Divinity Through Art
December 21, 2004
Carole Baker discusses painting with |
In the course of her classes and research at Duke Divinity School, however, Baker became increasingly interested in how the theology and experience of the church has been expressed in art, particularly visual media, through the centuries. After taking a class in drawing from Anya Belkina in the Duke University art department, Baker decided to pursue what she thought was a less conventional approach to her M.T.S. thesis.
Professor Stanley Hauerwas, her thesis advisor and an art patron in his own right, had worked out alternative thesis proposals before. He said, “It’s extremely important that the intellectual and spiritual life of the divinity school not be associated only with words. Words obviously are art, but so are music, painting and sculpture.”
Baker spent a year researching Christian iconography techniques, traditions and theory. “Iconography, as well as art in general, is inextricably linked to the doctrine of Incarnation. Creating art, therefore, is simply another way of doing theology. It’s another way of naming God in the world.” She does not consider her work an “icon” in any strict sense, but did adapt many iconographic techniques to produce her painting in oil and gold leaf.
"O Season of the Holy Womb" O season of the holy womb |
The work was as rigorous academically as it was artistically. “When you have a student as theologically astute as Carole Baker who wants to paint an icon you obviously let them do it,” Hauerwas said.
Baker’s painting, “Theotokos,” the God-bearer, is currently hanging in the Divinity School Library, along with a copy of her poem “O Season of the Holy Womb.” On Jan. 25, at 3 p.m. in the Baker Room of the library, the Divinity Arts Committee will hold a reception for the exhibit that will include a lecture by the artist.