Arlington Heights church creates 'Sacred Stories' art exhibition
First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights is hosting a major art exhibition and installation through Jan. 10.
"Sacred Stories, Images of Significance: Voices in a Congregation" is the creation of Mario G. Alberico, an artist and curator who resides in Arlington Heights and is a longtime member and leader in the congregation.
"Sacred Stories" was inspired by a recent sermon on the transfiguration of Jesus by the Rev. Alex Lang, senior pastor at First Presbyterian. The exhibition came to fruition as both a significant art contribution for the internal and surrounding community, as well as a complement to Lang's current sermon series, God in Art.
The "Sacred Stories" exhibition contains a number of individual artworks presented throughout First Presbyterian Church. Alberico transformed various parts of the site into galleries using multiple mediums, including two-dimensional prints and murals, digital art and video, poetry, conceptual art, performance and interactive art and photography.
"This exhibition embodies the ideas we have been exploring during worship services - the overall concept that God is present in our lives in ways that reach each of us individually. Our unique experiences of God affect how we come together as one body of people, working together to follow Christ's model of service and advocacy for the least and the lost," Lang said.
Members of First Presbyterian Church submitted more than 200 of their most meaningful personal photographs for use in making the exhibition. Alberico employed them as artifacts and inputs in the process of making multivariate pieces of art.
Presented in their original and altered states, the transfigured Images of Significance create a combined work of contemporary, spiritual and religious art.
On hearing the transfiguration sermon, Alberico saw a unique opportunity to represent, through art, the shift taking place in the church "from the historical clergy-centric dialectic to a congregation-led conversation. When Alex called on members to send their photos, it struck me as emblematic of the culmination of years of change in our local church and the entire denomination," Alberico explained.
The exhibition seeks to amplify this conversation, to articulate transformational moments, or Sacred Stories - whether joyous or tragic, ecstatic or traumatic - that all people experience and then store in their memories, photographs and stories.
"The first guiding principle of my work as a curator and artist was that every voice would be heard, every story told. The second principle was to not exalt any one person or group over another," Alberico emphasized.
This art event takes place during the church season of Advent through the Epiphany. "Sacred Stories" will evolve over the time of the exhibition and beyond.
"This installation will change, reminding us to stay aware, to be in a state of waiting and anticipation, as those who stayed in wait for the coming of our Lord in the past; and now, and in the future, a challenge to always be in anticipation, to always be in Advent," said Alberico.
First Presbyterian Church is at 302 N. Dunton Ave., in Arlington Heights. Public viewing times, with guided tours, for this free exhibition are 5-8 p.m. Tuesdays and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Wednesdays, through Jan. 6.
To learn more about the "Sacred Stories" art exhibition, visit www.fpcah.org/news or call (847) 255-5900. Special assistance for the exhibition was provided by the digital fine art printing studio and nonprofit Latitude Chicago.
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