UNLV artist uses Scripture to test her creativity

      Kristin Durling thinks in 3-D. For her, the "D" stands for divinity.
      The 26-year-old born-again Christian creates Scripture-based artwork. Its stories pocked with vivid description, the Bible provides perfect fodder for the artist to test her creativity.
      "There are so many visions in the Bible that are fantasy-like, prophetic nature," she said. "I wanted to see them in art. I also wanted to use my faith as a springboard for my work."
      That the UNLV graduate student, whose exhibit, "Seeing is Believing," was displayed at UNLV's Grant Hall Gallery March 2-7, talks so proudly about her faith is miraculous.
      "I was worldly," the Western High graduate said.
      Religion was confusing. She was boggled by the choices -- Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, among others -- and church seemed foreign. She went but never felt moved.
      Then she met some Christians.
      "They changed my agnostic beliefs," she said.
      At 19, she gave her life to Christ and, through canvass and color, has brought the Bible to life.
      The display, part of her master's degree work, features wood paintings of Bible verses she likes.
      "Ezekiel: Chapter 1," is a replica of a vision of Ezekiel, a prophet, who foretells of the destruction of Jerusalem. The text describes four-headed creatures in Ezekiel's dream.
      In the painting, two of the creatures, their fiery wings outstretched are swept upon Ezekiel by a windstorm. An eagle's head sits atop the head of a brown-haired man. To the right of the man's head is a roaring lion, on the left, an ox. Beneath the faces, sits a scroll with black hands forming dove-like figures imprinted over brown text-like shapes. At the bottom, is an eye drawn to resemble a fish.
      Durling explains the imagery: "The eagle is the king of the animals of the air, the lion is the king of the jungle, the ox is the king of domestic animals and man rules them all."
      She said the hands resemble doves or roosters, prominent in many Bible stories. The eye resembles a fish, a symbol used by Christians.
      Durling said the works are not exact replicas of verses, but what she can envision and create.
      "Revelation 19,20," depicts Christ's return or the Second Coming. Against the star-dotted night sky, the painting shows a horse flying through the sky between two angels, one with a Sun-like headdress and golden-jeweled crown, the other with a cloud-like headdress and purple crown.
      Other Scripture-inspired paintings are less surreal.
      She used the computer for "John 3:16."
      "I scaled the text to the size of the wood, chose different fonts (to put the verse), then printed the text on layers," she said.
      She then split the verse into sections, laying one part horizontal, the other part vertical, having some read top to bottom and others vice versa.
      Durling had an affinity for drawing, sketching family members, copying magazine covers or recreating images she conjured up in her mind. While at Brinley Middle School in the mid-1980s she won a national art contest.
      After finding Christ, she said creating Scripture-inspired art was inevitable. She found the Bible bursting with detail; perfect fodder for art subjects, she thought.
      "But sometimes it's too complicating," she said of trying to recreate every detail.