Thoughts on "A Pillar of Light" Exhibit

There are many things worth noting from this exhibit, but I wanted to focus my thoughts on one piece of artwork. It is the single most influential piece from the exhibit in my own reflections. It made such an impression on me, I copied it to my cell phone's wall paper.

The artist Anthony Sweat's rendition of the first vision definitely challenges our cultural norms with his visual imagery. We've grown accustomed to a brown pants, white shirt simplified depiction of The First Vision in our church culture. I thought it was well worth the time watching the video of his lecture. His historic review of past artwork and explanation of his original art helped me gain a greater appreciation for the First Vision. Though initially his artwork wasn't visually appealing to me, I love the dynamic movement and color depicted in his artwork. He makes effort to include as much as he could in his work from historical accounts. Yet he also takes artistic liberty to include visual representations not typical to artwork in The Church, such as halos to depict divinity.

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What did you think of Anthony Sweat's depiction of the First Vision? Was there something else from the "A Pillar of Light" exhibit that made a deep impression? Please comment below.

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Also, if you haven't seen my previous blog posts, please read about President Nelson's invitation on this page and other posts I wrote to help you get started with his invitation.

Additionally, the forum provides a great place to connect with others about your plan to follow President Nelson's invitation.