Celebration of the Arts is a 13-day spiritual art exhibit that has been featuring religious art for the past 36 years.

This year, two pieces that were featured in the exhibit deserve some extra appreciation. The first is a terracotta piece called “Listen…to the Breath” created by Aquinas College Senior, Chelsea Nix, and the second is a ceramic/scrap steel piece called “The Guardian” by continuing education student, Stuart Christians.

Nix’s artwork could be seen immediately at the entrance into the exhibit. When talking about the inspiration for her piece, Nix smiles.

“When asked where I got the idea, or how I created it, I just smile. I cannot take full credit, I was living and listening to the power of the Holy Spirit. Completely surrendering to the moment.”

Though 440 pieces of artwork were submitted, Christians’ piece was awarded an Honorable Mention by juror Edee Joppich. Christians’ artwork is of a guardian angel, but he did not want to go for a traditional angel. Instead, he used ceramic and scrap steel.

His inspiration stemmed from his four year old niece.

“She’s just so innocent, and she has this God-like quality about her. So I took a casting of her face, hands and feet, and I put those on the piece. Then the gestured steel body acts as armor, and I incorporated the big sword into it,” Christians explained.

“The kind of wings was a little big like starling and hummingbird wings. Something that flies very quickly. I assembled those three visions and created my piece.”

After finding out he received the Honorable Mention, Christians asked Joppich what made her choose his piece.

Joppich responded, “It’s engaging. You look at it, and you have to interact with it. I had to take a few pictures of it myself.”

Though Celebration of the Arts last exhibit day was on Tuesday, it will be a memorable event for next year.

Celebration of the Arts is a 13-day spiritual art exhibit that has been featuring religious art for the past 36 years.

This year, two pieces that were featured in the exhibit deserve some extra appreciation. The first is a terracotta piece called “Listen…to the Breath” created by Aquinas College Senior, Chelsea Nix, and the second is a ceramic/scrap steel piece called “The Guardian” by continuing education student, Stuart Christians.

Nix’s artwork could be seen immediately at the entrance into the exhibit. When talking about the inspiration for her piece, Nix smiles.

“When asked where I got the idea, or how I created it, I just smile. I cannot take full credit, I was living and listening to the power of the Holy Spirit. Completely surrendering to the moment.”

Though 440 pieces of artwork were submitted, Christians’ piece was awarded an Honorable Mention by juror Edee Joppich. Christians’ artwork is of a guardian angel, but he did not want to go for a traditional angel. Instead, he used ceramic and scrap steel.

His inspiration stemmed from his four year old niece.

“She’s just so innocent, and she has this God-like quality about her. So I took a casting of her face, hands and feet, and I put those on the piece. Then the gestured steel body acts as armor, and I incorporated the big sword into it,” Christians explained.

“The kind of wings was a little big like starling and hummingbird wings. Something that flies very quickly. I assembled those three visions and created my piece.”

After finding out he received the Honorable Mention, Christians asked Joppich what made her choose his piece.

Joppich responded, “It’s engaging. You look at it, and you have to interact with it. I had to take a few pictures of it myself.”

Though Celebration of the Arts last exhibit day was on Tuesday, it will be a memorable event for next year.