section showing the Apostle Paul being led out of jail by the angel.

Hmmm.....I'm wondering where these pictures came from???
URL: http://www.eborg2.com/Index2.htm

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

2006-12-25T16:40:00.000+08:00

Moving into the 21st century requires moving through the 19th and 20th century. An interesting artist of that era who produced both etchings and lithographs is Marc Chagall. There is a wonderful digitized collection of his work at the Spaightwood Galleries. There you can find an exhibition of his work entitled "Marc Chagall and the Bible: Etchings and Lithographs from 1930 to 1980." Read a little more about his background. It is very interesting.
Disobedient Prophet killed by a Lion (1 Kings 13:23-25) (H. 357, S. 282). Original etching, 1931-1939; completed 1952-1956. This picture is from the "Bible Etchings 3" collection.
Cain and Abel (Gen 4) (M. 238). Original color lithograph, 1960. This picture is from the "1960 Bible Lithographs 2" Collection.
URL: http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Chagall_Bible.html

Moving on to the visual world of the 21stC

2006-12-24T06:56:00.000+08:00

I am dying to move on to feature some of the sites which host the more contemporary visual, digitized expressions of the Christian story, but I feel that there are two collections from the past that just cannot be passed by. Both have in common the fact that they are in black and white.

The first site contains etchings by Rembrandt hosted by Connecticut College, a private liberal arts situated in New London, Connecticut. I love this collection of etchings. Rembrandt has this ability to capture very delicate emotions with the detailed strokes in his etchings.

URL of the Connecticut College Collection of Rembrandt etchings: http://camel2.conncoll.edu/visual/Rembrandt-prints/index-main.html

Interestingly, the Bijbils Museum in Amsterdam just completed hosting an exhibition entitled "Rembrandt and the Bible: The complete etchings" from September 15 - December 10, 2006

The information about Rembrandt's etchings is interesting and I have taken the liberty to reproduce that info here:
Rembrandt made more than 70 etchings of biblical stories and figures. For the first time all these works are to be shown in a single exhibition, offering a splendid overview of Rembrandt’s development as one of the world’s greatest graphic artists and insight into his unique way of depicting biblical stories. Besides the most famous pieces, very rare etchings will also be on display. Whether the works are new or familiar, visitors will be both surprised and moved by the quality, the variation in style and technique, the unique composition and the great emotional expressiveness of Rembrandt’s biblical etchings.

The second site I want to feature is a collection of woodcuts and metal engravings from 16th-19th century publications which are found in the digitized illustrations of the biblical text, church architecture, and portraits of religious leaders from the rare book collection at Pitts Theology Library.
A rendering of the Israelites camped in proper array around the tabernacle (Numbers 2)

To access the site, you will need to do go through an additional step which I will guide you through. The collection is part of the American Theological Library Association's Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative which has seen several theological libraries cooperating in the task of digitizing their image collections. What you need to do is to go to the the browse page of the CDRI. When you are there, scroll down to the bottom until you see "Woodcuts and metal engravings from 16th-19th century publications." Check the box there and then click on the "Submit" button somewhere in the left hand column of that page. There are 800 images in that collection and you will have to plough through that collection to see what is useful.

An era of illlustrations

2006-12-23T07:43:00.000+08:00

What I find interesting about the collections I have featured is that they all are bound to a similar time and location. What we have are European collections from the 1700s-1800s with most of the pictures in black and white or sepia. I think some of us may have real difficulty identifying with the pictures because they are a little dated. I think the younger ones are probably more able to make emotional connections with Henry Martin's collection better or even with the World Mission collection. Would you wear a T-shirt with a picture by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld or by Henry Martin? That would be an interesting poll to take!

There are however lessons to be learnt from history. While these pictures are by authors who were living in Christian or Christianized nations and living under some sort of a sacred canopy, it is interesting to note that that was a period where there was a flowering of Biblical illustrations. I wonder why? Was it because of poor literacy? Was it because there was a felt need to illustrate the Biblical text? Were there some political reason or push from a rich patron to illustrate the Bible? One is tempted to say that that period was a period of greater biblical literacy, but it might be saying too much to suggest that there was high biblical literacy across all segments of society. The issue of biblical literacy of course is an issue faced amongst churches located in the 21st C!

The West is sometimes described as post-Christian. In Asia, while it is meaningless to speak of a post-Christian society (since Asia never had a period of being Christian or Christianized), parts of it is now post-literate. Given this mood with its proliferation of and heavy consumption of multimedia content, I suspect that there is deep desire for visual, even multimedia biblical content. If you visit the Canadian Bible Society, you will find several examples - what they call "e-scriptures or flash scripture movies." One of my favourite movies from that collection is the story of the Woman at the Well which is based on the Gospel of John chapter 4:5-42. Enjoy!

The emphasis of this blog however is on stills rather than on moving objects, which is why I continue to explore collections of digitized stills which illustrate Biblical narratives. Continue to look out for links, descriptions and comments on issues accompanying the use of visuals to tell the story! I wonder what the place of visuals will be for promoting bible literacy amongst the young people today???

William Blake (1757-1827)

2006-12-22T05:51:00.000+08:00

The English poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake has contributed a wealth of visuals illutrating religious and other literary texts. His most famous Bible related work would be illustrations of The book of Job. Actually, if you read the Wikipedia entry for "William Blake," you will find that "despite his work in illustrating the Book of Job, Blake's affection for the Bible was belied by his hostility for the church, his beliefs modified by a fascination with Mysticism and the unfolding of the Romantic movement around him." Hmmm....a person's commitment to religious art is not automatically linked to any commitment to a religion or relationship with the Almighty.

Anyway, the William Blake archive is a hypermedia archive sponsored by the Library of Congress and supported by the Preservation and Access Division of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sun Microsystems and Inso Corporation. If you visit this site, you will be able to find Blake's illustrations. You can access the site at the URLs listed below.

Job Accused By His Friends

URL: a) Colour Plates http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/copy.xq?copyid=but550.1&java=yes

b) Black and White Plates http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/copy.xq?copyid=bb421.1&java=yes

Gustave Dore (1832-1883)

2006-12-20T10:36:00.000+08:00

Here is another site which has a extensive collection of 212 images which can be used to tell the biblical story. These are by the artist Gustave Dore. I have taken the liberty to provide information about him which can be accessed from the weblink posted below.
Gustave Doré: Refered to as an "Artist of the People" by Vincent van Gogh, Gustave Doré was the greatest illustrator in history.

Born of humble origins in Strasbourg, France in January 1832, he quickly established himself as the ultimate child prodigy. By the age of 12 he was carving his own lithographs and writing the stories to go with them.

Fame came at the age of 15 when his work captured the attention of a prominent Parisian publisher. Hired to illustrate a new humor weekly, Doré managed to also have his first book published. With success as an illustrator and writer, Doré become the toast of Paris.

Commissions for works by Rabelais, Balzac, Dante and Lord Byron solidified his position in the French art world but nothing would prepare him for the attention brought by his illustrations from the Bible.

Published in 1865, Doré's English Bible became a phenominal success. Samuel Clemons even mentions it in Tom Sawyer on page 46. The Doré Gallery opened in London and remained for 25 years.

In 1883, as the finishing touches were being put on the illustrations for Edger Allen Poe's The Raven, Doré passed away. For many his success came too easy, Doré had not paid his dues as a struggling artist. Instead, Doré succeeded at an early age but died a broken man, savaged by the critics but adored by millions around the world.
Elisha is Jeered (2 Kings 2:23,24)

URL: http://www.studylight.org/art/dore/

Figures de la Bible (1728)

2006-12-19T00:40:00.000+08:00

As the title suggests, this is an older collection entitled "Figures de la Bible." The collection of 242 images is illustrated by Gerard Hoet, and others and published by P. de Hondt in The Hague (La Haye), 1728. The digitized collection is made available to the public courtersy Kerry Magruder and the Bizzell Bible Collection at the University of Oklahoma.

Like some of the other older collections, I love how the collection covers stories which are not normally mentioned in modern children's story books. This closed selection seems to only repeat certain more popular stories resulting in a limited understanding of "the whole counsel of God" and a "canon within a canon" effect for our kids! Also, there is a caption and commentary accompanying the picture which is great! This picture for example is accompanied by the following text:

The battle betwixt Joshua and the five Kings. Joshua 10:11

And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah,and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. (KJV)

URL: http://www.mythfolklore.net/lahaye/

World Mission Collection Clip Art Graphics

2006-12-18T04:33:00.000+08:00

The World Mission Collection is a delightful collection which tells the story from Genesis to Revelation. Actually there are two volumes here.

Volume 1 contains black and white woodcut illustrations by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld copied from Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden . There are 3 parts in this 240 image volume: i) Part A (Genesis to Ruth), ii) Part B (Samuel to Daniel), and iii) Part C (New Testament). The picture to the left shows "Joseph's reunion with his brother" (Genesis 45) from Vol 1, Part A.

Volume 2 contains water color Bible illustrations done for "Communicating Christ" in Bogota, Colombia. Part A contains images from the Old Testament, while Part B contains New Testament images. The picture to the left shows "Jesus at Twelve in the Temple" (Luke 2:41-29) from Vol 2, Part B.

Note the following stipulation:
The permission to use these copyrighted items is limited to personal and congregational use. The materials can not be produced for resale. The Multi-Language Literature Committee reserves all rights for publication and distribution. For specific requests concerning copyright permission for the materials, contact the World Mission Collection (wmc@wls.wels.net).

URL: http://www.wels.net/wmc/html/clip_art_graphics.html

The other site you can visit to read more about Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld is http://www.all-art.org/history1-bible2.html

A wealth of visual images which tell the Bible Story: Henry Martin Collection

2006-12-15T05:34:00.000+08:00

So, what are the sites which one can visit for great images?

I am going to start with my favourite site which is found someplace in the UK from the canvas of Rev Henry Martin. Read what he says about himself:

I am a Christian who enjoys painting and sketching in free moments. I also enjoy hill walking with my dog. I am a vicar and usually can be found in St James, Higher Broughton, Salford, UK. I have been here 3 years now and love it! (Salford is very to near Manchester in the North of England.) Being a vicar in the Church of England is a fantastic job since I can combine my love of Jesus with my habit of doodling cartoons.

I am passionate in my belief that God is alive and full of life – and that we who are privileged to share his good news must try to express his life and liveliness in every possible way. My best attempts are these pictures – please use them if they help liven your sermons, kids talks or school assemblies (but not for financial profit) and point more people to the glorious joy of God.

Peter Preaching on Pentecost (Acts 2:14-41)
Rev Martin's pictures are great watercolors and he has even prepared a series of Powerpoint slides which allow you to down them for immediate use. What I really like about them is that you can tell complete stories using visuals which come in a set. I have found in the past that it is really difficult to find digital images of high quality which enable you to do that. I find some websites or powerpoint presentations are comprised of images of a peculiar spatio-temporal location interspersed with those of another location. That becomes very confusing for the listener/viewer.

Thanks Rev Martin for your contribution to education within the church!
URL: http://sermons4kids.com/hmartin.htm

Why this site???

2006-12-14T11:00:00.000+08:00

I am starting this blog because of an educational problem evident in the 21st C. Having moved from the modernist, "Dr Spock of the old Enterprise" generation toward late modernity, we are presently encountering a generation which is "post-literate," "Net-savvy," and certainly more visually attuned. In this world we live in, communication is at lot more visual. Just look at how hawker centres in Singapore have been transformed. The old sign boards used to have a line of red Chinese text followed by a line of blue English texts on a white background. Now a lot of the new signboards are a multimedia experience to behold.

In my teaching, I have also tried to be more sensitive to the information processing styles of students. I have tried to respect the reality of multiple intelligences, the presence of visual learners, the learning preferences of concrete relational learners (see p31-2 of Cole's article).

In my recent search/research spanning over a year, I have discovered a wealth of visual resources which can be used for communicating the many stories found in the bible. Some of these images were created in series to tell as story. Some of the images are interpretations of a moment of time recorded in the Bible.

Interestingly, as I sought to explore the use of these images for communication and educational purposes, the fact that images contain levels of the artist's social location and interpretation which shout out at the viewer (sometimes even louder than the biblical idea!) was a theme which kept repeating itself. Viewing a pictorial representation of the biblical text is never "a simple act of appropriating biblical truth." There are many layers that need to be negotiated...to paraphrase Eileen M. Daily, communicating through art involves the telling of four stories: i) the retelling of the biblical narrative, ii) the story of the community for whom the artist was painting, iii) the artist's personal story, and iv) the story of the Holy Spirit's action of inspiring. Visit this link and you will understand what I mean!

A visual image is thus, to use her metaphor, a multi-storied building--which is the reason why there is need to do "visual exegesis." While it is aimed at creating awareness of the many Bible visual sites, it also invites dialogue and reflection about why we feel certain ways about certain images because of the interplay between the four stories.

What I am planning to do is to introduce several sites which contain great bible visuals and along the way make short commentaries about them.

At a later time, I will put up a short reference list of books and articles which contribute to our learning.