Image & Form — living creatures

This Project was Born in January of 2024

I returned home from the holidays, in a reflective state about my art and some big picture stuff regarding my creative practice. I even drafted some thoughts on a notes page while waiting for a flight. The thoughts included a brain dump on how scary my children’s book dreams are and how much of a leap of faith the whole thing seemed (I’ve written about this before). I had a desire to paint more playfully and from a place of joy, instead of financial survival.

My notes page also included this hopeful list for 2024:

Lean into my creative vocation more
Paint bigger (note: 10 months later, I don’t remember what I meant by this.. maybe it was on bigger canvases? Paint a big mural? Which I’ve done both this year so yay me!)
Cultivate creative community
Create more work I believe in

A few days after, I got a call from my friend Father Bryan, who works at my church, Christ Church Anglican. They were starting a resident artist program, where the church hires an artist once a year to work on a big project for the church. I was asked to be the first resident artist and paint murals in the scary basement where they have Sunday school and choir practice.

I was so grateful for this opportunity to (see list above) lean into my creative vocation and create work I believe in.

“Creative vocation” - I’m implying that I want to create work that feels inspired by the spirit of God. If you know me, you know I’m a devout Christian and my faith is important to me. I am learning more and more about how God loves art and He made me an artist in this world. As the Diocese of Shrewsburyhelpfully explains on their website: “The word 'vocation' comes from the Latin word that means 'calling'. For the Christian a vocation is not just something that God calls us to do, it is also the person God calls us to be.” How would my day-to-day look different if I believe I am called to be an artist?

“Create more work I believe in”- God has blessed my small business to meet my daily needs, but I want to create art that helps share the love and joy that I’ve built my life on. Creating work as a Spirit-filled artist feels true, freeing and is a great trust exercise for me. And while I’m thankful for the “best sellers” that help pay my bills, I’d love to create out of an overflow of who I want to be.

Hymns in the Hallway

This project was completed on June 3, 2024- the day my Hank returned home from his 9 month deployment. Since then I’ve been wanting to write about this project. I haven’t yet, because it felt so big and was so meaningful to me, and putting it all into words felt quite overwhelming. I have lots of thoughts on my spring of church patronage, but this newsletter will have to be divided up into two parts anyway. Church patronage is an ancient practice that I’ll dive into later, but for now we’ll start with the hymns in the hallway.

I used to be in the Episcopal kids choir! Proof shown above. 20 years later, and I get the joy of revisiting my childhood hymns in my current church on a given Sunday. My faraway choir background helped inspire the artwork for the scary church hallway (consisting of white painted cinderblock and loud dehumidifiers). I wanted to create a series that would be appreciated by both the adult choir members and the kids running down the hallway. I chose hymns that had nice imagery and felt nostalgic to me.

The blue arches were inspired by a doorway I saw in Brazil in February. There are twelve total (perfect for a calendar), all lining the length of the hallway. I decided to limit the colors to make the series feel a little less juvenile, but still playful enough for children to enjoy.

This is My Father’s World

My process started via sketchbook, where I looked at the lyrics for each hymn and wrote down imagery I saw in the lyrics. I also made a playlist with all these hymns to listen to while painting (when I wasn’t listening to Taylor Swift or Beyonce’s new album). Notable lyrics:

This is my Father's world: The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, Declare their Maker's praise.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Note the Psalm 42:1 reference I snuck in there. I love water metaphors.

Notable lyrics:

streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.

Before the Throne of God Above

I painted the curtain being torn in two to fit in this hymn illustration. There’s no more separation between people and the High Priest anymore, and we have access to the throne.

Notable lyrics:

a great High Priest whose name is "Love," who ever lives and pleads for me.

Crown Him with Many Crowns

Notable lyrics:

Verses 3-5 start with:

Crown Him the Lord of Life

Crown Him the Lord of Love

Crown Him the Lord of Years

I Sing a Song of the Saints of God

If you find and read all the lyrics, you’ll see I tried to cover all the professions listed in the song :)

Notable lyrics:

And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast

All Creatures of Our God and King

I painted this while listening to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so this mural reminds me of that.

Notable lyrics:

Thou rushing wind that art so strong, ye clouds that sail in heav'n along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!

Morning has Broken

People walking in the hallway were like “What? The Cat Stevens song?”. I promise this is a hymn!

Notable Lyrics:

Morning has broken like the first morning,
blackbird has spoken like the first bird.

It is Well with my Soul

Written after Horatio Spafford lost his family in a shipwreck, I feel like this illustration was appropriate. Each scene shows the peace of God (yellow halo around ships) present in all forms of weather.

Notable lyrics:

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, "It is well, it is well with my soul."

I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light

This song has been stuck in my head the most. I love the lyrics I mentioned below. I used different houses in Savannah as references for the “city”. Included are the Gingerbread House and the mid-century house I currently live in.

Notable lyrics:

In him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Notable lyrics:

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.

In the Garden

This song reminds me of the grief I experienced this year, and the companionship God offers even when the outcome isn’t what you want.

Notable lyrics:

I come to the garden alone, While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses.

And That’s a Wrap for Part 1 of Church Patronage

This is my longest newsletter issue yet, but I feel like this project deserves it. If you took the time to leave email and read this on Substack, I’m so grateful! The fun isn’t over- expect a future issue on the rest of this mural project. There’s so much more!

Calendars and Prints

If you want to have these hymn illustrations in your home, I just repainted the illustrations with gouache to be print-friendly! I’m offering prints in a few sizes, as well as a calendar that you can order on Etsy. Here are the links below. I love how these look re-painted.

Shop Allison's Prints

Shop Hymnal Calendar

Wow we did it! That was a biggie and I’m excited to dive further into the discussion of Church Patronage in a future issue. Churches used to be the sole patron of an artist’s livelihood, and the history of the Church caring for artists is so rich. This project was a huge honor, and I’m so excited for my children to grow up around this art.

Signing off before I keep gabbing!

Allison “Former Choir Kid” Hall

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This episode of the Missio Savannah Podcast is an interview with Dr. Mark Johnson.

Mark came to Savannah in 2015 to serve as the CEO of the Gateway Community Service Board. Mark’s life was one of service, vision and impact.

Cancer took Mark’s life shortly after giving this interview in early 2024. Mark’s living hope in the face of adversity shines through in this interview.

Here Mark shares a testimony that is more nnotated bibliography than autobiography—what Mark labeled at as a collection of bits and pieces of formative content that Mark wanted to share. His offering bristled authors, artists, movies and scripture —especially scripture.

Mark’s unique form of testimony reminds of what R.D. Crouse wrote about concerning the communal aspect wisdom within the Church of Christ: “Do not suppose that wisdom is your private possession, your individual achievement; do not think that you are wise just by yourself alone. We have wisdom only as a common possession.”

It’s not that Mark’s life story is not interesting. He has many stories worth telling. Yet Mark uses his testimony opportunity to share about the works and words that have formed and discipled him. He put out some breadcrumbs that — with God’s Providence and the work of the Holy Sprit—could direct other curious people to a life of growth and wisdom in Christ.

In this interview, Mark Johnson shares some of those bits and pieces with us. Mark offers rich reflections on paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner and Rembrandt and unpacks scripture passages that have had particular resonance in his approach to psychiatry and family therapy.

God has given Mark has a deeply informed and humble perspective on what it means to be a person, biologically, psychologically, socially and spiritually. He is also a keen observer and a careful hearer the Word. This interview is one of many gifts that he has left with us.

Well done good and faithful and hopeful servant!