Dorothy Gager, an award-winning artist from St. John’s Anglican Mission in Orinda, California, has created three pieces of Easter art that will be exhibited abroad in two art exhibits this month.

Two of Gager’s pieces, “Divine Intervention” and “Father Forgive,” will journey to Brussels, Belgium, for a Stations of the Cross exhibit, a traveling outreach to the community put on by Operation Mobilization. Gager is one of 10 artists from around the world contributing work to the outreach and will accompany the pieces to Brussels April 6-19. She is looking forward to meeting the other artists and the churched and unchurched people who will visit the stations.

“I am fascinated to see how [my work] is read by an unbeliever,” she says. “And if it is a door to open dialogue, I would welcome that.”

Her first piece, “Divine Intervention,” features a field of tarnished gold squares which represent works—our efforts to be good—and the power of the Cross breaking through with grace and redeeming love. The second piece, “Father Forgive,” portrays a massive pile of rocks balancing on the shoulders of a small human figure. In the midst of the pain of bearing this load on the cross, Jesus begs his Father God to forgive.

A third piece, “Bitter Cup,” has been sent to Norwich Cathedral in Northern England for display with artist group commission4mission in an exhibition titled “The Cross” from April 20-May 29. Gager’s fired clay cup represents His body which became flesh and bled, and the rugged stem of square welded nails reminds us of the cruelty of being nailed to the cross.  

“Divine Intervention”

“Father Forgive”

“Bitter Cup”

Gager has been working in mixed media for 30 years. She began pursuing art after she completed a career in teaching and enrolled at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She continued to take classes and explore various media, beginning as an illustrator, then becoming a sculptor and painter. Her current work lets the content of the piece determine the media. She exhibits her pieces at a gallery in Northern California and various private and public locations in the area. Two of her sculptures are permanently displayed in the Bakersfield Municipal Airport and the Air and Space Museum in San Diego.

When a viewer sees her work, Gager hopes they don’t see her.

“I don’t want them to see me, the artist,” she says. “As Christian artists, we are called to excellence. Our work has to be as fine as we can make it to honor God, so that the viewer can get past all of the problems of execution. I’m always working on refining that.”

Gager’s artistic process is intuitive and experimental. For instance, her piece “Father Forgive” took her eight iterations—using paper, fabric, charcoal, black paint, etc.—until the piece felt right. Gager perseveres until she feels her images illuminate the biblical narrative.    

Much of her work flows from hymns and scripture, but Gager looks to other artists too. Each year, she finds creative stimulation as part of a local group called Arts of the Covenant that works together to put on annual thematic art shows. When she’s not working out of her studio in her home, Gager leads groups of women in artistic Lectio Divina, a meditative experience of painting words of scripture in water-based pastels. In all of it, she strives for a clearer portrayal of spiritual truths.  

“I think about that song ‘Day by Day’ from [the musical] Godspell that says art enlarges and expands our view,” she says. “I love the lines: ‘to see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, to follow thee more nearly.’ I want to live an integrated life, and I want my art to help us integrate scripture into our lives.”

Learn more about Dorothy Gager’s art.