The Illumination of Martha - Sylvia Bubalo's Art as Midrash

Having just written a catalog about an exhibit of Sylvia Bubalo's work at the Good Library of Goshen College, "Imagining Community," I am out of words to describe the fascinating and deeply felt work of this unique artist, poet, and visionary. Instead, I would like to refer readers to one of my favorite response to her painting by Dawn Ruth Nelson, a pastor and spiritual director from Harleysville, Pennsylvania. The response was published in a special issue of the Journal of the Center for Mennonite Writing, September 19, 2010, on Sylvia's art and poetry, which I edited. Raised a few generations later in the same Franconia Mennonite Conference as Sylvia, Dawn discovered Sylvia's work as an adult and asked "Who was this artist, where was this woman all my life? This Mennonite female Chagall I never knew existed till she died? Was she too dangerous?"

Why dangerous? Perhaps because she challenges the status quo and puts women's spiritual experience at the center of her work, although she also includes many male figures as well. But Sylvia was reacting to a time in Mennonite congregational life when women were deprived of roles in church leadership. She not only portrays women as central to community and worship, but dares to interpret bible stories in a bold light.  As I wrote in my introduction to the Journal issue, "Sylvia’s vibrant engagement with Bible stories, reminiscent of the Jewish practice of Midrash or wrestling with the text, reveals a living faith that demanded her full resources as an artist. On the other hand, she was an outspoken critic of what she considered to be ossified practices and traditions among the Mennonites of her Pennsylvania community, especially those pertaining to women."

Dawn's reflection on the Mary and Martha story, a bible story key to a deeper understanding of the contemplative life, illuminates the paintings in a vivid way. She also looks closely and intelligently at the paintings. I didn't notice that every work of the story in scripture was painted into the background of "Martha," until I read Dawn's essay. Writes Dawn:

"The picture is called “Martha”, and that title would work just as well for the whole Mennonite community. We specialize in service. This story speaks to us because it does uphold the importance of service – Jesus enjoyed Martha’s hospitality or he wouldn’t have come back to her house so often for refreshment. But the story is really about the importance of something else: the importance of paying attention, of stillness, of listening, of simply “being with”. The story explains much of my own journey toward more focused prayer and worship. There is more than service in the Kingdom of God – there is a Person at the center who asks for our attention - a Person we can sit with, be with, who sets us free when we do that. And not just people in general but women in particular - in this story - free to pay attention to the one thing necessary."

Dawn is herself the author of a book on Mennonite spirituality, based on her interviews with her Mennonite grandmother, A Mennonite Woman: Exploring Spiritual Life and Identity.

Women have played a major role in shaping Mennonite literature, perhaps because more traditional routes were less available to them. Just as "Martha" sits rapt and attentive as "Mary" before the unlocked door in this painting, so can we begin to undo some gender bias in the representation of Mennonite theology and spirituality through studying the art and poetry of Sylvia Bubalo.