New Art @ King of Peace

Yesterday, three large, framed and matted pieces of art were hung in the entry hall at King of Peace, adding to the visual arts already present in our church. Two of these are gifts of Mary Root—given to the Glory of God and in memory of her parents, Florence and Joe Terrando. The first painting is "Peace Be Still" a 30"x30" print by He Qi (pronounced "Huh Chee"). Shown here at right, this is his interpretation of Jesus calming the waters. Known for his brilliant use of color in designs which grow out of his own Chinese culture, He Qi (pictured below) has a growing artistic following. Christian Times noted in an article,

We need more scholars and artists like He Qi who are able to stir the spirit and establish cultural strong points. It is not easy to find an artist like He Qi who has produced so much Christian art in mainland China.

According to his website, www.heqiarts.com

Dr. He Qi 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 (please check www.asianchristianart.org for more information about He Qi).

He has been committed to the artistic creation of modern Chinese Christian Art since 1983. 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. In his works, He Qi has blended together Chinese folk customs and traditional Chinese painting techniques with the western art of the Middle and Modern Ages, and has created an artistic style of color-on-paper painting.

Dr. He Qi was the first among Mainland Chinese to earn Ph.D. in the Religious art after Cultural Revolution. He wrote his dissertation while studying at Hamburg Art Institute in Germany, where he was also able to pursue research in medieval art. His work has been well received overseas: He has exhibited in Kyoto, Hong Kong, Geneve, Hamburg, London, St.Paul, San Francisco, Berkeley and Madison., as well as in mainland China.

We are honored to have the work of this Chinese Christian artist hanging in our building. For those interested, his art, along with that of other Christian artists around the world, is on sale online at www.missionaryarts.com. More on our new art will follow tomorrow.