Prison artists including students of Divine Hope Seminary have created works of art to adorn the classroom. We have thirteen bookshelves in the classroom in which we can lock up our library books. On the outside of each one of them we plan to hang large four-foot-high by three-foot-wide paintings. The majority of these have been completed. These include paintings of the Flood of Noah, the temple of Solomon, and other biblical scenes.
The art program at Danville Correctional Center is better staffed with teaching artists than ever before. The quality of the art being produced is unprecedented. Several prison artists were professional artists on the outside. Some artists were converted in prison and are thrilled to use their gifts to paint great Christians of the past or biblical scenes. They grieve over the fact that in the past they used their brushes to paint inappropriate scenes or portraits. They are overseeing art students so that some of the paintings that they produce are collaborations. The artists along with their students are producing a scene of 13 paintings that are 24” by 36” to place along the walls around the classroom. These scenes are mostly from the book of Genesis and include scenes like God confusing the languages at the Tower of Babel, Abraham sacrificing Isaac, or Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery.
Among recent paintings are 48” by 36” paintings that show John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and Luther with their wives. I was dissatisfied at the prospect of having pictures of these great preachers by themselves. In the classroom we are emphasizing the importance of Christian men being loving husbands and covenant fathers. So, I directed the prison artists to paint scenes in which the reformers Luther and Calvin were next to their wives. We do not have any extant pictures with the reformers in scenes with their wives. We also have separate pictures of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, but I wanted them together. One of our students who was a professional artist has painted a large scene that shows the Apostle Peter in the act of diving out of the fishing boat in order to swim to shore to be with Jesus. This is a poignant scene for Christian men in prison. Even though Peter shamefully denied Jesus three times, the Master forgave and restored him. That the Apostle Peter could be used by the Master is an encouragement to Christian men who have greatly sinned in the past. They too can be of service in the kingdom of Christ.