Comments on: Book Review: Our Heavenly Family, Our Earthly Families

By: McArthur Krishna

McArthur Krishna — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 05:06:43 +0000

I asked Caitlin to write up a statement about her choices in colors and values. Here is what she said:

I am happy to share some of my thoughts behind this cover painting.

I painted many of the figures with oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and reds, as a way to move away from overly obvious racial skin tones and create a vibrant and rich image.

I did paint the two central figures white. Literally, straight out of the paint tube white. This felt different to me than “white people” white which isn’t white at all. Their skin tones are different than any skin tones of the figures that possess them. That was important to me.

Compositionally I wanted the primary focus to be in the bottom third of the image with the children and the people which are more saturated and contrasted with one another. I wanted the image to lighten as it moved heavenward, which I accomplished by lessening the saturation and contrast, to create a cyclical viewing experience to pull the viewer back and forth between heaven and earth in a captivating experience of unity.

It is very important to me that a wide array of images exist for people to experience unity, heaven, and belonging. I hope other artists will add their own interpretation and representation of this theme to fill the gaps where my offering is lacking.

By: Moss

Moss — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:37:08 +0000

That should say, “I would BUY it just to support content that acknowledges the Divine Feminine”.

By: Moss

Moss — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:36:12 +0000

Thank you for the review. I am looking forward to purchasing this book, I would but it just to support content that acknowledges the Divine Feminine. I plan on using it for FHE.

By: your food allergy is fake

your food allergy is fake — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 14:23:01 +0000

The artist also shows HF with no beard, likely an intentional statement. I prefer bearded representations of deity and important figures in Mormon culture and history, because they highlight the ridiculousness of the church’s 20th century assault on facial hair that continues to this day.

By: Mcarthur Krishna

Mcarthur Krishna — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 05:07:54 +0000

Hi-
This is McArthur Krishna, one of the authors of the book. I actually lobbied the artist to make the Heavenly Parents’ hair silver– a universal symbol of wisdom across cultures. I’m sorry that it appears to be a glowing white — was not intended to be racist.

As for color of children, in no way was the placement of color and distance from Parents indicative of a racial commentary. If you see the image in real life, with more detail, you would see dark colors as well as greens and blues are used throughout. (Greens and blues obviously not aliens. :)) And, actually, some of the darkest tones are in Heavenly Father’s right shoulder. There ARE darker tones in the first front lines but I perceived that as prominence rather than distance from Heavenly Parents. And, for me personally, I appreciate brown prominence. :) I am married to an Indian and have gorgeous dark-skinned children. Additionally, in my nuclear family of origin we have Polynesian, Native American, and Haitian people. We love the rainbow of color our family has.

Caitlin may have more to say from her artistic expertise perspective– but this is my two cents.

Come see the painting in real life if you’re in the SLC area! (I’m not, but I’ve blown it up big on my screen.)

By: acw

acw — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 03:45:16 +0000

While I applaud this efforts, as a mother of young children I was bothered by all the religious picture books masquerading as children’s books but which are really meant to be adult coffee table decor. My toddlers had no interest in being read these sorts of treatises which Deseret Book churns out. I wish they were marketed for adults instead of for children, since the intended audience doesn’t match the content well at all, and as a librarian I am appalled that it is categorized as “children’s ages 4-8” on the Deseret Book website.

By: Dave K

Dave K — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 20:06:19 +0000

I hadn’t considered that the parents might be Adam/Eve rather than HF/HM. The glow around their heads suggests to me some sort of deification (similar to middle ages art). And even if the parents are Adam/Eve, I’d still question why they are so white. That said, I agree that the intent was not to convey a skin color change correlated with distance; it’s just happenstance.

Enough about that topic (for me). Since posting my comment, I’ve looked over the artist’s website (http://caitlinconnolly.com/) She’s really good. I’m seriously thinking of buying one of her prints for my wife.

By: Julie M. Smith

Julie M. Smith — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:48:56 +0000

Dave K,

Evaluating the artwork is an entirely appropriate topic for a review of a children’s book.

First off, it isn’t clear to me whether that piece is supposed to depict Heavenly Father + Mother + human family, or Adam + Eve + earthly family. I suspect it might be intentionally ambiguous.

I had the same reaction to the skin color issue that you had. My guess is that they were not comfortable showing God or Adam/Eve with darker skin but wanted to show the children with a variety of skin tones, and this led to the unfortunate dynamic you describe. I don’t think that the artist’s intention was for the children to get darker the farther away they are from the parents–I think the lightness of the closer children is because many of them are actually part of the woman’s body, which is highlighted. To be fair, the male’s body is quite dark. Knowing what I do about the project, I am sure the motives were good, but I agree that the execution is confusing or, as you say, awkward.

By: Dave K

Dave K — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 19:06:25 +0000

Julie, I apologize in advance for this comment, which is tangential and probably unfair to the book. I will understand if you delete it.

With that preface, the cover art for the book strikes me as awkward (to be charitable). Why is it that HF and HM are glowing white? And why it that, as their children get farther away from them, the children’s skin color darkens? Perhaps I’m reading too much into this image, but I can’t get those questions out of my mind.