Victoria Emily Jones
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artandtheology.bsky.social
Victoria Emily Jones
@artandtheology.bsky.social
Blogger, https://ArtandTheology.org | Revitalizing the Christian imagination through painting, poetry, music, and more
"Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, and bring the promised day!" Watts apostrophizes in anticipation of the descent of the New Jerusalem. I'm not sure if Revelation 21 was what Webb had in mind when he painted "Epiphany of the Other," but it seems likely, no? artandtheology.org/2025/12/19/a...
Advent, Day 20: New Jerusalem
LOOK: “Epiphany of the Other” by Richard Kenton Webb | LISTEN: “How Long, Dear Savior” by the Boston Camerata
artandtheology.org
December 19, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Julia Esquivel's two poetry collections—Threatened with Resurrection (1982) and The Certainty of Spring (1993)—are works of liberation theology. Here's a poem from the former, describing what the birth of Christ means for her, as a Guatemalan, and her people. artandtheology.org/2025/12/18/t...
“Those Who Saw the Star” by Julia Esquivel (poem)
The Word, for our sake, became poverty clothed as the poor who live off the refuse heap. The Word, for our sake, became agony in the shrunken breast of the woman grown old by the absence of her mur…
artandtheology.org
December 18, 2025 at 8:26 PM
David Blow's kaleidoscopic photograph of a new day beyond the haze, about to come into crisp focus, complements this soul tune by the Menahan Street Band. artandtheology.org/2025/12/18/a...
Advent, Day 19: New Day
LOOK: “New Morning” by David Blow | LISTEN: “There’s a New Day Coming” by Menahan Street Band
artandtheology.org
December 18, 2025 at 5:15 AM
There's a spiritual quality to Bahraini artist Nabeela Al Khayer's "Shather Alfairooz," which shows, as I read it, the dawning (or dawning awareness) of something new within: A longing? A presence? The Day Star that the Brothers of Abriem Harp sing about? artandtheology.org/2025/12/17/a...
Advent, Day 18: Day Star
LOOK: “Shather Alfairooz (Gold Specks of Turquoise)” by Nabeela Al Khayer | LISTEN: “Day Star” by the Brothers of Abriem Harp
artandtheology.org
December 17, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Two Advent series I've been enjoying are by Kate Bluett (who's writing poems inspired by "The 12 Days of Christmas") & Elissa Weichbrodt (who's writing art reflections based on the themes of hope, peace, joy & love). Also check out these four new Christmas songs. artandtheology.org/2025/12/16/r...
Roundup: Theological spinoff of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Advent art with Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt, and four new Christmas song recordings
“Twelve Days of Advent” poem series by Kate Bluett | An art historian walks through the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy, and love | “War on Christmas” by Seryn | “O New Commingling! O…
artandtheology.org
December 16, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Eve's redemption draweth nigh, I imagine, in this small sculpture by Kiki Smith. "Awake, awake, for your light has come!" cries a traditional Jewish hymn for Shabbat, anticipating messianic deliverance. artandtheology.org/2025/12/16/a...
Advent, Day 17: Come, My Beloved
LOOK: “Eve” by Kiki Smith | LISTEN: “Lecha Dodi” (Come, My Beloved) by Maayan Tzafrir
artandtheology.org
December 16, 2025 at 6:47 AM
A burst of light descends into a forest grove in this watercolor by Charles Burchfield. Consider it alongside Isaiah 9 ("The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light . . ."), excerpts of which were set to music by British composer Alexander L'Estrange. artandtheology.org/2025/12/15/a...
Advent, Day 16: A Great Light
LOOK: “Sunlight in Forest” by Charles Burchfield | “Isaiah’s Prophecy” by Alexander L’Estrange
artandtheology.org
December 15, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Katy Mixon repurposes the wipes she uses to clean her brushes, hands & palette knives in the studio as material for quilted paintings, such as this rainbow-colored one. On this Gaudete Sunday, I proffer it for meditation alongside the song "Joyful" by Paul Zach. artandtheology.org/2025/12/14/a...
Advent, Day 15: Promise
LOOK: “the rain bows and the rainbows” by Katy Mixon | LISTEN: “Joyful” by Paul Zach
artandtheology.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Mary's Magnificat is a song of justice, liberation & praise. Here I look at two recent quotes; a video devotion that includes Tissot's "Magnificat" painting; songs by Jane Parker Huber, Jennifer Henry & Simon de Voil; and a sermon clip on Rembrandt's "Visitation." artandtheology.org/2025/12/13/m...
Magnificat roundup: Visio divina with Mary Gardner, “For Ages Women Hoped and Prayed,” and more
Kat Armas and Tracey Bianchi on the Magnificat | Space for God video devotion that engages with James Tissot’s “Magnificat” painting | Songs by Jane Parker Huber, Jennifer Henry, …
artandtheology.org
December 13, 2025 at 7:07 PM
"I feel the flames, oh Madonna. I feel the heat of your child . . ." artandtheology.org/2025/12/13/a...
Advent, Day 14: Visitation
LOOK: “The Visitation” by Paulina Krajewska (two versions) | LISTEN: “Curious Woman” by Tow’rs
artandtheology.org
December 13, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Artist Pablo Sanaguano sets the Annunciation in the highlands of Ecuador in his painting on the subject, while the Argentine singer-songwriter Ariel Glaser reflects on that profound moment through music. artandtheology.org/2025/12/12/a...
Advent, Day 13: Bendita seas, María
LOOK: “Annunciation” by Pablo Sanaguano | LISTEN: “Bendita seas, María” by Ariel Glaser
artandtheology.org
December 12, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Artist Mark Cazalet has created a set of 12 paintings on bread boards and other domestic objects that walk thru the story of Jesus’s first coming, marked as it was by mystery, vulnerability, risk, and glory. They are on display at Chelmsford Cathedral thru Feb 2. artandtheology.org/2025/12/11/t...
Twelve Advent Stations by Mark Cazalet
A recent series of oil paintings on bread boards and other domestic wooden objects tells the story of Christ’s first coming—on display at Chelmsford Cathedral through February 2, 2026
artandtheology.org
December 11, 2025 at 6:11 PM
The parable of the wise and foolish virgins was an immensely popular subject in Norwegian tapestries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Here's one phenomenal example @artsmia.bsky.social. I've paired it with a traditional hymn from Sweden. artandtheology.org/2025/12/11/a...
Advent, Day 12: Wise and Foolish Virgins
LOOK: “The Wise and Foolish Virgins,” Norwegian tapestry | LISTEN: “Himmelriket Liknas Vid Tio Jungfrur,” traditional Swedish hymn
artandtheology.org
December 11, 2025 at 6:01 AM
The Sri Lankan Buddhist artist Hatigammana Uttarananda portrays Jesus as radiant, serene. This glorified visage reminds me of the opening lyric of an African American spiritual I found thru an arrangement by Alice Parker: "When Jesus comes, he'll outshine the sun." artandtheology.org/2025/12/10/a...
Advent, Day 11: He’ll Outshine the Sun
LOOK: “Portrait of Jesus” by Hatigammana Uttarananda | LISTEN: “When Jesus Comes,” African American spiritual, arr. Alice Parker
artandtheology.org
December 10, 2025 at 5:14 AM
An early Christian mosaic in Rome and a twentieth-century Black gospel song from the US evoke Jesus's returning descent "on the clouds of heaven," as Jesus prophesied in the Gospel of Matthew, borrowing language from one of Daniel's apocalyptic visions. artandtheology.org/2025/12/09/a...
Advent, Day 10: Coming on the Clouds
LOOK: Apse mosaic, Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Rome | LISTEN: “God Is Coming on the Clouds” by Brother John Sellers
artandtheology.org
December 9, 2025 at 5:08 AM
In this painting by Sr. Kim Ok-soon, John baptizes followers in the Jordan River, preparing them for the coming of the Messiah, while the early Christian rock artist Bruce Spelman, a member of the Jesus Movement that emerged in the late 1960s, sings about it. artandtheology.org/2025/12/08/a...
Advent, Day 9: Baptism of Repentance
LOOK: “Waiting for the Messiah” by Sister Kim Ok-soon | LISTEN: “Hallelujah Sang the People” by Bruce Spelman
artandtheology.org
December 8, 2025 at 5:18 AM
LeighAnna Schesser is one of the best living Christian poets. Her way w/ language, her theological imagination—phenomenal. Here she reflects on the Creator becoming part of creation, taking on a body that has mass, that's subject to gravity, that can be torn & was. artandtheology.org/2025/12/07/t...
“The Purpose of the Incarnation” by LeighAnna Schesser (poem)
Gravity’s maker, spinner of spheres and spiraling matter, made into weight, to sweat. His own feet vulnerable, drawn flat and close against the punishing ground.
artandtheology.org
December 7, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Chagall's Peace Window at the UN features a series of vignettes, many drawn from the Bible, including one of the peaceable kingdom. Isaiah's prophecies of the messianic age, which the church revisits during Advent, are the theme of Steve Bell's song "Oracles." artandtheology.org/2025/12/07/a...
Advent, Day 8: Vision
LOOK: “Peace Window” by Marc Chagall | LISTEN: “Oracles” by Steve Bell
artandtheology.org
December 7, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Reposted by Victoria Emily Jones
December 6, 2025 at 9:32 PM
The Hebrew word for "to wait," taken from Psalm 27, splashes across this watercolor by Charlotte Mann Lee, while Psalm Project Africa captures the joyously hopeful tone of the psalm in music. artandtheology.org/2025/12/06/a...
Advent, Day 7: Take Heart
LOOK: “The Waiting” by Charlotte Mann Lee | LISTEN: “Psalm 27” by Psalm Project Africa
artandtheology.org
December 6, 2025 at 5:40 AM
"Let the peoples all delight / In the messianic light / Let the whole earth be glad / At the making all things right."—David Benjamin Blower artandtheology.org/2025/12/05/a...
Advent, Day 6: Maranatha
LOOK: “Around the Circle” by Wassily Kandinsky | LISTEN: “Maranatha” by David Benjamin Blower
artandtheology.org
December 5, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Today’s two featured works function as a call to care for the tired earth. One is a ritual enactment of said care, tender and consoling, by performance artist Holly Slingsby, and the other is an urgent choral lament by composer Alberto Grau. artandtheology.org/2025/12/04/a...
Advent, Day 5: Tired
LOOK: “Earth Rite” by Holly Slingsby | LISTEN: “Kasar mie la Gaji” by Alberto Grau
artandtheology.org
December 4, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Revelation describes, in the new heavens & the new earth, a tree of life w/ twelve fruits that are for the healing of the nations. The Ukrainian painter Kateryna Shadrina & the Dutch English hymn-writer Fred Kaan reference this passage in today's 2 featured works. artandtheology.org/2025/12/03/a...
Advent, Day 4: Healing of Nations
LOOK: “Tree of Life” by Kateryna Shadrina | LISTEN: “For the Healing of the Nations” by Fred Kaan
artandtheology.org
December 3, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Upcoming "Poems of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany" event w/ Brian Volck; controversial "Hear Us" installation @cburycathedral.bsky.social; "Dios con Nosotros" by Kreg Yingst; and songs by Adrian Roberto & Melissa Romero, The Hound + The Fox, and Dan Damon. artandtheology.org/2025/12/02/r...
Roundup: Advent poetry discussion, graffiti at Canterbury Cathedral, “Dios con Nosotros” print series, and more
“Poems of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany” with Brian Volck | “Hear Us” installation at Canterbury Cathedral | “Dios con Nosotros,” an Infancy of Christ cycle by Kreg Yingst…
artandtheology.org
December 2, 2025 at 6:22 PM
In today's featured pieces, Sliman Mansour paints three Palestinian children looking longingly on the city of Bethlehem through a barbed-wire fence, & @overtherhine.bsky.social performs a mournful twist on a classic Christmas carol, praying for an end to violence. artandtheology.org/2025/12/02/a...
Advent, Day 3: Bethlehem
LOOK: “The Way to Bethlehem” by Sliman Mansour | LISTEN: “Bethlehem” by Over the Rhine
artandtheology.org
December 2, 2025 at 6:01 AM