Artist: Lisa DeLong
 
Medium: Handmade watercolor, ink, and 24k gold leaf on paper
 
Size: 
 
Artist Statement: This painting was inspired by a stone carving by architect John Allan, now in the Church History Museum. On his mission in Scotland, David O. McKay encountered this tablet with its carved inscription “What e’er thou art, act well thy part.” This message helped him recommit his missionary service to the Lord. This stone has chiselled geometric figures arranged to form a “magic square,” in which the numbers in each row and column and diagonal add up to the same number in every direction – in this case, 18. A variety of geometric motifs to stand in for nine numbers, 2 through 10. At the centre is a sixfold design made of interlaced rings. This design is found on a carved gypsum window I saw in Cairo which transforms the burning rays of the hot sun into a gentle, filtered light. Below it are two overlapping circles forming a vesical piscis, symbol of birth and transition; above is the tetractys, an arrangement of 10 points considered by the ancient Greeks as containing the keys to the theology of number. To the left of centre is a fourfold design found in Westminster Abbey before the high altar, originally designed as a map of the cosmos. To the right of centre is an eight-pointed star found throughout the Islamic world and the seed to vast family of complex designs. In the four corners can be found a 9-pointed star made of 3 triangles in a circle divided into 18. In a sense, this corner is a summation of the whole, in which both the numbers 9 and 18 are essential to the overall character of the piece. The number 5 is represented by the star found on the windows of the Nauvoo temple. A three-fold tracery design represents the number 3. Finally, the number 7 is indicated by the seven stars of the big dipper, which is positioned to point back to the very centre of the painting.