Ontario Artists Engage Faith and Culture

George Langbroek, a member of Jubilee Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, in St. Catharines, Ontario opened his latest exhibition, The Creation of Eve, at Hamilton, Ontario’s Flagship Gallery on March 13. In the exhibit, seven colored etchings work together to depict the narrative of scripture from The Kiss of Life – creator God forming Eve while Adam sleeps, to Children of the Rainbow – humanity across the ages welcomed into the promise of Christ.

“They’re all in a sense confessional,” Langbroek said of his art, “[expressing] what I believe life to be about and what my art is trying to convey.”

For Langbroek, exhibiting as an artist-member of the Christian cooperative Flagship Gallery means being a light on the street. “We have to be visible, not only visually but also verbally as an alternative gallery,” he said.

To each person who encounters the Christian artists and their work, especially on busy Art Crawl nights on the second Friday of each month, the gallery communicates: “Christians also have something to say,” Langbroek said.

He appreciates the conversations that arise from people encountering his art. “It’s so outside of [the public’s] general relationship with people of faith,” Langbroek said.

A week before Langbroek’s exhibition, another Jubilee Fellowship CRC member, musician Gail Poulsen, welcomed 250 people to a community concert in Virgil, Ontario. To a backdrop of nature photography by Judy Lunshof, Poulsen’s music reflected on psalms and themes of recognizing God in creation, including “Is That Your Voice,” co-written with Linda Lensink: “Oh Lord our God, Can it be?; That the mountains, rivers, and seas; Are calling to us in an ancient refrain?; Could it be you’re whispering our name?”