A Place of Prayer

I created this piece in an effort to illustrate my own relationship with nature. Nature has always been a very significant element in my life. Through it I have found comfort, healing, and peace. Though nature is very important to me as a person, and an artist, far more so is my faith. As I am one being composed of many parts that work in tandem (my mind, my body, and my experiences just to name a few) my worldview is also multi facetted, consisting of many ideas that work in congruence to form a whole. 

I created " A Place of Prayer" to depict the significance of God's creation in my own personal faith. By visually combining the tree with the church ( represented by the arched stone windows, popular in gothic style churches) I try to illustrate the beauty in the sanctity of nature, by tying it to the already preconceived sanctity of the church. The natural light flooding through the window again reenforces this idea, by representing the " Doctrine of Light" championed by Abbot Suger of St. Denis who was a great influence in the development and popularity of the Gothic style in 12th century. He believed that the Spirit of God was in light, and developed churches with great arching windows of stained glass to allow as much light as possible into the sacred space that is the church.