“With Needle and Thread: Beaded Portraits of Mother and Child” by Nancy Goes
Where: The University of Dayton campus' Marian Library Gallery, seventh Floor
When: Continues through Friday, Nov. 11
Hours: 8:30 to 4:30 Monday through Friday and by appointment Saturday and Sunday
More info: (937) 229-4214 or www.udayton.edu
Tiny, yet majestic — that describes both the baby Jesus and the artwork of Nancy Goes of Grand Lake, Colo.
Meticulously designed rows of golden beads encircle the heads of Madonna and Child. Shiny blue and red glass beads embellish exquisitely threaded robes. “With Needle and Thread: Beaded Portraits of Mother and Child” features 30 artworks by Goes. The exhibit continues through Friday at the Marian Library Gallery at the University of Dayton.
“As a woman and mother, I have been strongly attracted to the icons of the Virgin Mary, mother of God,” Goes says. “She is the ultimate role model for the Christian woman. She is the epitome of sacrificial and unconditional love.”
You’d think it would be hard to show emotion using only colored thread and glass seed beads, but Goes makes it possible. Small and intimate in size, the bead embroidery and collage evoke the glistening gold and precious gems of traditional religious icons of the Orthodox Church. But they also evoke another quality, the genuine love between Madonna and Child.
Mary lovingly touches Jesus’s face in one; in another, they embrace cheek to cheek. For “Blue Madonna,” they reach for each other surrounded by gold stars, shiny blue beads and white faux pearls. In all, you can see the patience of the artist and the love of her subject.
Goes is working in a medium traditionally associated with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, said Johann Roten, S.M., director of research and special projects for the Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute.
“There is a very old tradition of depicting Mary when she was visited by the archangel as engaged in spinning, weaving and embroidery,” Roten said. “It’s an important motif of Mary in art, and we hope this exhibit will remind people of that ancient tradition.”
Referring to antiquity, you can’t get much more historical than the creation of earth and sky. Goes covers that with “Sketches: Creation,” a series of beaded squares inspired by the creation story in Genesis. With the exception of the last day, Goes designed four 2-inch-by-2-inch squares for each day of creation. Day 7 is exquisitely formed with a tiny white shell framed by white, gray, and off-white beads, surrounded by three circles of faux pearls.
“My friend, Sherry Stiles, and I challenged one another to do a sketch a day for a period of time,” Goes said. “I decided I was not happy doing drawings on paper and I wanted to do mine with beads. The result was ‘Sketches: Creation’ based on the biblical story of the creation of the world.”
One of her recent Madonna and Child portraits attracted the attention of an editor at Christian Century magazine. Goes is a member of Christians in the Visual Arts, an international organization. The tiny bead-worked portrait with a gold-leaf frame was featured in one of CIVA’s traveling shows and on its website. The editor contacted Goes to get permission to put in on the cover of the Dec. 14, 2010, edition.
Goes has a Bachelor of Arts degree in art from the University of Wisconsin and for the past 40 years has worked as a studio artist. In addition to embroidery and bead art, she also creates jewelry, collage, printmaking, graphic design, and photography. Her work has been seen in galleries all across the U.S.
The CIVA artist is also an active member of the Christian Fine Arts Association, and Art Out of Thin Air, a group of artists from Grand County, Colo. She and her husband, Phil, have three children and five grandchildren.
Goes has been recovering from knee replacement surgery in early September.
“Celebration and contemplation are the themes that run through my work,” says Goes in her blog. “My works celebrate the joys of life in God’s created universe and contemplation of the mystery of his revelation in Christ.”
Contact contributing writer Pamela Dillon at pamdillon@woh.rr.com.
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