Creation through the eyes of five artists
Redeemer University’s art gallery starts a new chapter with the The Book of Nature exhibition.
Redeemer’s art gallery is reopening after summer renovations with the exhibit The Book of Nature, featuring five artists’ work inspired by God’s creation. The exhibit includes oil paintings, textile art, woodcut prints, cyanotype images and mixed media artwork incorporating found objects.
Bullet holes in the sky
“The Book of Nature means, for me, the natural world,” Oshawa-based artist and Redeemer professor Wes Peel told Christian Courier. Peel’s art pieces feature distorted cyanotype landscapes, “I’m talking about plants, animals, water, air and sky – physical and biological processes that would continue even if humans didn’t exist on earth.”
Peel’s cyanotype landscapes have been weathered; some have been torn, overlaid with black-light fluid, punctured by bullets and sewn back together with thread. “The bullet holes are real, not just representations. I took my work to a gun range. And it raised a few eyebrows.”
Through the process of breaking and mending, Peel’s artwork represents nature’s vulnerability and resilience. He leaves some bullet holes untouched, while he “mends” others with gold leaf, signifying that “healing and repair in nature is an ongoing process.”
Like Peel, Arizona-based artist Cheryl Hochberg sees the theme The Book of Nature as the key to understanding her artwork. “My process has always felt mystical, because I am so often surprised by what I ‘hear’ and am taught, realizing that it is not of my own thinking or making.”
Hochberg’s art combines woodcut printing with photographs and is influenced by her time in the Sonoran Desert, China and New Jersey. “I try to set aside my own expectations and listen to what story each location has to tell.”
Healed by maps
Grinding, cutting, ripping, mulling, tearing and mending are just some of the creative processes used by the five artists on exhibition. “I see a strong connection between my process and the symbolism of it and the final artwork itself,” explained Jackie Partridge, a mixed-media artist from rural Waterloo region. To create her artwork titled “Patched,” she blended map paper into a pulp and used it to “mend” trees whose bark had peeled away. “In that work in particular, the process is about mending, healing the tree, and giving the paper back to the tree almost like an offering.”
Grinding, cutting, ripping, mulling, tearing and mending are just some of the creative processes used by the five artists on exhibition.
“I see a strong connection between my process and the symbolism of it and the final artwork itself,” explained Jackie Partridge, a mixed-media artist from rural Waterloo region. To create her artwork titled “Patched,” she blended map paper into a pulp and used it to “mend” trees whose bark had peeled away. “In that work in particular, the process is about mending, healing the tree, and giving the paper back to the tree almost like an offering.”
“Across the Street,” by Wes Peel (cyanotype with varnish, graphite, oil pastel and bullet holes).
Detail from “Across the Street,” by Wes Peel (cyanotype with varnish, graphite, oil pastel and bullet holes).
“Patched” by Jackie Partridge (handmade map paper embedded on tree).
“Fungal Clerestory” by Diana Scholtens (hand-dyed indigo, inkjet printer, thread painting, Derwent Inktense pencils on recycled cotton). “This piece was based on a photo taken on one of our many family walks,” says Scholtens. “The forests and fields and wild spaces remind us to care for this earthly garden in which we live and breathe.”
Her work is not only about the process, but also the materials she chooses, such as old maps and atlases that would otherwise be thrown away. In doing so, she strips them of their original meaning and gives them a new one. “I’m giving it a second life. I’m giving it another chance. I am allowing people to see the beauty in it.”
Recycled lilies
“I am deeply conscious that the stewardship of creation is central to humanity’s identity as God’s image-bearers,” says Diana Scholtens, a textile artist from Hamilton who works predominantly with recycled and repurposed fabrics. “By carefully selecting my materials and scale, I limit the consumption of new resources while transforming the old into something entirely new.”
Diana Scholtens’ work in the Redeemer gallery features beautiful textile works of nature scenes, such as birds, leaves and water lilies. “By revealing the often-unnoticed aspects of existence, I hope to help viewers slow down, appreciate the everyday beauty we easily miss, and turn their hearts toward the God who made it all.”
In memory of Wilhelmina
Redeemer University was able to renovate their art gallery due to a generous donation by the estate of the late artist, Wilhelmina Kennedy (1933-2025). Kennedy’s artwork is also on display, and the themes in her work inspired the exhibition’s direction and title. During her life, Kennedy drew inspiration from God’s creation. Her oil paintings are deeply rooted in her faith, drawing on the idea of seeing “God with us” in both scripture and nature. Her work features architectural details such as pillars, windows and arches symbolic of God’s presence, overlooking dark, cold landscape views – leading the viewer to examine how God’s word can be revealed through nature.
The title of the exhibit, The Book of Nature, comes from the theologian and philosopher St. Augustine, who believed that God could be known not only through written scripture but also through His Creation. The Book of Nature will be open at Redeemer University until October 22.
