Art in the Gallery, May 2025

Art As A Bridge


Artist: Laura Jennings Estevez

Now Showing in The Gallery at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Spartanburg, SC. Exhibit continues through June 2025.


The Artist’s Journey

My interest in culture has grown over the last 20 years as I have discovered how deep and how wide our cultures can go. Many times, we do not even realize that we have cultural norms until we step outside of them and explore and appreciate the lives of others. In cross-cultural ministry (when someone goes outside of their culture to help others, for example in the Peace corps, missions, military, etc.) there can be so much that is learned and shared from these experiences. I moved outside my country at 22 to begin an art program in an underprivileged neighborhood and I have been connected to the country of Ecuador ever since.


Many times, we do not even realize that we have cultural norms until we step outside of them and explore and appreciate the lives of others.


I have come to see the bridges that are formed through our family ministry in Ecuador which now includes my husband from Ecuador, our kids, and our larger ministry of Second Chances Ecuador. From teaching a person to paint to painting portraits of young men that have lived on the streets there is something that visual art can do that reaches the soul. 


The portrait has always fascinated me. There are worlds inside of each person and there is so much that is unknown. This installation consists of a round table with a portrait at each space. In one space there is a mirror which includes you and everyone that looks into it as a part of this connection. 


The exhibit will be displayed in both Quito, Ecuador and Spartanburg, SC. Large, abstract representations or “soul” portraits of each person are hung on the walls around the gallery to represent the light, personality, and my understanding of who each person is. 


The best part of ministry is being able to connect worlds. Through this artwork I want to bring the idea of coming to the table together to share an experience. Just as Christ brought individuals from vastly diverse backgrounds to the table, the individuals represented here also have diverse backgrounds. Through a shared dialogue, each person has been given agency, responding to survey questions, and producing their own self portraits that capture their authentic selves. From this information I have created personalized works of art representing each person.


This exhibition features a small fraction of portraits of the many individuals from the US and Ecuador who have been involved in our ministry. The eight portraits only scratch the surface of the years of involvement between Spartanburg and Quito. These paintings, my interpretations, bridge the individuals' inner selves with my own experiences of them. Each person is connected to our ministry in some way and each person has immense value and incredible stories to share. 


Just as Christ brought individuals from vastly diverse backgrounds to the table, the individuals represented here also have diverse backgrounds. 

Things That Make God Smile!

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Art in the Gallery, May 2025

Art As An Act of Healing:

Healing and Centering Through Making Mandalas


Artist: Nancy Rodriguez

Now Showing in The Gallery at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Spartanburg, SC. Exhibit continues through May 2025.


The Artist’s Journey

As an art therapist and counselor, I often used mandalas with children and adolescents as a centering, healing tool. After retiring, I returned to my own artmaking, once again drawn to mandalas. I shared this practice online as Mandala Monday for several years, pausing only when we moved from Charleston to the Upstate. I’ve recently resumed the practice.


Becoming quiet and listening sometimes stirs my soul in ways that make me want to, need to, give form to these stirrings. These art works are visual prayers, when heart sighs can’t be spoken; some are born of pain and sorrow, some come with joy, all are mixed with love as thank offerings to God. 

“The Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” Romans 8:26


Each mandala, each piece of art, is a fresh beginning—an invitation to return to the present moment and feel closer to God.


My journey with art began in childhood, as it does for many, through a natural love of drawing. That love deepened over time, and I pursued every art class I could. In my senior year of high school, I received the Senior Art Award, which inspired me to major in art at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where I earned a B.A. in Art and Psychology with a minor in Sociology in 1984.


In college, I discovered art therapy—a field that combined my passions for creativity and helping others. I completed my M.A. in Art Therapy at the University of Louisville in 1986. It was there I first encountered mandalas, through Carl Jung’s work and the meditative practice of Tibetan sand mandalas. Creating within the circle became a spiritual practice for me—what I call a visual prayer.


Looking vs Making

Looking at art can be calming, inspiring, and even healing. But something special happens when we make art ourselves. Creating, especially something like a mandala, helps us to focus and feel more at peace. In art therapy, we believe that making art can help us understand our feelings, let go of stress, and feel more grounded inside ourselves.


In a spiritual setting, it can also feel like a quiet kind of prayer, not just talking to God, but listening with your hands and heart. The process of making art becomes a way to feel closer to God and more connected to yourself.