‘Annunciation’ etched glass panel : Janet Driver
“I love the way the sun shines through this glass ! But why call it Annunciation? ...Where is the Angel ? “
The questioner was quite perplexed...and certainly St Luke describes this as a conversation between Mary and an Angel: ‘...the Angel Gabriel was sent from God...’ [St Luke ch 1 v26 f ] I have read this many times, and even had to take the part of the Angel in Nativity plays as a child because I was tall & could shoulder the large heavy wings!
I don't think I left out the angel... but wanted to portray a much more etherial indication of both angel and message...of the angel as an emanation of spiritual power...of light...of joy...of new life...vitality...of something both seen and unseen...how do you describe or portray visually something so powerful and deeply spiritual ?
Hence the spiral of flaming light...the shimmering sense of wings half seen, half understood... and the sense of Mary’s “yes” with echoing flames of the Spirit throughout her being...
“the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...”
Whenever I see the sunlight pouring through this glass...the deep reds dancing with flickering yellows, reflecting across the floor or lighting up someone’s hair with a halo of coloured light, I am reminded of glimpses of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people I have met...
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