The Relationship Between Arts Practice and Sacred Writing

Why It Matters

Jess’s visual exegesis proves that material art can enrich biblical scholarship, expanding academic horizons for practice‑based research and deepening public engagement with sacred texts.

Key Takeaways

• Visual exegesis merges ceramics with Hebrew biblical interpretation
• Artist repositions Genesis letters, revealing new theological meanings
• Color symbolism links heaven, earth, and divine presence materially
• Rabbinic commentary inspires material choices like cinnabar pigment
• Practice-based PhD demonstrates feasibility of visual arts research at university

Summary

The closing session of King’s Sacred Commissions in the Arts seminar featured Jess, a visual artist‑scholar, who examined how ceramics and miniature painting can serve as a form of visual exegesis for Hebrew Bible verses. Her talk framed the seminar’s final year as a moment to showcase practice‑based research that bridges theology, art, and academic inquiry.

Jess demonstrated that rearranging the six letters of “Bereshit” on movable ceramic tiles creates anagrammatic possibilities—Barah, create, Shabbat—allowing viewers to experience the opening Genesis narrative physically. She extended this method to color, drawing on Rothko and Newman to question whether heaven and earth are best imagined as dark‑light binaries or as mutable hues, echoing rabbinic links between “shamayim” and dyes. Material choices such as cinnabar pigment were justified through volcanic imagery found in early rabbinic texts, turning the pigment itself into a theological metaphor.

Specific examples included a Scrabble‑style tile set that visualizes spatial oppositions, a Yod‑shaped bird representing the divine name, and miniature tabernacle scenes where blue, white, and red pigments articulate heaven, cloud, and divine fire. Jess cited Gadamer’s notion of tradition‑bound creativity, arguing that her inherited Jewish artistic lineage fuels rather than restricts her interpretive work.

The presentation underscores a growing acceptance of practice‑based PhDs in visual arts, challenging King’s historic limitation to music composition. By positioning visual commentary alongside traditional textual scholarship, Jess’s work suggests new interdisciplinary pathways for religious studies, art departments, and cultural institutions seeking to integrate embodied research methods.

Original Description

The Relationship Between Arts Practice and Sacred Writing: two artists engage with traditional Jewish texts

Jacqueline Nicholls and Dr Jess Wood are two Jewish artists who explore the relationship between arts practice and traditional Jewish texts including Torah, Talmud and Midrash. In her talk, Jess Wood asks us to consider how ceramics and miniature painting can be used to make visual exegesis of key verses in the Hebrew Bible concerning the creation of the world and the human being. Jacqueline Nicholls will address being part of a tradition that values textual engagement as a religious act, and the complexities of writing down the transcendent sacred. Using very different techniques and styles, both artists bring to light how artworks can shed new light on textual themes.

The seminar on Sacred Traditions and the Arts is a joint venture between the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s and the Courtauld Institute. It seeks to place researchers in dialogue who are working on any aspect of the sacred and visual culture. It is open to all scholars and students who have an interest in exploring the intersections of religion and art regardless of period, geography, or tradition.

Organised by Dr Caroline Levitt (Courtauld Institute) and Professor Ben Quash (King’s College London).

Dr Jess Wood recently completed an arts-practice based PhD at King’s College, London which explored how traditional arts practice (ceramics and miniature painting) can be used as an exegetical tool to unpack verses from the Hebrew Bible concerning creation and sanctified space.

Jacqueline Nicholls is a London based fine artist, Jewish educator, and award-winning visual poet. She uses art to engage with traditional Jewish ideas in untraditional ways. Her main focus of her artistic practice is to consider handwriting as a form of drawing. She is the Creative Director of Jewish Renaissance’s Artist Development Scheme, and regularly teaches at the London School of Jewish Studies. Jacqueline’s art has been exhibited internationally in solo shows and significant contemporary Jewish Art group shows. Jacqueline has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins. Recent residencies include ‘Wasted Books’ at The London Library, ‘50 Jewish Objects’ Jewish Studies Department, Manchester University and Beit Venezia, where she was the lead artist for New Venice Haggadah (2016) and the Deck of Esther (2022), reimagining Megillat Esther as a pack of playing cards.