Spirited Arts is an art and poetry competition run by NATRE (National Association of Teachers of RE). Children were asked to produce a piece of art in response to the theme ‘Thinking about God’ and then write a short explanation as to how their artwork links with the theme. For this theme, we were thinking about how people envisage God. Why and how do people see God differently around the world? The children were asked to think creatively about the following:
•Where is God?
•Who is God? The great creator? Prayer answerer?
•Is God He or She? Neither? Both?
•Is God above us? In our hearts? Hiding? Not there at all? Unreal? Imaginary? Where would you find God?
•What do you think about when you hear the word ‘God’?
They could include stories and quotes from the bible or other religious texts.
Here are some of the pieces they produced, along with their written responses:
I wanted to represent that everyone can shine in the dark, and representing God is not a bad thing and you should always feel proud representing him.
In my picture you can see images representing key moments in God’s story, for example Jesus on the cross, and quotes from the bible. Flowers representing spring, as spring represents, new life, rebirth and the resurrection of Jesus. Lots of the images represent creation, that he is the king and other Christianity related items.
I feel as if the artwork speaks for itself and everyone has a different perspective on the way they see God. You can decide what the artwork means to you.
Our artwork is related to God in a way that shows we are all equal but we choose to worship him, not because he is almighty and strong, but because of his kindness and humbleness. We show this as all the animals drawn in are peace would usually be divided from each other, or hunted by each other, but in the presence of God (displayed as our large eye in the background) they can forget that hatred had pierced their peace. Now they can thrive and fight the fear within them. This is thanks to God being the most powerful. Not for his muscle, but his heart. Also in this image you can see an angel lifting a mountain with a human reaching the top. This displays that heaven and humans help each other day to day and can work together, to conquer even further. This includes all other species in our world. We also have symbols like the moon and the star in the top left, to show that God cares for and appreciates other religions as much as Christians because they all belong in God’s heart.
God made good and bad but still loves all of earth so we drew a good side and a bad side. Also all things that are small or unremarkable can be beautiful and wonderful. We added moss to the bad side to show that it is old, battered and weathered. We used bright colours on the good side to show liveliness. The good side has lovely weather but the bad side has a horrible storm and rain, we also did a dead tree and a living tree.
My creation is inspired by lots of things such as on my earth everyone is holding hands that for me symbolises Jesus’ teaching saying, “Love thy neighbour as thy self.” I think of a neighbour as friends, family and pets because a neighbour is usually known for being beside you and your house but I think of it differently. I have lots of things on my artwork that is apart of God’s creation such as my rainbow, moon and sun, flowers, a rainbow, trees, and most importantly the whole earth. I haven’t shown an image of God because I don’t think God looks like anything girl or boy, black or white. I believe God is a spirit like the Holy Spirit watching over people in the heavens above. I have interpreted hands both sides of the earth because although I may not think God is human I do believe he holds it in his palms in other words God cares for it. In my picture I have used bright god colours to represent happiness. I have a couple of small details – the cross for Jesus’s death and resurrection the dove in the tree for peace and finally the bread and wine for the last supper.
My artwork is based on the creation story and how God is, was and could have been. I have always wondered how God made our world: did he shoot stars into the sky? Or carefully hand craft each one before placing them in space? Eventually, I thought of a theory of God painting our world, each plant, each cloud, concentrated intently on by God himself. This, to me, makes our world so much more special, irreplaceable and unique.
This piece of art shows each day of the creation story in order. On day one, you will see a hand holding a paintbrush that represents the side of God we all forget about the human side. In quotes are the words “Let there be light!” God said these words on the first day. I used colouring pencils for this part of the picture.
Day two is created with pencil and pastels. Pastels for the sky and pencil for the sea. “Divide the waters from the waters” Is written as that is what God proclaimed on the second day. Some people think God is an angel, some think he is a devil which is why I chose to draw a devil’s hand in the sky. A mirror line separates the devil hand from the human hand. This is based on the quote “Let us make man in our image” That is day two.
God said “Let the earth sprout…” On day three. The hand of an angel is drawing the sea to show the angelic side of God that most of us admire. Day three is made from colour pencils. That is the third day.
Water colour and colour pencil is what I used for day four, the day God created space. A hand on the side of the page is holding a wand representing the magic God has within. “Lights” God shouted. That is day four.
“Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures.” Day five is a collage with a watercolour background and animal footprints are dotted around to show wet paint.That is day five
Day six is made with felt tips, watercolour and colour pencils. “Let us make man in our image” Is what God said on day six.
Rest is all God did on day seven.
I left the background blank to show all the work we still need to do in the world. Climate change and pollution all need to go. That is my artwork.