The Mystery of Eden, A Benefit Auction

Meridian Magazine and I are auctioning 6 Paintings that celebrate the Temple and the Garden of God. 100% of the proceeds from the paintings will support the "Celebration of Marriage."

You can place a bid by emailing me (queenmary.summerhays@gmail.com) your full name, contact info, name of the piece and the bid amount. Bid increments must increase at least $25. I’ll notify you by email each time you’re outbid. The auction will end at 9pm MST on Friday, April 18th.

Below the pictures you can read a description of the meaning behind the images.

#1 Apple Blossams, Original watercolor
 (5 x 10 inches) 16 x 20 inches framed
High bid: $500
High Bidder: LL

#2 Fox Gloves, Original watercolor
 ( 10 x 10 inches) 18 x18 inches framed
High bid: $100
High bidder: AC

#3 Circle and Square, Original watercolor
(9 x 6 inches) 18x22 inches framed
High bid: $275
High bidder: JS

#4 Sacred Memory, Giclee Print with deckled edge
 (14 x 14 inches) 20 x 22 inches framed
High bid: $200
High Bidder: VA

#5 As the Dews Descending, Geclee Print
 (15 x 15 inches) 26 x 26 inches framed
High bid: $100
High bidder: SB

#6 Almond Blossoms Limited Edition 187/500 Giclee Print,
 ( 5 x 16 inches) 14 x 26 inches framed
High bid: $100
Highest bidder: MS

The Mystery of Eden

From the Egyptian Isle of Embracing, to the Asian Kunlun Mountain, every culture in every age has told the story of the garden; the paradise where men and women unite to create life and love.  No matter what our origins, this foundational story, upon which cultures rise and fall, reminds each of us, of the interplay between life, and love, and the promise of Eternal Life in the “Garden of God.”

Each of these diverse garden stories have defining significance for the cultures that they inspire.  As Latter-day Saints we turn to the temple to see the Judeo Christian paradigm story in it’s purest clarity.  As one LDS temple sealer explained the Eden story, “That there might be no question as to its nature and purpose God himself performed earth’s first marriage uniting the man Adam and the woman Eve as ‘one flesh’  in a union that was to be as Eternal as God himself. It was in that sacred ceremony that the command was given that they multiply and replenish the earth.”

In attempting to understand that sacred ceremony, we can find no better setting than a garden, since God describes the glory of the New and Everlasting Covenant as “a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.” (D&C 132:19)  God had earlier described his intent and purpose in creating this first man and woman by saying, “We will cause them to be fruitful and multiply” (Abraham 4:28)  It was only woman that could give Adam that “fruit.”    Only that beguiling gift,  both fatal and fruitful, would fulfill the New and Everlasting Covenant, achieving the ideal that their seeds “continue.”

Because of Eve’s power to create life, Adam’s posterity would live on the earth long after his death, making Adam eternal.  Eve created a fruitful line of Fathers and Mothers that would literally “continue” throughout “all generations of time.”

Yet the covenantal promise was to achieve eternity in two different spheres: “both in the world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as the stars.”

Only Sealing power would give their children Eternal Life, or life after death.  Just as Eve gave Adam eternal life through childbearing,  Adam, using the priesthood, gave Eve and her children Eternal Life through the ordinances of the gospel.  Only together, acting as one flesh, could they achieve all that was intended by the Eternal Father.  

In uniting the “Father of Many,” and the “Mother of All Living,” God defined the need for relationships,  the sealing ordinances, the function of the priesthood, and our divine inheritance as sons and daughters of God.

Our temples recreate this divine setting where we may gather to Eden, following the pattern established by the Eternal Father; to be sealed in family units, every child tied to his mother and

father, preserving the garden of humanity, beneath the boughs of the Tree of Life.

Adam and Eve’s  lives were defined by their origin and gender in Eden and the promise to pass cherubim and a flaming sword in order to again commune with their Father. This setting illustrated the sealing power and it’s significance in the lives of the human family,  as  we “weld” families together, sealing each of us to a birthright that is both divine and biological-  A married mother and a father,  bound in a new and everlasting covenant.

Adam’s desire to return to the place where he walked and talked with God in the cool of the evening could not be restrained from his children—grandchildren of paradise.  The scriptures describe our first parents making “all things known unto their sons and their daughters” (Moses 5:12). Of course, the first high priest taught them to return to the temple to be sealed. Would Adam invent an alternative to the pattern God established in the garden?

This paradigm story reveals our divine relationships not only between man and wife, but also what it means to be parent and child.  It reveals what we inherit as children of God, and what part of that birthright that we pass on to our children. It is a powerful identity we can only discover in the garden of God—as we embrace those we love in the pattern that was established in Eden; A pattern that creates both Eternal life, and eternal lives, two different gifts that combine to create the fruitful continuance designed in Eden,  the garden of God.

 

To view the images you need to Click here

Beauty is Medicine for the Soul Saint and Angels Sing Icons inspired by the Odes of Solomon The Odes of Solomon are among the earliest Christian Hymns used in a temple 70 miles south of Jerusalem, by Christians fleeing political persecution. I find them particularly interesting because they confirm a feminine presence in early Christian Worship. These poems celebrate the tree of life and give new insight into the ancient Christian Imagery of Angels, Halos, and Crowns,  the same symbols Moses once called the "Ornaments" or Eden.  I hope you will love the imagery and poetry as much as I do. Here is just a taste: Ode 1 The Lord is on my head like a crown, and I shall never be without Him.   Plaited for me is the crown of truth, and it caused Your branches to blossom in me.   For it is not like a parched crown that blossoms not;   For You live upon my head, and have blossomed upon me. Dear Mary, You're invited to the second annual   Christmas Open house  and Art Show    "It's All Art" With a special Concert in memory of Terry Summerhays, Featuring members of Intimate Opera, as well as a Hot Chocolate Bar.  The open house will run from  3 until 10pm, with concert and refreshments from 7:30-10 pm. Please join us in Salt Lake, at 1262 East 600 South  at the Summerhays residence. Mary Glad Mary Summerhays Glad has been crafting these exquisite handmade beads since childhood,  but her years living and working as a diplomat in Morocco gave her a close up into the artistry and craft behind this unique and rare form of Jewelry making. Each bead is built of  tiny strands of paper wrapped as spools of paper, which she couples with other semi precious stones to make necklaces of exquisite and colorful patterns, creating a truely unique gift. Ben Behunin Ben Behunin's whimsical and humorous pottery is nationally renowned. His latest book, "With a Chery on Top"  is dedicated to Terry Summerhays and celebrates the idea that a life well lived inspires us all and proves "It's All Art." Mary Summerhays Icons inspired by the Odes of Solomon  Oil on Canvas Pannel (Sold) I will be showing a series of "Saints" and Angels inspired by early Christian hymns, and iconography, as well as sharing the full text of this ancient poetry. My art focuses on the universal need for relationships and the  transformative power of those interactions in both ancient and modern belief. Each painting incorporates symbols and metaphors from ancient cultures and their belief that art (and icons especially) had power to reach beyond our immediate circumstances. May the message of the season resonate in our hearts,  and as always- Beauty is Medicine for the Soul Be Well, Mary Summerhays (801-787-2697) queenmary.summerhays@gmail.com More info at SummerhaysStudios.blogspot.com  Angel with Lute Oil, Acrylic and Gold Leaf $380 Ave Maria Mixed Media on panel $250

I'm so excited to finally announce my next show! 

"In Great Glory"

I'll be doing a group show with  Lee Udall Bennion and Sallie Poet

 at the Harris Fine Arts Center during Women's Conference. 

Thursday May 2 to Tuesday May 14th

The show will focus on the role of women in the gospel. 

My pieces focus on the coronation and anointing symbols of the mortal journey as they appear in the pattern of the "Mother of all Living" and particularly "Our Glorious Mother Eve."

They are, frankly, seriously cool, and I can't wait to show them. Just in time for Mothers' day.

I wanted to give you a sneak peak at my Spring show-

"Paradise"

 A place synonymous with Eden;

 The core of our Temple worship;

 The place where God  walked with his son in the "cool of the day;"

  It is the place where we discover our Relationship to God;

 The place we Embrace those we Love. 

Each of my garden paintings is Reminiscent of this idyllic place,  where our relationships are created, solemnized,  and celebrated. 

 

 They are Symbolic of the Many Paradises in our lives -

 be it  Home or Temple,

the Embrace of a loved one,

 or the ultimate promise of eternal Union.

 Each is a garden flourishing

beneath the boughs of the Tree of Life.  

Join me Valentines Day, 1-3pm

 at the University Village Deseret Book 

as we celebrate the place where Love began. 

I'll be doing a demo, giving free gifts, and much more.

Now that the show is over most of these pieces should be available on my Etsy shop.

Origin of the Valentines Bouquette? Anyone Know?

Origin of the Valentines Bouquette.

Anyone know? 

And what does it have to do with death and resurection?

Hugh Nibly said it would be there,
 but I thoroughly gasped when I saw it!!  

This is  Sety I offering two flower bouquets in a base releif from Karnak, setting the tone for your next date ;)

Why would this death obsessed culture be carving bouquettes into the pillars of Karnak?

 Here is Nibley's commentary: " Often on the walls of the temple of Ramses II at Karnak, the king offers flowers or fruits ( both symbols of the tree of  life) to a goddess... who is both mother and wife; in plate 46 she is his real wife, and sometimes she appears with her husband:  While "Amun and Mut appear in their capacity as the king's parents" ... who write [their names] on the ished tree.'

  (My note- IOW They are solemnizing the contract of marriage by writing their names on the leaves of tree of life. Epicly cool.)

 Nibley continues- 'In return for his love gifts*, Mut (the mother of all living) promises the king: "I give thee the life span of Re, the Years of Atum, peaceful dominion of all the earth (lands),... the perfect health and joy of Re" '


*The flowers, fruit, or branch all symbolized the tree of eternal  life, and the garden of paradise.  To give such a "love gift" as Nibley calls it,  was symbolic of the proposal to leave the garden created by their parents and build their own paradise complete with their own tree of life to protects their own oasis. 


It is apparently the season to celebrate trees, flowers, leaves, twigs, shrubs...

Mystery artist

I am searching for this mystery artist.  From what I remember James Christiansen said he was one of his favorites.  But I don't know his name.

Image for O Morning Star