Images of Jesus in the Global Art of Today How do the global Christian communities picture their leader Jesus? Can the global art of Christians make images of God? Does the art of the global church open the Bible with spiritual power? Using and making ‘Jesus Pictures’

2 Carol is 7. In her piece of work, she is speculating about the arrival of Jesus in her own community (Thurmaston is a suburb of Leicester, UK). The work reflects her knowledge of stories of Jesus as a person who is a worshipper, who believes in God as ‘father’, who has fishermen as disciples, and who helps those in trouble. This is a lot of learning!

Calm Energetic Simple Complex Ancient Modern Detailed Sketchy Easy Difficult Accurate to the Bible Far from the Bible story Clear Mysterious Not very moving Spiritually powerful Imaginative Literal Peaceful Disturbing Rational Emotional ??? ??? Judgement tasks are a powerful part of moving learners beyond information. Use the 12 alternatives to respond with our judgements to the picture you have. Note that the time spent on this enables visual learning to be focused: Look + Think = Learn

Picturing Easter / Copyright RE Today 2007 “The disciples and Jesus are happy. They are having dinner. But the dark is closing in.” Harry, 7

Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas RE Today 6 Emilia, 8, writes: “My picture is based on Palm Sunday and it is called ‘Waiting for Jesus in Surprise.’ My picture shows everybody was surprised to see Jesus riding on a donkey as he came into Jerusalem. It shows that on that day, everyone loved Jesus, and Jesus loves everyone.” Her vivid figures, with their merry eyes, bring the scene to life. An angelic observer wings away to give a progress report to Heaven.

Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas RE Today 7 Kelsey, 8, has made this picture of the ascension story. She writes: “An angel came and carried Jesus up to heaven to live with God his father. His disciples watched him go, and they knew that he really was the Son of God.” This story is a mysterious one in the gospels. Kelsey’s watercolour figures are ethereal in their own way. How can the story be painted to show that there is more to it than just a literal meaning?

Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas RE Today 8 Tony, 8, created this amazingly expressive image of the story of Zacchaeus. This traitorous, Roman~ collaborating tax collector persuaded by Jesus to repent of his selfish and avaricious way of life. The disdainful jealousy of the onlookers is particularly well expressed in their wax crayon faces. The image gets beyond the story, to touch upon the importance of generosity. Sk pupils to choose words to describe the expressions of the faces, and a title for the work as a whole.

Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas RE Today 9 This activity takes some difficult teaching of Jesus – the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount, and asks pupils to create a cartoon-style drawing that expresses the teaching. In this example, Dan, 10, brings verve and humour to the persecution of followers of Christ. The work opens up all kinds of possibilities for exploring the teaching of Jesus, and for looking at questions of prejudice and discrimination. Ask pupils to create cartoons for some more of Jesus’ surprising sayings, trying to get at the meaning of the teaching.

Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas RE Today 10 Sunset at the Cross by Nathan, 10 “When I first painted ‘Sunset at the Cross’ I tried to paint the scene of Jesus death. I believe that this painting reflects the sadness of it. I put a yellow glow around Jesus to show that he is the Son of God. I also painted Jesus in the rags the Romans would have put on him as well as a crown of thorns. I painted this painting with water colours then went over with chalk crayons in some places. I would like to end by saying that I am very proud of my painting.” This unusually evocative work by ten year old Nathan aims to go beyond detail of the story to the significance of the event. What makes it a successful painting?

Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas RE Today 11 Pieta, by Caen, 11. “I made my painting of Jesus after looking at one called ‘Pieta’ (Pity). Pieta affected me because it had a clear message on Jesus’s face saying how sad he was at the time. The artist had clearly thought she was in the mind of Jesus and drew him as though she was at the crucifixion beside Jesus. The sketch was different shades of grey in different sections of the picture. The colours were pretty dull but it showed Jesus was sad and also to make us sad.” This very interesting commentary shows how pupils can learn from the story and from the work of an artist. What can pupils learn from the paintings in ‘Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas’?

Picturing Jesus: Fresh Ideas RE Today 12 Daniel, 12, has created this image of Jesus calming the storm with poster paint. “I am symbolising Jesus’ power in his body language, and his facial expression. The boat is overwhelmed by the waves, but the waves are overwhelmed by Jesus. From his fingers, bolts of powerful light burst.”

Incarnation Christians believe Jesus was an ordinary human person, but at the same time he was truly ‘God on earth’. Selfless love Jesus was a person who didn’t think of himself, but gave freely and generously to others. Never more obvious than in his last days. Forgiveness Jesus taught people to forgive, even an enemy. And he showed them how, when he did it himself, from his cross. Trinity Christians believe that Jesus is God, and that his Father is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. This three~in~one belief about God is called ‘the Holy Trinity’ Inspiration Some people have a capacity to inspire, excite, motivate others. People want to be with them and follow them. Jesus did this. Hope Even though the world is a mess, Christians believe Jesus brings hope for the future on earth and in heaven. Jesus proved the possibility of hope in many ways. Salvation Christians believe that Jesus wasn’t just an ordinary person. He was sent by God to save the world from our own bad choices and from evil. Kindness For Christians Jesus is someone who was kind to people others didn’t bother about. They try to do the same. Strength Christians think that Jesus was strong because he was in touch with God. He used his strength to help others, not for selfish reasons.

14 Aims and learning intentions This presentation provides for pupils to think about the life, teaching and example of Jesus, referring to the global contemporary art of the gospel narratives One theological aspect of the art of Christian communities is incarnational: Christians make art which makes their ‘far away and long ago’ sacred story happen in their own ‘here and now’. In RE, creative, thoughtful and purposeful writing can energise pupils’ motivation and learning. These tasks are supposed to demonstrate such approaches. These learning activities are adaptable. While they are demonstrated with reference to a piece of work for a particular age group, teachers can easily adjust them to be more demanding, or more accessible. The learning activities are described in ways that can be used directly with pupils, with a selection of these slides as a stimulus for their work.

Why use the global art of Jesus to teach & learn? A work of art is an open window onto the Bible and into the community where it was made. These works tell stories, reveal conceptual depth, generate curiosity and inspire reflection. The Christian faith is global in reach, and these are all global acts of worship Learning from Jesus is specially facilitated by this approach – exploring questions of meaning, purpose, values and identity