![\"Geoffrey](\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Arg-IMG_2149-brb-300x225.jpg\")
\u201cThere has been a surge of interest in art in the Anabaptist world,\u201d says Geoff Isley, PA 2015 visual arts planning team coordinator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the tradition of the last few MWC gatherings, Assembly 16 featured six exhibits organized around themes, from Ray Dirks\u2019s On the Road to Freedom<\/em> paintings of the suffering of the Mennonite migrations out of Russia, to a series of paintings of the stations of the cross, used liturgically in Community Mennonite Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the first time, Assembly 16 also included a juried art exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Featuring some 30 paintings and sculptures, the collection reflects a variety of mediums and styles, from representational art to more abstract forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isley did not want the exhibit to be tied to a particular theme, style or genre. Instead, the art pieces were to reflect a broad range of individuality, and ways in which art reflects spiritual experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A year prior to Assembly, the visual arts team invited churches to have their artists submit digital images of their art. Some 30 of these were selected by a juror, Messiah College art instructor Theodor Prescott, who was not part of the visual arts planning team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each art piece was accompanied by an artist statement that helps explain what is happening in the art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isley is pleased with the interest assembly-goers have shown. He was, however, disappointed that there was only one submission from outside of North America: an abstract painting by Lucy Riquelme of Chile, entitled \u201cWalking with Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The logistics of transporting art across borders may be a factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, the juried exhibits and the non-juried shows (displayed in the mezzanine above the Global Village area) offered a way for assembly participants to communicate and learn at a level deeper than words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe wanted people from outside North America to know that [visual communication] is important, too,\u201d says Isley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Byron Rempel-Burkholder is a freelance writer and editor from Winnipeg. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Images in MWC art exhibit communicate at a deeper level By Byron Rempel-Burkholder Mennonite World Conference assemblies are often remembered as festivals of words: stories, songs, sermons and conversations. But what about visual art? \u201cThere has been a surge of interest in art in the Anabaptist world,\u201d says Geoff Isley, PA 2015 visual arts planning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1561,1712,1],"tags":[189,1721,1722,1723,1724,267,1718,1713,1725,1568],"network":[],"eventcategory":[299],"class_list":["post-825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","category-tomigrate","category-uncategorized","tag-assembly","tag-byron-rempel-burkholder","tag-geoff-isley","tag-juried-art-exhibit","tag-lucy-riquelme","tag-pa-2015","tag-pa2015","tag-pa2015-assembly-experiences","tag-ray-dirks","tag-tomigrate","eventcategory-assembly"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Art-IMG_2135-BRB-300x225.jpg\")
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