Metaphor and Mystery

Our 2026 summer show, Metaphor and Mystery, features work by artist Grace Carol Bomer. The show is available for viewing by appointment Tuesday-Friday, 11-5pm.

If you would like to make an appointment to see the show, contact Megan Kenyon at mkenyon@intersectstl.org

CURATORIAL STATEMENT:

Metaphor and mystery. Two words we often struggle with. In a world full of uncertainty, chaos, disquiet, we often gravitate towards things that feel solid, sure, comprehensible.

Which makes following Jesus interesting; faith by definition relies on trust, allegiance, more than certainty; to see beyond what’s apparent or provable to what we know that we know. In a world looking for answers, we find God revealing himself through poems, stories, and symbols in scripture that all meet in the Word made Flesh. We encounter Christ in the mystery of His incarnation and the poetics of His fulfillment of scripture in his life, death, and resurrection. We find ourselves moved, ineffably, by His Holy Spirit, who helps us see these things we believe, we love, we hope for, moving us toward increasing faithfulness in following after Jesus.

Grace Carol Bomer’s work leans into metaphor and mystery, using brilliant color, unexpected shapes, and tactile surfaces to make visible scripture. She draws from poems and parables, linking references from our own time to theological concepts and stories 1000s of years old. Using oil and encaustic, collage and drawing, she creates a feast for our eyes, trying to make the invisible visible.

Images like I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightening, use color and abstraction to imagine this strange and powerful comment by Jesus. The darkness swallows up color and shape as it descends at speed, creating an evocative sense of triumph over evil while we yet wrestle with our now and not yet reality in Christ. Similarly, The Mountain of the Lord creates an imaginative space for wonder about what it’s like to stand in the presence of Almighty God. Deeply saturated color, flecked with gold, is sometimes peeled away to reveal what could be a figure or could be a cross standing on the mount, fusing Old and New Testament stories of God meeting with his people.

Other images use more specific language to draw our attention to things we know, stories we love, theological truths we hope to inhabit. Pieces like Taste and See: For the Healing of the Nations, looks hopefully forward toward the time when God makes all things new. With Healing in His Wings evokes a large bird or perhaps angel wing, creating a space for comfort and hope using color and mark.

As you wander the gallery, reading Bomer’s statements about her pieces, and drinking in all the beautiful colors, layers, and textures, I encourage you to not ask first “What does this mean”. Instead, find a work or two that draws your attention, and notice it. Step into the mystery for a moment, and see what you see. What familiar or unfamiliar symbols catch your eye? What colors excite or confuse you? What shapes or figures do you recognize or find strange?

Welcome to Metaphor and Mystery.

Metaphor and Mystery is co-curated by M. Kenyon and Sarah Bernhardt, with assistance from Nancy Hughes of Kingsbury Gallery.