Artworks for Mosiah 4 through 24
Our artistic journey through the Book of Mormon continues! Each month on our website, you can find artworks to accompany each of the coming month's Come, Follow Me readings. You can also subscribe to get email reminders when new artworks are ready or follow along weekly on Instagram or Facebook. We hope that art-lovers everywhere will be inspired by these artworks as they complement their gospel study, family discussions, and church classes with fine art from around the world. Here are our selected artworks for May:
April 29 - May 5
A lone man sits on a dusty curbside, his posture slumped, his face turned downward, his expression dejected. We do not know the backstory of this “Forgotten Man,” but Maynard Dixon’s painting invites us to empathize with him immediately.
In the background, faceless crowds hurry on their way, presumably to jobs, families, and prosperity of which he can only dream. Perhaps they imagine of this stranger the very thought that King Benjamin anticipated: “This man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand.” It is for people like them that the Book of Mormon reserves one of its strongest warnings: “whosoever doeth this… hath no interest in the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 4:17-18).
Forgotten people surround us every day: the hungry, the weak, the afflicted, the alone. What is something you have to offer them instead of passing them by?
May 6-12
The Watchman is a 6,500 foot mountain at the entrance of Zion Canyon. As one stands at the summit, they can see the natural wonders of this desert oasis and the local communities that live nearby. From this vantage, the viewer is compelled to explore further the sweeping vistas of this natural wonderland.
A synonym of “watchman” is “seer”–someone who can see clearly. Just as a watchman on a mountain can be a guide to help others find greater vision and perspective, prophets, seers, and revelators can help “hidden things… come to light” for those who listen (Mosiah 8:17).
May 13-19
When domestic sheep are threatened by predators, their only defense mechanism is to flock together and run for their lives. In Isaiah’s prophecy quoted by Abinadi, however, the Savior is likened to a lamb without even this defense. “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and… he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Mosiah 14:6-7). For the benefit of the world, he walked to his own torturous fate willingly and without complaint.
Look at this depiction of a sacrificial lamb. It’s hard to imagine a creature more helpless. Bound, still, lying on the ground, with its mouth closed, it offers up no sign of resistance. This pitiful lamb may seem to some a poor metaphor for the almighty Son of God. But this is precisely how the Prince of Peace chose to conclude his mortal mission: defenseless, silent, and alone. Why? Elder Jeffery R. Holland provides one answer: “Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so.”
May 20-26
If you have been baptized, do you remember the place where it happened? The Book of Mormon celebrates the location where Alma and his people made their first covenant in this way: “the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer” (Mosiah 18:30).
In this painting, Minerva Teichert depicts the waters of Mormon with cool blues and greens, with the ordinance enclosed in a circle of trees and fellow saints. The natural beauty and presence of friends invokes a feeling of peace, safety, and serenity. We don’t know what this place really looked like, but Teichert’s portrayal helps us share in the emotion of the scene.
Is there a similar place in your life? If you were to make an artwork featuring that place, what artistic choices would you make to convey how it made you feel?
