Illustration by Nick Collard
The premise for these illustrations was to tell the story of redemption in four parts: Crucifixion, Christ as a sacrifice unto the whole human race, the Resurrection, and the Second Coming. It began when Dan Agnetta, Pioneer Memorial Church member, contacted Doug Taylor, an Andrews University professor. He, in turn, recommended two students to undertake the audacious project: Jo-Elisa Clark, Architecture major, and Nicholas Collard, Photography major.
Nick Collard
As a group, Dan, Jo-Elisa and I discussed a variety of ways to go about telling the story of redemption via medium of visual communication. We were dealing with a story that has been told many times and in many different ways. The angles to come at telling this story visually are near limitless. Despite the temptation to come up with a brand new way of telling the story, the decision was made to stick to common motifs such as Jesus on the cross, and coming through the clouds in all of His glory, so as to make resonation between viewer and artwork more immediate and, hopefully, more impactful and relatable.
When planning out, and especially when executing my two drawings, it became quite important to me to communicate Christ’s human struggle. I didn’t want to beautify His expression or eliminate grime from His hair or skin. I left the background completely white to force the viewer to contend with Christ’s bare body and the entirely human expression on His face. I also made it a point to not smudge or use any blending tools while drawing Christ. I felt that if I blended tones and pencil marks together, a certain raw and imperfect quality would be lost.
Jo-Elisa Clark
Second Coming – For the Second Coming, I tried to capture the scene of Jesus bursting through the clouds with all His Majesty and Glory. His army of angels follow Him as He comes to save His people from this cruel world. I try to picture in my mind how it would be on that day. I read and researched from the Bible in the book of Revelation and the book, The Great Controversy, by Ellen White. With the help of my parents, I created a scene as close to the text as I could. At the back, there is destruction happening, which means that God will come and make everything new, including us. On the lower left, it shows some tombstones bursting open as the saints rise up from the dead. Unfortunately, it also shows some tombstones and graves still intact, for who chose not to accept Jesus. On the bottom right, I added myself and my family. This is because I want each and every one of them to be there on that great day, together, and excitedly awaiting Jesus to take us home.
Resurrection – I am relieved that God sent His son to die on the cross so that we may be saved. We now have hope that one day we will be united with our Savior. I tried to capture this resurrection with a calmness on the face of Jesus knowing that the work here on Earth is completed. The dove represents peace. Throughout all the hardships, God was always there with Jesus, He never left his side. Just like that, He is there for us. We only need to allow Him to be there. We live with peace, knowing that Jesus died for us, and the hope that we may be saved.
