2022 | Daniel Smith – St. Thomas' Anglican Church

Artist: Daniel Smith & wife, Sara

Passion Art

Meet the Artist: Daniel Smith

Every year, STAC commissions an artist to create art works for use in our Palm Sunday Service (April 10, 2022). They will be used to help us worship as we read the Passion Narrative during the service. This year’s artist is Daniel Smith. Here are some sneak peaks of the paintings commissioned by STAC for use in our Palm Sunday service. They aren’t in their final form, but they do give us a glimpse of what to expect.

Daniel Smith graduated from the College of Charleston in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art. While at CofC he met Sara (Pilling), our Student Minister and they got married the following year. Daniel grew up in the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, going to St. Matthew’s in Darlington, SC with his family as he was growing up. He was raised as a christian and has been exploring what it means to use your vocation and talents to glorify God and point others toward Him.

Station 1: The Trial

“Let Him be Crucified” (Matthew 27:1-26)
Barabbas and Pilate are featured as the two smaller black birds among the crowds of trees, while Jesus is portrayed as a large white dove. The dove appears to be plastered onto the canvas like he doesn’t really belong, in the same way an innocent man would not belong in the place of a criminal.
Station 2: Jesus is Mocked
Station 3: Jesus Takes Up His Cross
Station 4: Jesus is nailed to the Cross

“Father Forgive Them” (Luke 23:32-34)
Jesus on the cross is represented by the tree on the main island, with the two criminals portrayed on the smaller islands behind it. A storm looms behind them as the gravity of death looms over Jesus. The island also symbolizes Jesus’ isolation and desertion by those around him in his final hours.
Stations 5 + 6: Jesus Dies on the Cross and Jesus is Pierced in the Side

“Jesus Dies on the Cross” (Matthew 27:45-50; John 19:28-30) and “Pierced in His Side” (John 19:31-37)
The storm here represents the death and piercing of Jesus with mighty and powerful clouds producing an intense rainstorm, signifying God’s wrath poured out on Jesus, and water coming out his side when he is pierced by the soldier. The echoes of pink in the painting signify the blood shed by Jesus on the cross. Going deeper, the storm, while being powerful and terrifying, waters and nourishes the ground below it, giving the expansive landscape the water it needs for life.
Station 7: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

“A Temporary Tomb” (Matthew 27:57-60)
The rocky mountainside represents the tomb Jesus was laid in, yet the light coming from inside the tomb portrays the truth that the Resurrected Jesus does not give death the final say and that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is good news to sinners like you and me, because we now have access to a loving God, who bore the sins that we could not.

2022 | Daniel Smith

Passion Art throughout the Years

Artist: Daniel Smith & wife, Sara

Passion Art

Meet the Artist: Daniel Smith