Just for fun . . .

With a little assistance from my friend Seth, I've whipped up this image paying homage to (from left to right) Dr. Stephen Gunter, Dr. Willie Jennings, and Dr. J. Kameron Carter-- three of Duke Divinity's most stylish professors.  This may have to find its way onto a t-shirt in the near future.

Duke Divinity Logo Redesign (Spring 2012)

The original Divinity logo

Lately, I've been designing a t-shirt for the Divinity School.  Even though we couldn't reproduce the image for copyright reasons, my favorite design so far has been a retooling of the standard Divinity School boat logo with a pair of supporting hands underneath.  This was a smaller project involving a little bit of physical cutting and pasting along with the usual bag of digital editing tricks.  We can't technically turn it into a t-shirt, but the image is being passed around via facebook as an inspirational message to div students in the midst of the stressful pre-finals season.

Revised version

With the above image being restricted, we instead wound up going with this stylized version of the Duke Divinity Pentecost stained glass window whipped up by yours truly through GiMP.  This will be the image on this year's Divinity t-shirts:

Also, here's another design I've been tinkering with.  There are so many shots of the iconic Duke Chapel tower, but this is one of the few that shows the cross behind it, and that's a symbol that I really treasure:

Post-Its for New Creation Art Show (March, 2012)

My most recent post-its are admittedly a little darker in subject matter.  In particular, these are two pieces that I produced over Spring Break for a collection of offerings from Duke's New Creation Arts Group.

The first is called "Good Friday," and unlike many of the images I work with, I had a very clear goal in mind for the symbolic elements here.  The brokenness of the church has been a fixation of mine lately, and the idea of Christ's Body being torn apart through schism has been a recurring image in my mind.  I incorporated the red sun in the background to convey a sense of absolute suffering (like that of Christ on the cross), and the face in the foreground is a traditional portrait of Christ that I have subverted a bit by pulling it apart.  There's a pretty lengthy story behind this piece really, so if you're curious to learn more, feel free to seek me out around the Divinity School or email me at tom.lewis@duke.edu.  I already have a buyer lined up for this piece.

The second is an untitled crucifixion scene where I was toying with a new technique.  I've always been impressed by pointillism (a style where artists use tiny dots of color rather than blends and brush strokes), so I thought I would apply that idea to the post-it medium.  I decided to keep things fairly abstract, making only the most basic form of a human body recognizable, and I wanted to make a point of using a wide variety of flesh tones in the image, so I created a full color palate using all the notes I had available.  I still consider both this piece and the new style to be works in progress, but with this new approach to post-it color matching, there's now a chance that I may be able to do something in the near future that I've never attempted before: realistic coloration.  I'll keep updating here as this develops.

Duke Divinity School History Panels (Spring 2012)

Over the past couple of years, I've gotten pretty handy with GiMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program-- pretty much a poor man's Photoshop).  Part of my job over the past year has been the construction of a series of photographic history panels for Duke Divinity School using this program, and I think the results turned out pretty well.  The original files are far too large for the blog, but here is a version with lowered resolution:

These panels represent (from left to right): The Founding of Duke University School of Religion, Duke Chapel, the Gray Building, York Chapel, the Langford Building, Goodson Chapel, and the Westrbook Building.  Note the alternating pattern of architectural/academic panels with open spaces of worship.

Also, here are a few photos of the installation:

For any potential employers out there interested in viewing full resolution digital copies of these images, feel free to contact me, and I'll be happy to send samples your way.

Additional Pieces from 2010 Exhibit (Fall 2010)

In addition to the explicitly religious works, the exhibit also featured some pieces that were just fun.

Portrait of Pablo Picasso.  Now in the collection of Gillian Lisenby Walters.

A rather intense self-portrait

Untitled.  There has been much speculation as to the meaning behind this piece.  I intend to let the speculation continue.

Resistance Fist.  The red bracelet is designed to resemble the bracelets made by a group young women rescued from sex slavery in Nepal.  For information on donating to groups like this one, visit the website of 1040 Connections.

Superman.  For this piece, I experimented with a new technique involving shredding the post-its down to an absolutely tiny scale.  The piece at right is only about the size of a sheet of notebook paper.  It is currently in the collection of comic book aficionado and songwriter Gary Mitchell.

Boba Fett.  Now in the collection of Morgan Hendrix.

Chess Pieces.  This piece was done with my own family in mind.  We're chess nerds.

Lady Liberty.  A revisiting of an early version of the stylized Statue of Liberty.

The Pineapple.  Now that I think of it, I have no idea where this piece is.  It might still be in my collection somewhere.

Sunsets.  Another piece that has been left somewhat intentionally ambiguous.  Some viewers have found it playful.  Others find it melancholy.  It's one that I enjoy hearing people interpret.

Religious Works from Post-It Exhibit (Fall 2010)

Back in the fall of 2010, I had the honor of putting several of my works on display in the hallways of Duke Divinity.  Not all of them were explicitly religious, but I thought I'd highlight a few that had very clear religious intent:

Madonna with Child.  Now in the collection of Dr. Dave Moffitt.

A portrait of St. Augustine based on a Tiffany window of the famous North African saint and theologian.  Now in the collection of Duke Divinity Admissions.

The Lion.  Some have interpreted this as the Lion of Judah.  Others have suggested that it is Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia.  I like to leave it open for interpretation.  Now in the collection of Heather Moffitt.

The Old Crusader-- I went through some difficult times during my first year of div school, and this image popped into my head quite a bit during that time.  I see it as a reminder not to try to carry our crosses alone, but rather, to rely on Christian community and the uplifting power of the Holy Spirit in difficult times.

I'm a bit of a Dante nut, so I wanted to depict Dante and Virgil somewhere in the exhibit.  This is the only piece in the exhibit not made entirely from post-its, as the lettering in the upper right was done with pen and ink and bears the famous caption over the gates of Hell: "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."  The piece is now in the collection of Bradley Lisk.

A portrait of Jeff Buckley in a slightly abstract style featuring one of the most famous words he ever sang.  Now in the collection of Sarah Stockton Howell.

The Phoenix.  For more on the significance of this piece, see "The Phoenix Prayer" from the 8,000 Miles blog.  Currently in the collection of Jon and Alyssa Lawrence.

A Trinitarian Reading of Pentecost.  This was one of the larger pieces in the exhibit and features twelve paper-doll apostles with tongues of fire in their halos.

Argonautica (Summer 2008)

In the summer of 2008, my friend Prof. Michael Barich of Kenyon College approached me about illustrating his book, a new translation of Valerius Flaccus's Argonautica (the classic tale of Jason and the Argonauts).  I worked closely with Prof. Barich on the illustrations, and the book is available for purchase via amazon.com or through the publisher's website.

Inspired by traditional Greek pottery and statuary, the cover is a post-it mosaic featuring busts of Jason and Medea in front of the Argo and the Golden Fleece.  The inside of the book features pen-and-ink illustrations and a map depicting the journey of the Argo.  I have a few copies that I can loan out on request if you'd like a closer look.