Artist

Timothy Boyd

Artist bio

Dr. Timothy A. Boyd Tim is a psychologist, currently in private practice.  He moved to Hickory, NC in December of 2009 with his wife, Anita.  They moved there to be close to family, and to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mts.  Tim has been in counseling practice since 1974, and has been a therapist in a variety of different settings in the US and across the world.  Tim has a strong interest in the integration of Biblical truth with the practice of psychology. In his counseling he utilizes various appropriate therapies, and weaves the timeless truths of the Scriptures with those practices. He also integrates those same truths, as well as what he has experienced in his counseling practice, into his art.   Tim has been a therapist, teacher, missionary, and artist.   Tim and Anita became full-time supported missionaries in 2004 and joined the counseling department of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and then served with Barnabas International, a pastoral counseling and support organization for missionaries and their families. They were global counselors and traveled to Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin and South America. This gave Tim the opportunity to do a variety of exciting service opportunities, things like leading marriage retreats in Afghanistan, psychological assessments for children in Pakistan, post-earthquake counseling in Sichuan, China, and counseling the victims of the World Trade Center disaster in New York.  He loves having the opportunity to alongside cross-cultural workers who are out on the front lines.  He currently does clinical assessments for missionaries-in-candidacy.   He believes that God takes the painful and traumatic experiences of our life and transforms them into growth and wholeness (creates beauty from the ashes).    Art experience and philosophy   Tim is primarily a self-taught artist.  He has taken some classes in ceramics and painting at the college level.  Most of his art comes out of trial-and-error.  Many of his pieces are constructions made from found objects.  He loves to beachcomb for flotsam and jetsam, tramp through a forest looking for unusual shapes of wood, or dumpster-dive (much to his wife's chagrin).  Taking something that is a discard or an artifact and incorporating it into a piece of art is an act of redemption.     He seeks to make the images found in Scripture come alive- to make them accessible.  It is all about integration.  Fragments and pieces coming together to make a whole.  Integration births God’s Shalom/Peace/Wholeness.

Title

Unbind Him : Lazarus

Medium/Genre

Sculpture

Artist Statement

Sculpture

Medium

Fabric; plaster; paint; grout); Raku Skull

How it fits into contest

Unbind Him Lazarus: From the Hebrew “Eleazar” (God helped)

Process To Create:

Based upon the Scripture: Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone” he said. “But Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been in there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. ….Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and unbind him.” John 11:38-44

Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting….But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:55-56)

One aspect of spiritual warfare is the “unbinding” that follows regeneration/resurrection. We need the help of Christian community to heal up.

This sculpture is a depiction of Lazarus, the close friend of Jesus, who became sick and eventually died because Jesus “delayed”. After Jesus performed a greater healing than just removing his illness (He brought him back from the dead). Lazarus must have stumbled out of his tomb, wrapped up in his constricting grave clothes. Jesus instructed his friends to “unbind him” which serves as a powerful image of the redemptive function that we can perform in each other’s lives. God is the one who brings life from death, but we, as Christians, need the help of others to become free of the things that entangle us and keep us from dancing and leaping.

In the background is a skull. The skull serves as a reminder of the fact that death has entered our world and is an ever-present reality. Although we still groan within our earthly bodies, we have the image of Lazarus emerging from the grave as evidence that death does not have the final word for the child of God.

Credits

Tim Boyd
http://tboyd1950.wixsite.com/images-from-the-word

How to Purchase this Artwork

Purchase price: $0

Submit Your Artwork Today!

Curious? Interested in submitting artwork to our contest? Know someone who might be? Through April 14th, 2022, the Engage Art Contest is open to the whole world! Get your foot in the door by claiming your Artist Page now!