Artist: Amberlea Erekson Smoot
Title: Open Thou Mine Eyes
Medium: Original Oil and metal leaf on wood panel
Size: 22 x32 in.
Artist Statement: 
Names are keywords, and keys open doors. At the veil, one figure speaks sacred priesthood keys, covenant words that carry sacred power, while the other receives them with opened eyes, standing as one who has passed beyond the veil.
Through Christ’s victory over death and His ascension into heaven, the veil between earth and the divine is parted. As at Pentecost, when heavenly power descended upon Christ’s disciples, the psalmist’s plea finds its fulfillment: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18).
For those who ask, seek, and knock, the veil lifts. The path opens upward toward the light of the Lord’s presence and the knowledge of His kingdom. In that light, heaven and earth meet, and the eyes of the faithful are opened.