IG: @hopeoncanvas_

Prodigal Son

In my practice I discover bridges and stained glass windows. Bridges between beliefs in divinity and systems of reality. Windows look into moral questions and the light of community. The narratives and symbols in ornate church windows served as an opening to information, giving people knowledge and understanding even when education was not accessible. My paintings serve a parallel purpose.

Prodigal Son is a set of twelve paintings that are installed as a circle to reference a window where spirituality is held and the outpouring of divinity is possible. In my thesis I am retelling the story of The Prodigal Son from the New Testament in a manner that directs it out of one specific religious space or biblical male experience. Using the core narrative in a more intimate matter as I process my relationship with my sister and my soul's language. As well as interpreting it in a very public latitude, where more universal motifs like family, feminine rage, power, and grace are weighed. My commission for Prodigal Son is that I build bridges between those spiritual and psychological walls through visual stories that are both aesthetically pleasing and accessible.

Bio

Hope Dren is the daughter of a metal head and a music teacher. She was born in Baltimore and raised in New England. Her work is grounded in drawing. Inspired by artists like Hildegard von Bingen and Hilma af Klint, she has found that a multidisciplinary approach suits the themes she discusses with flexibility. Oil painting, ink, and murals are her most beloved forms of making. Music is essential to her practice. Although not a musician herself, her greatest goal is that her work would be as accessible and as rich as music. The way a song, without understanding the mechanics or history, can touch your soul.