Prayer and the Cross in the Westminster Gallery

by Rodney Allen Schwartz, Director, Westminster Gallery and Archive

The Westminster Gallery exhibition for Lent and Easter features two local artists, Georgette Sosin and James Quentin Young. Each died in recent years and their works are featured in the Westminster Collection with significant gifts from them or their families.

Georgette Sosin was a Jewish woman with a keen interest in language and prayer. She studied the Aramaic translation of the Lord’s Prayer and created two series of paintings based on those words in a stunning cosmic style. The first series was painted in a multi-day workshop, one canvas a day. The second series was painted in a more leisurely manner in her studio. These, and a triptych on the Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead), were a gift from her family.

James Quentin Young had a career as a teacher and began to make art from found objects as he neared retirement. Westminster has mounted several exhibitions of his art over the years, acquiring pieces both as purchases and gifts from the artist and his wife, Joyce. A large gift of art several years ago ensured that Westminster now has the largest collection of his art. While much of his creative output was crosses, we also have paintings and sketches from his time studying at Macalester College in St. Paul and the University of the Americas in Mexico City in the 1960s.

This exhibition brings together these representations of Prayer and the Cross and offers a space for contemplation as we journey through Lent on the way to Holy Week and Easter. The exhibition closes April 16.