More Than Material Art Show Virtual Tour
"Fingerprint" by Ruby Jane Hirdler
Acrylic On Canvas And Mixed Items
Artist Statement
Hello my name is Ruby, this is my 11 session working with Portable Vision and my second session mentoring. My piece is a self portrait finger painting using acrylic paints. When I was putting together my ideas for a piece I had in mind I had been feeling a lot of self doubt about my worth and purpose in people’s lives and in God’s plans. A lot of this doubt had stemmed from my inability to find a job in my field and from seeing how easy it is to lose touch with close friends or how hard it is to make a new one. While I was busy feeling down on myself for all of my shortcomings I found myself thinking, “God doesn’t find my value in how good I am at something.” I needed this reminder because I had spent so much time looking at myself that I had forgotten to look at God. I made a self portrait because I wanted to paint myself the way I am. Even if it’s not perfect, even if there are rough spots, I wanted a raw painting. A picture of my current self just the way God made me and sees me. I used my hands and fingers because I wanted to be a part of my painting and also because I didn’t want to stress the tiny details. I had fun getting my hands dirty in the making of my perfect piece and even if it’s not a smooth painting with a lot of detail and interesting things to draw your eye to, it’s still me and God still loves me rough edges and all.
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you,
in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that well.” Psalm 139:14
I want to take a moment and thank Matt and Paul for running this program and all the other mentors for giving advice and encouragement with my piece. I also want to thank my family for encouraging me to use my artistic ability for greater purposes than myself. Thank you for visiting the show and thanks God for making this all possible.
Oral Statement
