Upcoming Events
Exhibit: Embodied Faith and the Art of Edward Knippers
September 20, 2024 – April 30, 2025
Visual Art Exhibit
Embodied Faith and the Art of Edward Knippers
September 20, 2024 – April 30, 2025
Gordon-Conwell–Charlotte
“Disembodiment is not an option for the Christian.” This statement by visual artist Edward Knippers is a guiding principle in his work, which features the human body, often in connection with biblical scenes. Disembodiment is not an option for those who believe that human beings are created in God’s image with beautiful bodies, that everything from sin to salvation are embodied experiences, and that God’s redemption comes through the broken and risen body of Jesus.
The Knippers exhibit at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Charlotte will include over two dozen works, including several of his large-scale works that have never been displayed publicly. The paintings invite us to consider the goodness, brokenness, mystery, and glory of embodiment, urging us to grapple with the temptation to avoid, sexualize, downplay, or disparage bodies along with a fully embodied faith.
This exhibit is sponsored by the Leighton Ford Initiative in Theology, the Arts, and Gospel Witness at Gordon-Conwell Seminary.
About the Artist
Edward Knippers is a visual artist who has been a fellow at S. W. Hayter’s Atelier 17 in Paris and was a student in Zao Wou-ki’s painting studio at Oskar Kokoschcka’s School of Vision in Salzburg, Austria. He also was awarded the Prize of Salzburg in printmaking under Otto Eglau. Knippers understood his serious study of the human figure beginning at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. He holds a Master of fine Arts from the University of Tennessee where he studied under Walter H. Stevens and The Knoxville Seven. His work has been displayed in museums, galleries, and private collections all around the world, and at the center of that work is the human body.
(Image: Catherine Prescott, The Artist, Edward Knippers, Oil on panel, 12 x 9″, 2022, Private Collection)
Location
This event will be hosted at Gordon-Conwell–Charlotte (see map below).
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary—Charlotte
14542 Choate Circle Charlotte, NC 28273
Charlotte Campus
14542 Choate Cir, Charlotte, NC 28273, USA
Wes Vander Lugt
Exhibit Organizer and Adjunct
Professor of Theology
Have Questions?
We look forward to seeing you in Charlotte! If you have any questions about the symposium, please feel free to reach out.