Mission Statement
The President's Art Commission is a committee of faculty, staff, and students that seeks to enhance the educational and spiritual mission of the College by providing opportunities for campus-wide engagement with the visual arts through a program of acquisition and placement of visual art throughout the campus.
Vision Statement
Through its work the President's Art Commission aspires to honor Jesus Christ and to celebrate God's gifts of creativity to humankind by providing the community with encounters with the highest quality visual art that reflects the diversity of human experience and the breadth and depth of the Kingdom of God. The Commission aims to inspire, to engender understanding of artistic insight, to promote conversation on the intersections of art and faith, and to encourage interdisciplinary learning through the visual arts.
Located in the Billy Graham Center outside of Barrows Auditorium, The Luminous One was designed, developed, and built by students and faculty across campus over the course of two years. The mosaic is a truly communal and liberal arts project that serves as a welcome to all who visit Wheaton College. Commissioned by the President’s Art Commission, the mosaic depicts the story of the woman at the well as told in the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to John and encapsulates the mission of the Billy Graham Center and the graduate school.
In 2017 the President’s Art Commission purchased fifteen paintings from emeritus professor of art Joel Sheesley. These paintings span over thirty years of his career, and together illustrate his artistic journey, his connection to the area, and his commitment to integrate faith and practice.
An exhibit of plein air paintings of the Fox River by Professor Emeritus Joel Sheesley was displayed in the Todd Beamer Center in November 2017 in connection with our Core Book, Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. This online collection recreates that exhibition as a resource for students to continue to experience the evocative and contemplative potential of Joel's paintings. Please explore the gallery, read the artist talk, and learn more about the artist.
In 2012 researchers discovered an intriguing group of prints which had been lying unobserved in file drawers for many years in the Billy Graham Center Museum archives. These graphic works depicting African American worship and spiritual life dated from the Civil War up through the mid-20th century. Now on permanent display in Blanchard Hall, the prints invite an inquiry into the seeds of understanding and misunderstanding between contemporary white and African American Christian people.
image:
Alfonse Borysewicz
Luke Full of Grace
oil and wax collage painting with Riza
2017