Poor man's art.

Bernadette and I had a little trouble finding the place, and it was closing when we got there. We walked in anyway and I was a little hesitant. There is a smell I associate with poverty and drugs that I became familiar with when I used to deliver food for the St. Vincent society and when I rode the city bus to school, back home in Spokane (aka “Spocomton”). This place was full of it. I overcame my mild repulsion, since I had come this far, and even if we couldn’t get into the gallery, there was art hanging in the hallway.

Someone kindly let us in, opened the art room for us, showed us around and told us a little about the program. Heartside Ministry art room is both a gallery and a studio. The space is crowded with supplies, chairs, tables, and the walls are covered in art work. At first glance there is simply too much to take in. As I focused my attention on one group of work or another, I began to realize that there is something different about this gallery. Art is always expressive, of course, but the people who created these pieces really had stories to tell.

Our tour guide showed us the work of Deb Dieppa. He told us that she suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. I remember studying MPD in my psychology class a few years back. It’s a horrible disorder. I remember thinking, “this looks like possession by demons.” It is caused by horrific abuse in childhood. Dieppa’s art showed her struggle with the disorder. They tended to be dark and a bit ominous. I kept coming back to a piece called “Shame.” A childlike figure dressed in a pale robe stood in a dark forest-like place with her hands clenched against her chest. Her face was a ghastly pale purple. It clearly captured something painful that the artist was very familiar with. But the very fact that she could paint about it and express her struggle gave a great sense of hope to her work. This hope, I found, was common to all the pieces that I looked at.

I didn’t get to hear the stories of the other artists represented. But their work spoke for them. Ann P. was one of my favorites. She often wrote an encouraging phrase across her paintings. “This Too Shall Pass,” across a cloudy sky with a hint of blue and sun. “Relax,” was a colorful painted puzzle pattern. These and others told of a life filled with struggle and hardship, but also hope and determination.

I was surprised to see how much of the art was religious. The passion, resurrection and the creation stories were referenced often. Johnny King’s “It Is Finished” (a very poignant crucifixion portrait) and “In the Beginning” (which showed the world as a bright horizon in the darkness of space. A silhouette of Christ stood in the center like a reminder that His fingerprints are in all things.) are examples. Christ said blessed are the poor. Most of the time, I have a hard time believing that he meant it. But seeing paintings like these makes me realize that these artist’s, many of them homeless, are capable of being must closer to Christ than I am. I always hear that Jesus made Himself like us, so he knows what we go through. I think Johnny King might know what Jesus went through. Christianity is indeed a poor man’s religion.

Along with the works that referenced the creation story, the works of an artist named Darwin seemed to put us in perspective by showing something much greater than ourselves. Darwin’s work shows the beauty of outer space; a world that is too large to fathom, and yet we are a part of it. How humbling and awe inspiring.

There was so much variety, I know I will have to go back at some point. Perhaps it is my over active imagination that creates all this meaning and inspiration out of these images. I don’t know if the artists intended to prompt all that reflection and hope. But that was the effect it had on me and I am very glad it I came to see it.