Downers Grove native donates painting to Wartburg Seminary, with March 30 dedication
Artist James Ellison, who grew up on Glendenning Road in Downers Grove, is donating a painting to Wartburg Seminary with a dedication ceremony set for March 30.
He is the youngest son of Olaf and Marguerite Ellison.
He had his first private art instruction from a resident of Downers Grove. He went to Highland Elementary, Herrick Junior High and graduated from Downers Grove North High School.
The painting was a seven-year endeavor as Jim taught art full time at Nogales High School in La Puente, California, part of the Rowland Unified School District.
This painting is unusual for him because as a Symbolic-Realist he looks for spiritual inspiration in nature, painting landscapes and seascapes.
Symbolic-Realism seeks to communicate meaning using the subconscious archetypes for color, line, shape and page placement as first discovered by the psychological Carl Jung.
Being on a subconscious level of basic human understanding, it is not subject to cultural or historical limitations. Jim has a unique blend of psychology, aesthetics, theology, biblical knowledge and faith in his creations.
As Jim says; "My desire is that people in seeing my artwork experience my struggles and celebrations resonating with their own joys and sorrows stirring their spirits and inspiring them to seek out new possibilities."
Why Wartburg? As a practicing artist and teacher with a BFA from Eastern Michigan University and an MA & MFA from Northern Illinois University, he felt called to the ordained ministry. As Ellison says; "Wartburg Seminary has a special place in my and my family's hearts because of their warm acceptance of me as a second career student with a family." He received his MDiv. and was ordained in 1984.
This is not the only piece of art the Seminary has because Ellison's painting will be in the company of masterpieces by Eva Dittrich Leo (1901-1998) the first female German Master Sculptor. She created candlesticks, crucifixes, altars and baptismal fonts depicting Biblical motifs for many German Churches. Eva had to flee Germany in 1939 with Paul Leo and his daughter Anna as refugees. They were married and moved to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1950 where Paul became professor of Greek and New Testament at Wartburg Theological Seminary. The Seminary has several of Leo's later works, most notably the two sets of copper doors in Fritschel Hall and the Tower building.
Wartburg Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded in 1853 and is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and the Higher Learning Commission. It offers residential and distance theological education through its masters programs and its theological education for emerging ministries. As a Reconciling in Christ seminary, WTS seeks to offer hospitality and welcome to all who enter WTS academic programs. Following Jesus Christ, whose reconciling love bridged barriers and made strangers into friends, WTS seeks to welcome and learn from one another's particularity. This includes but is not limited to one another's race, national or ethnic origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical ability, social status and theological diversity.
Visit www.ellisonjamesb.com.
For further information contact James Ellison by email eliartist@yahoo.com and or phone 626-221-8086.