There are three works in this unique series done over a period of 10 years depicting the story of Christ’s birth seen through the lens of Birmingham’s villages. They are meant to be shown together and are all done in pastels on a blue background with the Scriptures describing the story written onto the paintings themselves.
“The Annunciation” by Miriam McClung, 1996. Pastel on paper. 46” x 29”. Inquire.
This painting (above) is the first in the series. It depicts a young Mary looking composed despite the extraordinary circumstances of an angel appearing before her. Mary’s expression suggests she is puzzled by the angel’s words, conveying her uncertainty about the remarkable event unfolding before her. The angel’s greeting “Hail oh favored one” conveys the Lord’s favor and presence, and seems to put Mary at ease.
When painting this biblical scene, Miriam was reminded of the poem “Seven Stanzas at Easter” by John Updyke. In the poem, a stanza reads ”
And if we have an angel at the tomb,
Make it a real angel,
Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in
The dawn light, robed in real linen
Spun on a definite loom.
Miriam was also influenced to write the words of the scripture on the painting itself after seeing the work of Southern painter William Dunlap at an exhibit at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Mixing the words of the scripture into paintings is popular now, but was not a common practice among artists in 1996 depicting biblical scenes.
“Each to His Own City” by Miriam McClung, 1997. Pastel on board. 47” x 35”. Inquire.
“Each to His Own City” is the second in the series and is based on the passage in Luke 2:3: “And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.” The biblical story is set in her hometown of Birmingham and surrounding villages. The viewer can find the cities of the Scripture depicted as the villages in Birmingham including Mountain Brook, Homewood, and English Village. The perspective shows Mary and Joseph in the foreground in blue starting their long journey through the villages and up to Key Circle with downtown Birmingham in the background.
“Unto Us” by Miriam McClung, 1985. Pastel on board. 47” x 59”. Inquire.
“Unto Us” is the final painting in the series and is based in the village of Crestline in Mountain Brook, Alabama.
This painting “Unto Us” captures the range of colors and landscapes around Birmingham. Miriam had done a pastel of Crestline Village from the “Tot Lot” with its huge red oaks, the Steeple Arts building, and figures of the mothers and children in the playground in the fall.
A year later, before Christmas, she was thinking of the biblical passage from Isaiah “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” and decided to use the Crestline background for the passage. From memory and a few photographs, the pastel painting was made. She remembers dragging out this heavy piece of Masonite board to paint on each morning for the limited hour she had free, and reading the printed words as I went along working on the piece.
The “Tot” Lot became the stable, the Steeple Arts building became the inn where Joseph and Mary found no room, and from the side of the old Am South Bank came the three wise men.
The stable was visited by ordinary men and Mary and Joseph were inside the little shed with the new baby Jesus. There were many cold mornings Miriam spent outside working in the reflected blue colors of the piece.
