“Study for ‘Creation' is a color study [or a series of images interpreting Christian doctrines as seen through a Lutheran perspective,” says artist Charis Carmichael Braun, the People’s Choice Winner. “The image depicts emblems of God’s painstaking design and plan for the creation of our world and our new life through Christ’s redemption.”
Charis, who studied painting at Bethany Lutheran College and earned her MFA at the New York Academy of Art, vividly recalls her introduction to the Old Masters; it occurred in New Ulm with her second-grade teacher, Coral Cady, DMLC ’85. "We painted a Van Gogh-esque landscape using soap flakes, a master-copy of Picasso‘s Blue Tragedy, and our own composition in the style of Mondrian," she recalls. “The Friday-afternoon art adventures culminated in a huge tempera spatter painting out on the school lawn; each student cut out a piece of his or her own ‘Pollock’ to stick on the fridge at home."
Charis continues to work as a professional artist in New York, where she explores “Christian visual language and its relationship with Lutheran tradition and cultural criticism.”
originally published: https://issuu.com/mlc.edu/docs/2010_infocus_june OR Gauger, Laurie. "Chapel of the Christ: A Place Set Apart, Solus Christus Juried Art Exhibit." In Focus (Year In Review: 2009-2010): pg 10-11. Print.
