Months after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formally organized in 1830, Frederick G. Williams chose to be baptized as a member of the Church. Williams’ wife, Rebecca Swain, had already joined by that time, and the two were living in Kirtland, Ohio. Williams almost immediately served a mission with Oliver Cowdery to Missouri. And less than two years after he was baptized, Williams was called to serve as a counselor to the Prophet Joseph Smith. This calling is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 81.
The Lord’s counsel to Williams in the fifth verse of that section called him to be faithful and to stand in this new calling. Four months earlier, Williams’ predecessor in the same calling had been released “when he failed to continue in a manner consistent with this appointment” (Doctrine and Covenants 81, section heading). The Lord continued in the second part of verse 5 saying, “Succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.”
On Thursday, April 24, the Church History Museum unveiled 150 works of art chosen for their portrayal of Doctrine and Covenants 81:5 as part of the Church’s 13th International Art Competition. Laura Paulsen Howe, curator at the Church History Museum, spoke at the new exhibit’s opening and welcomed visitors to come see different ways that individuals have visualized what it looks like to follow the Lord’s counsel in this theme verse.
“The Church History Museum invited artists to ponder that injunction, to visualize what that might mean and to express — from their perspective and in their own visual language — what that might mean,” Paulsen Howe said.
She said that 584 different artists submitted works from 26 countries and territories to be considered in the competition.
When speaking about the different ways artists portrayed their feelings, Paulsen Howe pointed out that some saw “devastation made beautiful through the aid of others” and “examples from scripture and personal history.”
James Swensen is a professor of art history at Brigham Young University and one of five jurors who evaluated the nearly 600 pieces of submitted art. While he has juried other competitions before, he said this one was different because of the theme and the submissions.
One work that stood out to him was “Deposition” by Sarah Hawkes, in which a cancer-battling woman in a white dress is being lifted and held up by a dozen other women.
“This just gives an example of how Latter-day Saints all across the world are sharing their testimonies,” he said, adding, “As an observer, as a juror, to be able to observe these and be strengthened by what other people are doing — their testimonies —”
He paused and looked at Hawkes’ painting again, pulling back his emotions.
“I mean, look at this.”
Sewing virtue, weeding out evil
Chilean artist Pamela Salinas Bernal created a vibrant work out of carefully cut, acid-free paper meticulously placed in layers to bring to life a garden of thousands of tiny flowers in the middle of a desolate landscape. The flowers’ petals, shapes and height vary. But Bernal said they all grow in the same ground, and their roots all seek to take hold in the same ways. Her work is titled “The Parable of the Gardner: The Garden of the Lord.”
“Life can be really heavy sometimes,” Salinas Bernal said. “I also feel that as we navigate that, we learn that the Lord accompanies us and that He resolves those things for us.”
This was Salinas Bernal’s second time having a work selected as part of a Church competition. She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 18 years ago. She said that creating art like this is representative of her ever-increasing testimony of the Savior.
“Creating a piece of art like this is a long process to complete, … and I think that finding one’s way to the Lord is the same. It requires the work of introspection, it requires work to look within one’s self to find Him and submit to Him,” she said.
As she described her art and her idea of covenant connection, Salinas Bernal described the service given among Heavenly Father’s children and His blessings extended to each of them as a “virtuous cycle.”
“It is a cycle that every one of us is a part of, and everyone has a fundamental role in God’s plan,” she said.
She pointed at her work on the wall and noted the individuals working in the garden that is full of flowers. She said their work involves pulling a lot of weeds to allow the flowers to grow and become what they are meant to be.
“Sometimes those weeds grow close to us and don’t allow us to grow if we don’t pull them out,” she said. “It is the same way with our minds. Our mind is a garden. If we let the weeds enter our minds, they can overpower you. … So it is important that we care for our own garden and that we maintain our garden free of those weeds.”
Excited for others to see her work, Salinas Bernal said she hopes that people find hope in the Lord on a personal level.
“I hope that they feel inspired and empowered to recognize that God is there for them, for me, for everyone, without discriminating and regardless of our differences.”
Expressions of love
Ryan Moffett, a sculptor from Utah, described why he created C’mon, Mom …, which is made of ceramic.
“If I could say it or write it, I would not be creating this art. It just does it in ways that any other medium doesn’t do,” he said. “I feel like I get closer to God with it.”
While devoid of precise details of the mother and child, the emotion of a young child tugging at his or her mother’s hand is clear. The child craves the mom’s attention and presence. The mother rests a hand across her forehead in exhaustion.
“Sometimes when you think of the hands that need to be lifted, sometimes they are needing that, they want that, they are hoping for that. And sometimes at the end of the day, a mom doesn’t want that. But there is something about the perfect love of a child that bolsters anyone that comes in contact with them,” he said.
Paige Crosland Anderson had her third work accepted by the Church competition this year. Anderson said she found inspiration for this year’s theme in the quilting patterns used by her grandmother. And similar to looking at the underside of a quilt while it is being put together, Anderson said she can be surprised by the layers revealed in her own paintings.
“I’m painting several layers thick before I sand,” she said, describing her process of bringing colors back to the surface after having been covered by another. In that revealing process of sanding, Anderson said she feels there is a similarity to everyday life where people make choices and then have to evaluate whether or not what they have done is right.
“I believe that discipleship is daily. I believe that it is step by step, forged by little acts,” Anderson said. She said she sees the same pattern when she reads about the Savior’s disciples in the New Testament who follow Him step by step, at times seeming to want to see what would happen next and what they would be a part of or witness.
“Doing things that sometimes may feel boring or sometimes ineffective or sometimes because it’s a habit, they actually pay off. They have spiritual dividends,” she said.
When Claire Forste heard the theme for this competition, she immediately thought of the seasons of life that change and seemingly reverse roles of supporting others and then needing their help.
“There are times when you can give more and times when you can receive more,” she said. “I believe that’s our covenantal relationship. What we have promised to do as followers of Jesus Christ is to take care of one another.”
Forste illustrates this point in “I Lift You; You Lift Me” with mirror images of one woman carrying another on the upper side of her painting and then the two women having switched places with each other on the lower half of her painting. Around its border, Forste painted plants that grow in different seasons of the year.
Additional exhibit details
The works were juried by artists Christian Bolt, Kazuko Covington and Ima Naranjo Hale; and scholars Amy Maxwell Howard and Swensen.
Artists with works included in the exhibit are from Angola, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.
The Church History Museum hosted a public reception Thursday, April 24, 7 to 9 p.m. The exhibit will be open to the public through Jan. 3, 2026. Entrance is free. The museum is open Monday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
