An Exhibition of Contemporary Icons
RE-IMAGING MARY

by Rosemary Luckett

Exploring the image of Mary and Jesus that Rosemary Luckett grew up with led her to a discovery of richly diverse images of Mary, other archetypal women, and the feminine face of God. Like Marian icons from previous centuries, these cut paper collages reflect figures and faces of women living at the time the pictures were made. By joining old images with the new, such as ancient Byzantine pictures of Christ with contemporary women and children from all over the world, the artist provides the viewer with multiple entry points into the pictures. Traditional symbols of the bird, vessels, and angels are combined with the precisely cut photographic figures and small bits of lace or cloth. Each individual element in the collage retains its own identity, history and implications, at once contributory to and independent of the collage as a whole, thereby enriching the layered surface of the art work with multiple layers of meaning.

She Shall Be Called Blessed 12x21x5 paper, lace, polychrome wood

On the one hand, these collages call to mind the scriptural stories in which God interacts with Mary and also the images of sacred motherhood made by artists throughout western history. Yet these contemporary figures of women remind us that women of today are also called to be bearers of Christ, to carry on the mission of Mary and Jesus in our own time.

By framing these paper collages in three dimensional "houses" or "shrines," the artist extends a two-dimensional collage into three-dimensions. The shrines are references to medieval altar panels, Hispanic niche boxes or domestic folk cabinets. They become vessels for the paper images, in direct reference to Mary, who is vessel to the Holy Spirit and Jesus.

Rosemary Luckett has exhibited in many galleries and art centers throughout the country, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.. She is a native of Idaho, but has made her home in Virginia with her husband and three children.

WORKS ON DISPLAY
	< Madonna of the Sheaves 18x27x5 paper, polychrome wood Mary Visits Elizabeth > 20x29x4 paper, polychrome wood
	< Light Bearer 22x36x8 paper, polychrome wood Mother of Us All > 7x54x10 paper, polychrome wood
	< Spirit Woman 18x71 3/4x9 5/8 paper, lace, polychrome wood Then and Now> 28x24x5 3/4 paper, polychrome wood
	< Suffering and Transformation 14x61x4 paper, polychrome wood, broom Mary Takes Her Son from the Temple > 18x26x3 1/2paper, polychrome wood
	< She hears the Cries of the World 14«x21x3 1/2 paper, polychrome wood, metal Gift Giver > 12x25x8 paper, polychrome wood
	< Magnificat 17 1/2x20 1/2x3 paper, ribbon, polychrome wood Madonna with Beaded Hair > 14 1/2x22 1/2x2 paper, ribbon, polychrome wood
	< Lamentation > 24x33x8 paper, polychrome wood
	< Seat of Wisdom 15 1/2x23x6 1/2 paper, polychrome wood Renew the Face of the Earth > 12x19x3 paper, polychrome wood, plastic
	< Mary at Cana 23 1/4x24x3 1/2 paper, polychrome wood She Said "Yes," > 20 1/2x16x5 paper, polychrome wood, tiles

Return to the Exhibits Page

Return to the Gallery

Return to The Mary Page

This page, maintained by The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, was last Modified March 16, 2006 by Varun Gade. Please send any comments to ROTEN@data.lib.udayton.edu.