Joseph Brickey: SEEKING SHILOAH

 

 

THE STORY:

The woman in this painting cradles a jug close to her body.  In a literal sense, she waits to fill that jug with water at Shiloah, or Siloam, a pool in Jerusalem fed by a spring outside the city walls.  However, symbolically, the woman is seeking the knowledge and light of the Lord.  “As the only source of fresh water in the area, the waters of Shiloah have long been a symbol of God’s protection and sustaining power. . . [T]his woman is seeking the fresh waters of Shiloah—hence symbolically seeking God’s ongoing love and protection" (https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/10785_eng.pdf?lang=eng).


ANALYSIS:

The color palate in this painting is muted, with grays and creams dominating, lending the painting a quiet, contemplative feel.  The light illuminating the woman represents the light of the world, Jesus Christ, who once anointed a blind man’s eyes and, symbolically, sent him to wash in the waters of Shiloah (John 9:11).

The life-like textures in this painting add to the sense of the physical reality of seeking Jesus Christ. The woman's hair, the gentle folds of her clothing and headdress, the texture of the jug, and the veins on her hand are all realistically drawn--and she stands before a smudged background, erasing all the other distractions in life.

The way the woman cradles the bulge of the vessel reminds me of images of a pregnant Mary, the mother of Christ. The serene atmosphere of this painting adds to that parallel.

Artist Joseph Brickey wrote this about the painting in a personal email:  “The word ‘Shiloah’ has the same Hebrew root as the common greeting ‘shalom’ (meaning peace), and also related to ‘Salem’ (Jerusalem means the City of Peace), and to ‘Shiloh,’ the prophetic title in the Old Testament referring to Christ (Genesis 49:10).

“This maiden represents all who await the kind of peace only Christ can offer.  All those who thirst for such may be filled with that ‘peace of God, which passeth all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7).  Then shall their ‘peace [be] as a river’ (Isaiah 48:18) and ‘with joy shall [they] draw water out of the wells of salvation’ (Isaiah 12:3) if they come with open and ready receptacles to receive ‘the waters of Shiloah that go softly’ (Isaiah 8:6).”




PERSONAL IMPACT: You know, this painting is not a personal favorite of mine. I tend to prefer paintings of women doing rather than contemplating.

But. My dad came to visit last month and particularly commented on the beauty of this painting; he was researching it and the artist at the dinner table after church. It reminds me that different paintings speak to different people. That's one of the many reasons why it's important to have a variety of styles and visual interpretations of gospel stories and messages.