Art: New Year, New Look
For those of you who are subscribers, the
latest issue of Spectrum probably arrived in your mailboxes over the holidays. Alex and
Johnny beat me to posting a photo of the beautiful cover (a few posts below),
but here’s more about the artwork created by Thomas Morphis:
From the artist:
“The original inspiration for this piece was
a memory of sitting in a church, seeing red pews in layers from the back to the
front. The flowers represent an offering or gift of innocence/love; the
symmetrical arches and angel add to the spiritual theme. Bits of the text
collaged into the piece include ‘the most obvious thing in the world is the
obscure,’ ‘knowing one from the other,’ ‘smolders beneath the consciousness,’
and ‘guide rail.’ I suppose this piece is ultimately trying to get at the
question of the ability to know God/Truth. The wrestling figures suggest
struggle, as the world Peniel in the title comes from the biblical story of
Jacob wrestling with the angel.”
Morphis is professor of visual arts at
Pacific Union College, and you may remember that I had the pleasure of
interviewing him on this very blog a couple of months ago. (Read the interview.)
But there’s more. Did you happen to notice
that Spectrum has an updated look? Spectrum’s designer, Laura Lamar, has created a
subtle redesign of the magazine. According to editor Bonnie Dwyer, on a
practical level, the redesign was intended to streamline the layout process. You
will also notice that beginning with this issue, Spectrum’s online presence and its
print journal will work cooperatively toward a vibrant community.
Speaking of which… Spectrum/Adventist
Forums now has a logo too. Created by BPcubed, a Sacramento design firm, the
logo consists of three connected human figures. On the cover of the magazine, the logo runs
side-by-side with the new tag line: “community through conversation.”
That is indeed the goal of both this blog
and the magazine, and Spectrum hopes to continue to cultivate and nurture that
community in 2007.
Reactions to the new design? Thoughts on how
to nurture the community? Leave us a comment. We’d love to hear from you.
