How Quickly Comes the Night by Steve Halla
On view October 5-26, 2007. Opening Reception October 5, 7PM with an artist talk beginning at 7:15. Plus, a free concert by the Jason Tiemann trio and Squeezebot beginning at 8PM.
ARTIST STATEMENT
by Steve R. Halla
I live in a world of images. From books and magazines to movies and the Internet, images shape and define the world in which I live. I think in images, I pray in images. Through images, I orient myself to the world and make my way through it. Images are an essential part of who I am. My work as a visual artist is a direct and natural outflow of my love of images.
The functions of art are as numerous as the intentions of the human heart. For me, art is primarily a means of exploring ideas and communicating experiences as told through the visual language of symbolism and natural representation. Art is how I wrestle with and work through the stuff of life, good and bad. My Christian faith plays a central role in my art. I cannot separate my faith from my art any more than I can separate my reason from my imagination or my actions from my convictions. My art is, in many ways, my spiritual autobiography.
Nightfall
In 2002, my mother, Diane, was diagnosed with uterine cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease. Four years later, I received a phone call and learned that her chemotherapy treatment was unsuccessful. The cancer had continued to spread and there was nothing more that the doctors could do to stop it. Her death was imminent. When I hung up the phone, I felt numb inside. A deep sadness washed over me, the likes of which I had never known before. Moments later, I wandered outside and into an old nearby tobacco barn. The barn was a massive cathedral-like structure where I often went to think and pray. As I anxiously paced back and forth, I tried desperately to gather my thoughts and emotions. In the process, I uttered aloud a simple phrase: “How quickly comes the night.�? I do not know where it came from or what prompted it, but in that moment - a moment that seemed to defy words - it was all that I could say.
Several days later, I jotted the phrase down on a scrap sheet of paper and began to think more deeply about its meaning. Over the next few months, I came to see the phrase as containing two symbolic meanings, both of which center on the word “night.�? The first meaning is night as a symbol of death. More specifically, it is of death as an enemy who breaks in unannounced and violently steals away its victims. Whenever I think of death in this way I think of Hans Burgkmair’s haunting chiaroscuro woodcut Lovers surprised by Death (1510). The second meaning is night as a symbol of divine presence and spiritual ascent. This meaning has its roots in the poetry of the Spanish monk San Juan de la Cruz (1542-91), one of my favorite poets. Together, the phrase is both a confession of faith as well as an expression of grief. It is a song of praise and cry of lamentation.
Although the phrase refers specifically to mother’s illness, it readily applies to all of the works included in the exhibition. Since my first woodcut in 1999, I have devoted much of my work to exploring issues and themes related to the spiritual life. Such issues and themes include the reality of death, the nature of evil, the nature of relationships, and the beauty of redemption. This exhibition is a collection of such works. Together, they represent my own struggle to live the spiritual life in a fallen world. They are my prayers carved in wood.
The Woodcut
I first became interested in the woodcut in March 1999, when I came across a black and white French woodcut illustration of Jesus and the leper (cf. Mark 1:40-43). The image was simple and direct and had a beauty all its own. From the moment I first saw the image, I knew implicitly that I wanted to be a woodcut artist. In my pursuit of the woodcut, I began taking wood carving lessons at the Carving Arts Center in Plano, Texas, in early September. It was my first time working with wood. Two months later, I made my first woodcut print. To make the print, I utilized a simple three-step method. In step one, I began by drawing a design directly onto the prepared surface of a poplar woodblock. Next, in step two, I carved away everything except the design itself. In other words, everything that was to appear as white in the final print. Finally, in step three, I inked the carved surface, placed a single sheet of white paper on top of it, and then rubbed the backside of the paper with a wooden spoon. The result was a black-and-white self-portrait that was similar in style to Emile Nolde’s woodcut Prophet (1912), my visual point of reference. As I continued to develop my own carving style and techniques, the woodcut quickly became my favorite art medium. Today, I work exclusively in the black-and-white woodcut and continue to use the same basic three-step process to make all of my prints. Printmaking is my sanctuary.
This exhibition is dedicated in loving memory of my mother
Diane Ruth Halla (1948-2006)
BIOGRAPHY
Steve Richard Halla was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, on March 24, 1972, the son of Diane Halla and Larry Dean Halla. After completing his work at Pewaukee High School, Pewaukee, Wisconsin, in 1990, he entered Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois. He received the degree of Bachelor of Arts with a major in Christian education from Moody Bible Institute in May 1994. During the following year he was employed as a Community Integration Specialist at Ranch Community Services, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. In 1996, he entered the masters of theology program at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas. He received the degree of Master of Theology with a major in historical theology from DTS in May 2000. In August 2000, he entered the graduate School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received a PhD in philosophy with a major in aesthetics from UTD in May 2006. He currently serves as an associate professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Theology and the Arts at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1996, he married Katherine Lynn Waln of Winfield, Illinois. Daughter, Evelyn Rose Halla, was born in September 2003. Daughter Cora Grace Halla was born in July 2005.
