Day 248: 9/5/13- New App for Interpreting and Meditating on Christian Art

Day 248: 9/5/13- New App for Interpreting and Meditating on Christian Art
New Thing: art/y/fact.Xn
Inspiration: The eFormation Conference               
Time: About 20 mins. 
Bottom Line: Good stuff. 

"The Last Supper" Nikolai Ge 1863

Reflection:I decided to try out a new app for my evening meditation tonight called "art/y/fact.Xn. Here is the app. description:

art/y/fact.Xn is a tool for interpreting and meditating with Christian art. What is the difference between one painting of the Crucifixion and another? Users will be able to figure this out for themselves with the aid of this app. Christian artworks are found in museums, churches, books, magazines and web sites but often users are at a loss to understand the rich meanings of these works. The app offers interpretive tools for artworks about Jesus, Mary, other figures and stories from the Bible, Saints, Angels and Demons. The 100+ articles about themes common in Christian art include Basic Info, a list of What to Look For, and questions that guide General, Personal, and Historical Interpretations of the artworks. In addition, the app provides tools from the worlds of art, history, and theology to help the user dig deeper into the meaning of an artwork. Because a user sometimes wants an inner experience of Christian art, the app also contains six audio meditations. The user selects an artwork to meditate with, plugs in their earbuds, and chooses a meditation that connects to their experience of the artwork chosen. The app is for Christians and anyone else who wants a richer experience of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art, or the Christian art of any other period.

I was pretty impressed with the the app once I figured out how to use it. I chose to meditate on the above panting of the Last Supper and listened to the guided meditation to help the Spirit show me things that I might not have seen by only looking at it with my eyes instead of gazing on it with my heart. 

The first thing that stuck me was how dark and disfigured Judas was as Jesus seems heavy with the weight of the moment. Secondly, I noticed that there was a disciple in the background that seems to have fainted. I wondered why. Then I noticed the bowl, towel and jar that Jesus must have used to wash the disciples feet--a tender moment between them all now over. It lasted a while and was very dramatic. All that without even touching the interpretation feature of the app! I imagine that using this with the actual painting in front of you would be even better.