The Prayer Room
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"Stages"
Comments
on the Paintings for "Eight Garden Steps"
by the Artist, Nadine McHenry
In May 2002, Abendmusik performed Eight Garden Steps at First-Plymouth Congregational Church in Lincoln. This event combined original poetry, original music, and eight of my paintings in a creative collaboration portraying the human journey from infancy to old age. These paintings now hang permanently in the prayer room at First-Plymouth Church.
Erik Erikson, a 20th century psychologist, identified eight stages in the human lifespan. Except for one, the titles for the works in Eight Garden Steps are the names he gave to these stages. Besides Erikson, other influences were the Bible, ancient sayings and beliefs found in Taoism, the symbolism and parallels of plant life, and the Prairie Style architecture of First-Plymouth Church.
Site plays an important part in how these paintings are viewed. The prayer room is a round room just off the sanctuary. It is small and intimate. When you enter it, these "contemplation panels" encircle you, beginning on the left with infancy and continuing clockwise to the right ending with old age. They fit in architectural niches with the wooden supports of the room framing them.
The best way to view these panels is to take your time. Don't be too eager. Let them come to you. Think of the period in life each one represents. Think of the human development occurring at each stage, the primary relationships, and the issues and feelings. There is nothing in the paintings to remind you of a figure, or of anything you could touch or pick up. They are about feelings. They were done for a quiet place to encourage centeredness and contemplation.
Statement Concerning Each Painting
1. Hope; 8½x28
in. - As an infant, one is totally dependent on others for care and love.
2. Will; 20x33 in. - In the toddler stage, one develops motor
skills and explores choices.
3. Purpose; 20x38 in. - A child is malleable, like clay.
Impressions made during this period remain.
4. Endeavor; 20x43 in. - An adolescent is occupied with how things
work and how they ought to operate. School and out-of-home activities play
important roles.
5. Fidelity; 20x43 in. - A teenager develops an individual
identity.
6. Love; 26x43 in. - A young adult concentrates on establishing
relationships and commitments.
7. Care; 26x43 in. - In middle age, there is a larger concern for
society and future generations.
8. Wisdom; 8½x38 in. - In old age, there can be fulfillment and
satisfaction.
Artist Nadine McHenry
Nadine McHenry returned to work as a full time professional artist following a number of years in marketing for local banks and Bryan Memorial Hospital. Her show Playtime in 1999 at the University Place Art Gallery was the inspiration for the Taoist approach to Eight Garden Steps.
Mrs. McHenry won acclaim for herself and for the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital with her twelve large portraits of children and adults with disabilities. Nadine was able to apply her Sandhills ranch upbringing at The Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, Nebraska with her works titled "Cows on the Loose" in the summer of 2001. Nadine lives in Lincoln and is a former art instructor at Nebraska Wesleyan University and The University of Nebraska, Kearney. Abendmusik: Lincoln has gifted the Eight Garden Steps paintings to First-Plymouth Congregational Church to be displayed in the Prayer Room, located west of the sanctuary.
From the program notes for the Abendmusik: Lincoln Eight Garden Steps concert, May 19, 2002.
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