Exemplar, by Tyrus Clutter
Christian Century, Oct 5, 2004

IN HIS WORK as a painter and printmaker, Tyrus Clutter explores narratives and the multiple meanings of words (like church and body). He began Exemplar, he says, with the idea of creating an image of footwashing. "The image of the hanging feet kept appearing to me." As he worked on cutting the woodblock, he suddenly had a sense of the image's meaning: "The feet are actually the hanging feet of Judas, who had his feet washed by Christ just moments before going out to betray him. The title then refers to Christ as the ultimate example of love. He was able to do this servant act to someone he already knew was his betrayer." Clutter's work can be, found in many private collections as well as in the print collections of the New York Public Library, Spring Arbor University and Union University. Onetime art critic for the Boise Weekly in Idaho, he speaks often on art, art history and aesthetics. He now lives in Massachusetts and is director of Christians in the Visual Arts, an organization of artists and educators (www.civa.org).

COPYRIGHT 2004 The Christian Century Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

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