Lutheran artists prepare and share a visual feast

Lutheran artists from across Australia have prepared and shared a visual feast for the senses in this year’s LCANZ Simultaneous Art Exhibition 2023.

Exhibitions were held in August in a variety of settings, including an office foyer, a studio gallery, a Lutheran school and at least seven churches. Participants based in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia interpreted the theme ‘Come to the Banquet’ using a wide range of artistic styles and media.

It was the third churchwide art showcase, with previous simultaneous exhibitions held in 2021 and 2022. Contributing artists ranged from young schoolchildren to elderly retirees.

The exhibition at St John’s Lutheran Church in Perth celebrated its diverse community, with displays highlighting a different continent each weekend, while retired secondary teacher Naomi Zanker staged a solo exhibition in her studio gallery in Nhill, Victoria, with works underpinned by Bible texts including: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:6).

At St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Sydney, the exhibition contained works by congregation members as well as those created by participants in a school holiday art workshop, while at St Peter’s at Port Macquarie, members and friends of the church shared their work.

In South Australia, exhibitions were held at the LCANZ Churchwide Office and Immanuel Lutheran Church in North Adelaide, suburban Glynde Lutheran Church, St Mark’s Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, St Petri Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley and Loxton Lutheran School in the Riverland. The exhibitions at Mount Barker and Nuriootpa also included participants from local Lutheran schools. Members of the multiethnic community at Glynde traversed an expansive list of artistic media, including ‘Mukimono’ or vegetable carving, papier-mâché, calligraphy, collage, appliqué, knitting, sewing, drawing, painting and photography. They also may have featured the largest work of the churchwide event – an 8-metre-wide exhibit by Paul Schubert entitled ‘The Last Supper’, which stretched the width of the church hall.