Grace Cathedral

Each year, we offer a residency to an artist or artists who creates work that illuminates the cathedral’s annual theme, amplifying the cathedral’s vision, mission and goals. We are delighted to announce Benjamin Bergery and Jim Campbell as our 2016 Artists in Residence. Bergery, a media artist and cinematographer, and Campbell, a contemporary artist whose work is in the collections of both the New York and San Francisco Museums of Modern Art, have previously collaborated on critically-acclaimed projects. As our Artists in Residence, they will create Jacob’s Dream: A Luminous Path. The work will be a rising, luminous pathway referencing the “stairway” that Jacob dreamed about in Genesis 28:

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”

The pathway will be made of rungs of LED lights, rising some 50 feet in the north aisle. The LED rungs will act as a screen for low-resolution, moving images of figures ascending and descending the ladder in a variety of ways, from climbing arduously to flying. The installation will evoke the Biblical story, the connections between the visible and invisible, our “Home” theme and our own personal journeys on the ladder of life.

You will be able to see the installation during the cathedral’s regular hours of operation from December 2016 through February 2017. Learn more about Jacob’s Dream and upcoming AIR events.

The Artist in Residence program, The Forum, Christmas concerts and other arts programming are presented by Ghiberti Center for Culture, formerly The Ghiberti Foundation. While its name has changed and it has a beautiful new logo, the mission remains the same: to enrich and inspire all people through the arts, music and education.