An artist's tribute to the President

Artist and Uniting Church member Michael Donnelly recently submitted a painting of Uniting Church President Rev Sharon Hollis for the Archibald Prize. Having known Sharon for three decades, the work is inspired by his admiration for her leadership, openness, courage, strength and faith.

In this Q&A, Michael shares what inspired him to feature the President, how the work developed, the symbolism of the background, the relationship between art and faith, and how the visual arts can help us to see the truths of the Gospel in new ways.

See the artwork below and read the official artist statement here.

What inspired you to paint the President for the Archibald Prize?

My art and my faith have always travelled hand-in-hand, from late teens and involvement in our local Uniting Church and youth group in Sydney. While first completing an art education degree at what was Alexander Mackie CAE, and later, a post-grad in fine art at the Victorian College of the Arts, I have linked in with various groups that connect art and faith including Celebration Arts that met at St John's Southgate in Melbourne, Chapel on Station Gallery at the Box Hill Baptist Church, and the Artist Network that Christina Rowntree facilitated at Centre for Theology and Ministry.

Along the way I have offered my art in congregational fellowship and worship at Ashburton Uniting Church by way of liturgical banners, murals and group art projects, while also continuing to exhibit along the fringes of the art world in artist-run spaces and other venues, including St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 2023.

At all stages, art and faith have been my mainstays, whilst also keeping a day job teaching in high schools and, from 1999, teaching students who have vision impairments.

You’ve known Sharon for a long time. What are some of her qualities that you hope the painting captures?

When I decided it was time I gave the Archibald Prize another go after 30 years, it was an easy choice to approach Sharon. We had known each other since the 90s and she already owned a large drawing of mine.

My wife Patsy and I first met Sharon as members of the Monash Uniting Church when she was a student at the nearby university. Even then in the early 1990s, Sharon was someone to be admired for the way she wore both her heart and her faith on her sleeve, and she has continued to do that right through her years of ministry and positions of responsibility. I remember having very involved and passionate conversations where Sharon challenged our understandings and viewpoints, especially as to just how deep and wide Christ’s love is for each and every person, no matter what, helping us to respond to Jesus’ example in our own faith journeys as young parents at the time.

We've watched Sharon develop through her many roles as a Uniting Church minister, and struggle through many difficulties in her life with openness, grace and humility. This was especially so through her role as Moderator of the VicTas Synod during the COVID-19 pandemic, with each pastoral letter being a great encouragement and inspiration in those awful days.

In her 3 years as President of the Assembly this small woman has associated with so many large figures of the Australian religious and political stage, as well as many around the world.  She is an ambassador representing the vast diversity of the Uniting Church. We were especially impressed by her unswerving advocacy for the 'Yes' vote in last year’s referendum on the Voice to Parliament and even now she continues to seek new ways of promoting reconciliation.

What were some of the things that evolved in the work along the way?

The painting took just six weeks to complete, from first life sketches to signing the canvas before framing and shipping. I spent time with Sharon talking about possible composition ideas before arriving at a clear way forward after our first life drawing and photo shoot at Ashburton Uniting Church, my home church.

How to settle on just one image of Sharon that said all that needed saying? How to portray someone in their official role when, as a person, she so often had such a broad and infectious smile?

After considering many compositional scenarios, including placing her near the statue of John Wesley at Wesley Uniting Church Melbourne, a chance suggestion to stand in front of the burnt wood cross at Ashburton Uniting Church created the right balance. The timbers of the cross were from roof beams retrieved from a 2018 church hall fire and speak of the heartache of successive bushfire seasons and other trials. As a nurturing and supportive figure in church life, having Sharon stand in a garden bursting with life and representative of both native and exotic plants seemed most apt, while perhaps more subtly, the array of banksias suggests candlesticks and lampstands from deep within the church’s traditions.

Another decision not made lightly was having Rev Sharon wearing a non-clerical top even though sketches were made and photos taken of the full alb and stole vestments as well. Having seen Sharon wear the patterned lace top for a public address not long before, I asked if she could bring it along and it proved to be perfect, not only for its aesthetic properties but also for the symbolic nature of the floral quatrefoil pattern, harking back to the role of Marian theology in church history alongside the trinity and the rebalancing that has happened within the church and society for women and all genders.

I am very grateful for Rev Sharon’s cooperation and collaboration in creating this portrait, and the trust she had in me to approach the task with respect and joy.

What impact do you think art can have on faith, and on us as a society?

Art in all its forms continues to impact upon life and faith each and every day. That our own Uniting Church has been reluctant to accept and embrace the visual arts in particular due to its Protestant and ‘puritan’ roots, continues to be a frustration and disappointment to me, even though at a congregational level, offerings of art in worship and congregational life by me and others have been welcomed and enjoyed.

While music and song have been more readily embraced and formed an integral part of our worship life, the visual arts are often only included in the most basic and generic ways, such as a clipart addition to a newsletter, or the Uniting Church logo attached to a wall.

The visual arts can help us to see in new ways the truths of the Gospel and the living Word of God. In my own work this might involve resetting the gospel stories in modern times and from new perspectives, or portraying our faith lives as part of who and whose we are.

Film, and its newer forms, are perhaps the most potent contemporary art mediums but, a thoughtful mural, a well-positioned painting or an uplifting banner or other liturgical artwork can, through the time invested in looking upon and experiencing it, speak volumes to the heart and soul. Its layering of image, symbol, subject-matter, and principles of line, shape, colour, rhythm, pattern, as well as the media itself – its painterliness or gritty charcoal or pigmented earthiness.

One of the ‘secret’ elements of an artwork is time, the time you can spend with it and meditate upon it, and, in the context of faith, thus spending time with God.

Credit must be given whenever this image is used

‘Rev Sharon Hollis, President, National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia’.
Oil on Linen, Frame: 156 x 115cm, Image: 150 x 110cm. Commenced 10.03.2024. Completed 23.04.2024.
by Michael Donnelly, 0438674247

https://www.michaeldonnellypictorally.com/