Community Engagement - AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART, EMOTIONS, AND PRAYER
- Information VOICE_TRIBUNE
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By: Jennifer Kramer
Have you ever looked at a painting and wondered, “How did the artist do that?”
You may see a completed picture and imagine the artist confidently filling the canvas like a coloring book, painting one section at a time until the picture is finished.
But this isn’t how most paintings are created at all. Even in a photorealistic piece, with brush strokes nearly undetectable to the eye, there are multitudes of hidden layers. The artist has likely covered the entire canvas with paint several times, using different colors and textures, and even when the evidence is invisible the layers are there — building the illusion of light and shadow, deepening colors, creating perspective, and more — until the finished piece takes your breath away.
In my work as a visual artist and art therapist, I’ve learned to dissect each step of the creative process, appreciating each stage for the metaphor it provides. The concept of layers is a metaphor I find to be one of the most powerful and relatable for many people.
Our lives exist in layers. Every adult has a history of childhood memories, teenage drama, job experiences, and social interactions as a part of their story. For many of us, we’ve added romantic relationship trials and errors, marriage, parenthood, and perhaps divorces, deaths, or other forms of loss.
Each layer of experience comes with its own set of emotions, too – joy, anger, fear, loneliness. And there are lots of highs and lows related to so many wounds and triumphs. It can be quite overwhelming to look at everything at once, especially the painful parts.
But what happens when we learn to accept the layers of our lives and flow with them, appreciating what each experience contributes to our final painting, our completed picture? How can our present reality shift when we are provided with a safe space to process what each layer contains?
If you find yourself in the middle of a life transition, hoping and praying for the next step, or needing to process an experience you’ve just emerged from, I would be privileged to partner with you to find that safe space.
In my personal artwork, I use the creative process to identify and express my emotions in prayer. The process involves many layers of painting and drawing, prayers written and spoken, and answers and insight received, creating a physical reminder of my journey that acts as comfort and inspiration for the future.
Through my newest creative offering to the public, Home Without Walls, I collaborate with you to turn your deepest hopes, blessings, and spiritual journeys into a vibrant, visual prayer in the form of a custom painting for you to keep.
We’ll sit down first for me to learn about your experiences and prayers. Then I take what we’ve discussed and bring it to the canvas. I may write your prayers on the initial layer of the painting, and continue as I transform emotion into a visual form or prayer. Our prayers don’t need to be perfectly curated, they just need to be ours. I would love the opportunity to bring your prayer to God as I create a unique painting just for you.
My hope is that your prayer painting serves as a visual cue, prompting you to appreciate how far you’ve come, and to return to God’s presence again and again. Let it be your personal reminder of the layers you’ve survived and of prayers prayed and answered.
"...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." -Romans 8:26
Explore ways to work with Jennifer through partnering on a custom prayer painting, joining her monthly art print mailing club, buying an existing painting, or becoming an art therapy client:
Jennifer Kramer is a Board-Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC) and Licensed
Professional Art Therapist (LPAT). She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (BFA) from Murray State University and a Master of Education in Counseling and Art Therapy (M.Ed.) from the University of Louisville.