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Laura Gentry, artist and pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lansing and Waterville Lutheran, is embarking upon a new artistic endeavor. Her project is called "Dear Mother Earth: A Lunar Cycle of Paintings."

Beginning August 16th at the new moon, she will be painting a new piece for each day of the lunar cycle (a lunar month is 29.53 days.). For this exhibit she is working collaboratively with Dr. Richard Simon Hanson, a professor emeritus at Luther College, her husband, William Gentry, and the Black Arts Collaborative Arts Company of Decorah.

Each day Laura will take the subject matter of one of the daily devotions found in Dr. Simon's books, "Dear Mother Earth from Day to Day - a Lunar Cycle of Meditations" and its sequel, "Lunar Cycle Two" and paint her personal interpretation of its meaning and connective-ness with nature through the expression of dance. Her creativity will draw from personal attributes generally assigned to phases of the moon. She will add in her personal gleanings from Simon's book. The figures in the paintings will be painted from photos taken by her husband, William of the Black Earth Collaborative Arts Company's recent "Informance" at Luther College.

It sounds complicated, but going through the actual process is simple. For example, Laura's first choice of subject is seeds. In his book, Dr. Simon wrote, "The renewal of earth is continuing creation. The recycling of the elements of life and the turning of eggs to creatures and creatures to food for other creatures and the miracle of seeds and new plants to produce further seeds is all a matter of creation as one generation of life evolves to another. And akin to what happens on earth also happens in the galaxies as stars are born and age and absorb into themselves or as planets are born. It is all creation, a performance of creation that is repeated and repeated to countless generations and regenerations."

On August 16 there will be a new moon. The moon's unilluminated side is facing the Earth so the most that will be visible is just a sliver.

The new moon is reflective of emergence. At this point Laura will begin to merge her personal perceptions of Simon's devotional words, the meaning of emergence, her personal connectivity between the message and the earth, - then seek to capture the moment that the dancers' movements on the tape brings it all together. The mixed media painting that results, will truly be a collaborative effort of Laura, Dr. Hanson, and the dancers. The paintings will begin very small and increase in size every three or four days until they reach the full moon size of 13 x 13. In the paintings the moon will be three dimensional.

The titles of the subsequent paintings will be: Innocence, Praying, Clear Cool Water, Lifeblood, In Step, Relating, Glory, Rhythms, Home on the Earth, Health and Salvation, A Matter of Praise, Dancing Naturally, Dear Mother Earth, The Moon By Night, The Voice of the Mountain, Appreciation, Interior Silence, Sign of the Cross, Mystery, Sacred Tree, Holy Wisdom, Balance, Meeting in the Wilderness, a Matter of Ownership, Back to the Garden, Neverending Miracles, and Continuing Wonder.

Dr. Richard Simon Hanson is a master storyteller and biblical scholar. He has published eleven books, lectured widely and has lead numerous trips to the Holy Land. He has presented Lenten services at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lansing on several occasions.

In describing the books that Gentry is using this month for her daily paintings, Hanson says, "I wanted to write short pieces that people could read in ten minutes or less and really think about throughout the day. Concern for nature has been part of my life since I was small. Most of my insights in the book come from actually experiencing nature. I do a lot of observing (of nature) that is really for spiritual reasons. I like to feel a kinship. Our culture is so frenzied with stuff that despiritualizes us that we need this.

"I hope Laura's paintings, together with my devotions, will help people to recapture something of a time when humans lived more directly from the bosom of the earth and the hand of God and it will sensitize people to the cycles of the moon and the rhythms of the natural world. There has often been a conflict between nature and religious tradition. This did not used to be."

The photographed dance event that Gentry will be drawing from for inspiration was performed two weeks ago at Luther College. A presentation of the Black Earth Collaborative Arts Company, the dance forms explored the connections between feminine and masculine shapes of changes. Artist Director, Jane Hawley, Luther College dance professor, is a vibrant dancer and choreographer and also shares a close affinity for the earth.

Plans are underway for Gentry's "Dear Mother Earth" paintings to be exhibited at the Vennehjem Living Center in Decorah as well as Luther College. Like her adolescent girls show, Gentry hopes to send it on a tour from there. Meanwhile, you can see a virtual gallery of the show as it progresses by logging onto the Gentry's website at www.thegentryjoint.com. The new paintings will be posted daily.