A Coffee Filter Creation Story

Hey friends,

One of my classes this semester is called "The Earth Is the Lord's: Ecology, Theology, and the Church's Witness." (Which is quite the name...I usually just call it Earth Class.) For this particular class, one option for our midterm "exam" was to turn in journal entries responding to class readings and discussions. We'd spent some time on the idea of creatio ex profundis, and I wanted to respond to that with a journal entry that involved more than just words.

First, a little context: creatio ex profundis states that creation happened out of chaos (as opposed to creatio ex nihilo, which says creation happened out of nothing). Take a look at Genesis 1:1-2: 

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. (NRSV)

I've also been taking Hebrew this fall, which despite its tendency to frequently overwhelm me, has actually been one of my favorite classes. The Hebrew word used here for "wind," ruach, can also mean breath or spirit (and probably some other things that aren't on my flashcard...). 

I'm a visual person, if you didn't know, so ever since these class discussions I'd been trying to figure out what that creation out of chaos might look like. As I mulled it over,  it always seemed to be this churning mess of dark blues, greens, and purples, maybe with the smallest sparks of brighter color or light, out of which and over which the ruach would emerge, an equally messy and captivating presence, but full of more color and light. This ruach would snake its way in and out of the void, gently and mysteriously calling together creation. 

So I dug around my apartment (and my friend's recycling pile) to come up with supplies for my art project. The “canvas” I used is some recycled cardboard, on which I painted the background with blue, teal, and black paints (and some of my trusty blue glitter glue). Then I used Sharpies for the Hebrew and English writing (which are both Genesis 1:1-2). The “breath” itself is made of three coffee filters that I dyed with water color paints before crumpling, twisting, and gluing them to the cardboard. Splatters and drops of blue, black, and gold paint make up the final layer. 

Here are a couple pictures of my artistic endeavor. Here's to hoping I'll find more excuses to throw paint around and get school credit for it...

The colors are a little darker in real life, but you get the idea.

Love,

Allison.