{"id":567053,"date":"2026-03-27T04:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/567053\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T04:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T04:21:08","slug":"aboriginal-latter-day-saint-art-now-on-display-at-church-history-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/567053\/","title":{"rendered":"Aboriginal\u00a0Latter-day Saint Art Now on Display\u00a0at Church History Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened a new art exhibit, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/learn\/history\/from-above?lang=eng\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">From Above: Aboriginal Australian Art from the Bird Family<\/a>,\u201d on March 12, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Three of the eight\u00a0Latter-day Saint artists from Australia featured in the exhibition \u2014 siblings Gary and Maggie Bird and their aunt, Colleen Wallace \u2014 traveled to Salt Lake City for a public reception and met with members of the media on March 26.<\/p>\n<p>The exhibit features two types of paintings. The first is often called \u201cdreamings,\u201d which focuses on Aboriginal spirit traditions. The second is artistic renderings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<p>For Gary Bird, art is the language he uses to invite his family to \u201ccome to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough the canvas,\u201d he said, \u201cI can tell them with my language so they will understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTemple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference.<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 \/ 2<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Photos<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Bird family uses traditional Aboriginal art styles and conventions to both honor their cultural heritage and express their faith in Jesus Christ,\u201d said Church History Museum Director Riley Lorimer during the media event.<\/p>\n<p>Lorimer also shared that several members of the Bird family have painted scripture stories and gospel principles that are used to help teach during Sunday worship services in their congregation in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey use their art to help extended family members and other First Nations people to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that feels relevant and accessible to them,\u201d said Lorimer. \u201cTheir efforts have helped to accelerate the preaching of the gospel in central Australia, a testament to the promise in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/scriptures\/dc-testament\/dc\/90?lang=eng&amp;id=p11#p11\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Doctrine and Covenants<\/a> that every man shall hear the fullness of the gospel in his own tongue and in his only language.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTemple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference.<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 \/ 2<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Photos<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 8pt\">Speaking of her painting \u201cTree of Life,\u201d Wallace shared, \u201cI feel [Christ] when I paint. I feel that He is with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s important that in a global Church, we see more understanding of global visual languages,\u201d said Laura Paulsen Howe, a curator at the museum. \u201cIt felt to me that Colleen was sharing her testimony in her own language. It was a really powerful testimony of the Savior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This art presents its subjects from an aerial perspective, inviting the viewer to look at the scene from above.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Above: Aboriginal Australian Art from the Bird Family\u201d will be on view through\u00a0August 1, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>View the online version of the exhibit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/learn\/history\/from-above?lang=eng\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"From-Above\" data-downloadable=\"true\" data-media-id=\"13486935888438225086\" data-site=\"united-states\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_3089-2.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\"\/>From-AboveColleen Wallace, left, stands with Church History Museum curator Laura Paulsen Howe in front of the &#8220;Tree of Life&#8221; painting featured in the new exhibit, \u201cFrom Above: Aboriginal Australian Art from the Bird Family,\u201d on March 26, 2026, at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City.2026 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Download Photo<\/p>\n<p>About the Church History Museum<\/p>\n<p>The Church History Museum, on the west side of Salt Lake City\u2019s Temple Square, houses important artifacts documenting the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members and leaders, as well as a collection of works by many of its illustrious artists from 1830 to the present.<\/p>\n<p>The museum and museum store are open to the public Monday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m.\u20136 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.\u20138 p.m. Admission is free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Church History Museum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened a new art exhibit,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-567053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}