Bible Paintings From A Barn

In an Oakton dairy barn that was once used by an experimental farmer, Mary Trent Scott turns the radio to gospel music and paints biblical scenes. Scott has just completed "Predellas", a six-month endeavor, inspired by the gospel of Luke and altarpiece painters of the Renaissance era. Her narrative paintings, in a primitive, almost cartoonish style, tell stories of Jesus and also depict some of Scott's acquaintances, which she considers saintly -- their heads crowned by divine yellow halos.

"Her style is early American, simple and straightforward," says Craig Kittner, the director of the Touchstone Gallery, where the exhibit is being presented. "It is joyous biblical art without excessive flourish or guild."

Husband "Saint Vic" and wife "Saint Joan" are two of Scott's friends. They are painted wearing Bermuda shorts, each graced in a halo. "He spoke to them about the Kingdom of God" has three vignettes of Jesus feeding the five thousand. The blocks of color are delicate. The red in the thin outline represents the blood of Christian theology, the hills are pastel green, the sky and lake are different shades of blue. Each scene is completed by a simple script that emulates early Christian documents. "As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out - he said 'Young man, I say to you, Get up!' The dead man sat up and began to talk," reads the caption of "Jesus Raises A Widow's Son".

Master Inspiration

This past January, Scott traveled to Italy on a tour of early Renaissance frescoes, witnessing up close the Michelangelo ceilings of the Sistine Chapel in Rome and the Giotto murals of the Duomo cathedral in Florence. She says she nearly cried when she saw the frescoes in the cell of the San Marco monastery in Florence. "It was true inspiration to see the works of the masters and to feel how they conveyed the powerful message of Jesus," Scott says. She went to Italy with the Christians in Visual Arts, an international organization of Christian artists.

"I don't want Jesus to be seen as a symbol of the conservative, radical right," says Scott, a native Virginian, who has lived in Oakton for 25 years. "I want Jesus to be known for his miracles and the way he can transform lives." A black "Saint Erlene", a Hispanic "Saint Rosa" and a Chinese "Saint Shirley", acquaintances of Scott, are each anointed with a halo. "Being a modern woman and recognizing there are very few women in biblical settings, I had to get women in there."

Horse Show Mom

Scott is a self-taught artist who paints what she knows best. A former horse show mom, "who did the car pool thing", she started painting scenes from race courses, riding schools and local horse farms during the 1980s when she couldn't find any such paintings for herself. She then illustrated a book that her father had written about growing up as a farmboy in Patrick County, Virginia. Scott's love of Jesus brought her to biblical painting, an alltogether different realm, but one in which her style remains folksy, fresh and whimsical.