Book of Mormon Feast
An Artistic Tour Through 1 Nephi 16
1 Nephi 16:7
BOOK OF MORMON ART
I Will Go Before Your Face {A Daughter of Ishmael}
Elspeth Young
Artist’s Comments:
The story behind I Will Go Before Your Face
"For behold, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto my father, yea even in a dream, and said unto him: Blessed art thou, Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy life. And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness. And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord. . . and it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious, things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness...
And it came to pass that the Lord commanded him that I, Nephi, and my brethren, should again return unto the land of Jerusalem, and bring down Ishmael and his family into the wilderness...And it came to pass that the we went up unto the house of Ishmael, and we did gain favor in the sight of Ishmael, insomuch that we did speak unto him the words of the Lord. And it came to pass that the Lord did soften the heart of Ishmael, and also his household, insomuch that they took their journey with us down into the wilderness to the tent of our father...
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife,
and also, my brethren took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife...And it came to pass
that we did again take our journey in the wilderness...And we did travel and wade
through much affliction in the wilderness, and our women did bear children in the
wilderness. And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did
live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their
children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their
journeyings without murmurings. And thus we see that the commandments
of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments
of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they
can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means
for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness...yea, even eight years...and notwithstanding
we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot
write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore..." 1
Nephi 2:1-
1 Nephi 16:10
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Round Ball of Curious Workmanship
David Baird
Metal and wood
1 Nephi 16:10
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Joseph Franklin Brickey
1 Nephi 16:10
BOOK OF MORMON ART
C.C.A. Christensen
Oil on board
1 Nephi 16:10
BOOK OF MORMON SCULPTURE
Lowell Fitt
Worked Metal and Wood. Fitt’s intricate Liahona, winner of the Church art competition of 1990, displays a tree of life on the top.
1 Nephi 16:10
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Lehi in the Wilderness Discovers the Liahona
Arnold Friberg
Thus far in the Book of Mormon story the family has been near their home in Jerusalem, in familiar territory. But as they were about to embark into the dry and desolate Arabian wilderness, the Lord provided them with an instrument which would guide them safely through.
“And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles, and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.”
Artist’s Note:
As might be expected when confront with subjects never before pictured, there were opinionated, personal versions on almost every detail. Little things like the color of Nephi’s hair were open to debate and everyone had an opinion.
A baffling question involved the picturing of the Liahona. Of course any reader of the Book of Mormon knows the very limited description of the instrument. To illustrate the problem between words and pictures, let us consider a speaker (perhaps a BYU professor) who is known as an expert on the Book of Mormon. Let’s call him Mr. Words. He delivers a speech on what a marvelous device was the Liahona. After the lecture come questions from the audience.
Question: “Just how large was the Liahona?
Speaker: “Oh, we’re not told that. But it was round and had these pointers inside”.
Question: “How did they see the pointers? Was there open work in the design for them to see through? Or was the top hinged to open up for viewing?”
Speaker “We are not told that either. But it was a wonderful instrument, working according to their faith.”
Question: “What did they do with it when not in use? Was there a bag or a stand to keep it in, or did they just let it roll around on the deck of the ship?”
Speaker “Oh, we’re just not told that. But it was of curious workmanship, etcetera.”
Now, Mr. Words hasn’t told us anything any reader of the book doesn’t already know. But he’s off the hook. He’s still an “expert” so to speak. Dealing only in such words as we read, he hasn’t had to really tangle with the answers. Now comes Mr. Pictures. He’s the artist, who doesn’t know the answers any more than Mr. Words or anyone else. But he can’t duck. No, he has to grit his teeth and paint something. There is no tube of oil paint Labeled ‘when you don’t know, use this’. So I painted something that seemed reasonable, of a size easily handled, and designed a suitable tripod to rest it on.
When asked “How do you know the Liahona was that size?”
I answered, “I don’t know.”
“Then how can you paint it that size if you don’t know?”
It was G.K. Chesterton who once said: ”Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.”
At last I decided that an historical painting was not a wax-
Book of Mormon Art
1 Nephi 16:16
José de Faria
Oil on canvas
My painting was inspired by the story of the Liahona in the Book of Mormon. “And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness. . . . And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:10, 16).
1 Nephi 16:16
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jorge Cocco Santangelo
1 Nephi 16:17-
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Steve Nethercott -
As Lehi’s family traveled through the Arabian desert they had to provide food for themselves. The Book of Mormon recounts an occasion when their principal bow broke.
Many in the party sat and complained, but Nephi made a new bow and arrow, and, with
direction from the Lord, was able to hunt and bring home much-
Real Heroes (Real people, Real power)
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Joseph Kerby
Oil on canvas
1 Nephi 16:24
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Tayler Nelson
1 Nephi 16:26
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Clark Kelley Price
1 Nephi 16:30
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Gary Price
Ceramic
1 Nephi 16:34
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jody Livingston