WHO IS GOD MIDWEST EXHIBITION — HEALING

/ Union Avenue Christian Church/
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The Arts Group of Union Avenue, AGUA, is pleased to announce that our second Who is God? Midwest Exhibit entitled “Healing” will be presented virtually from October 3 to November 30, 2020. AGUA hosts a virtual opening on Facebook Premier (where you don’t need an account to watch a live video event) Saturday, October 3 at 4 p.m. 

The 21 artists who are participating hail mostly from the St. Louis area, but as far away as Downs, Kansas, with two other artists from the Kansas City area. They submitted 58 pieces of art from which our juror Father Terrence Dempsey selected 44 to be in our show. Father Dempsey juried our first show last year, and, fortunately, agreed to work with us again. He is the founder and Director Emeritus of MOCRA, the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, at Saint Louis University. 

Our theme of Healing was chosen before anyone had heard of COVID-19. Although AGUA could not host the show in our gallery with an opening celebration, we felt that the theme of the show was so timely and relevant that we decided to create a virtual show and formal, online opening. Father Dempsey in his juror’s statement, speaks of this as well. 

“I do believe in Providence,” Fr. Dempsey writes in his juror’s statement, “the protective care and foreseeing guidance of God. I say this because the theme of ‘healing’ for the 2020 ‘Who Is God’ exhibition was decided in late 2019 and announced to artists in January 2020, well before COVID-19 became a concern in this country. Although none of the artworks in this exhibition specifically addresses the pandemic, the exhibition is timely because more than ever before, we know that we are living in a global village and what happens in one part of the village, even though it might be on the other side of our planet, can affect us and vice-versa. ‘Healing’ would also be a timely theme even if there was no pandemic because it invites us to think about the environmental healing of our planet, the healing within ourselves, the healing of our relationships to others, and the healing of our relationship to God.”

AGUA will offer a Blurb catalog as we did last year. For a preview of the artwork, enjoy the catalog at Blurb. You're welcome to purchase a catalog through Blurb and it will be sent to your home before the opening. Having a copy of the catalog will allow you to enjoy the artists' statement about their pieces easily during the reception.   — Carla Duncan