New work: 2013 Sioux County Oratorio Chorus Poster

The 2013 Sioux County Oratorio Chorus performance poster
Graphic designer and photographer: David Versluis
Icon artist: Michelle L. Hofer
Size: 11 x 17 inches, 27.94 x 43.18 cm 

This year the Sioux County Oratorio Chorus is scheduled to perform Handel’s Messiah at Northwestern College’s Christ Chapel on Saturday, April 27, 2013. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Dordt College alumna, Michelle Hofer (’98) developed this Messiah icon (after the Hagia Sophia’s Deësis Mosaic) as a 4' x 9' banner for her church in Freeman, South Dakota. The banner and image has an amazing environmental and liturgical presence. The piece is a textile mosaic comprised of thousands of multi-colored 9mm squares cut from iron-on fabrics and applied by hand onto shear purple fabric. Michelle’s banner was selected for Dordt’s 2012 “The Christian Evasion of Popular Culture” conference art exhibition.

In an exhibition interview about her work with icons Michelle states:

My artistic venture into religious imagery grew out of a trip to Istanbul, Turkey in 2001. Visiting some of the world’s oldest churches, the interiors of which are covered with beautiful and breathtaking images, had a profound impact on me. The work I’ve done with Christian icon images is quite personal, and many of the pieces in my show have become sources of deep spiritual strength, comfort and renewal – I carry them in my heart and mind always. 

The poster was printed by COLORFX in Boyden, Iowa.