One mission in St. Louis is learning to share the gospel in a colorful way. Elder Burgoyne and his companion, Elder Mcintyre, received permission from their mission president to participate in the annual Paint Louis Festival, a yearly art festival held in St. Louis, Missouri.
The festival was created back in 1995 by a group of friends who had a love of graffiti. At one point it had more than 300 artists and 1,000 visitors.
Elder Burgoyne has been making artwork using paper cutting and stencils even before his mission.
But this mural in the festival is the largest piece of work Elder Burgoyne has undertaken. The piece is 10 feet high and was created using spray paint. The mural depicts the Christus in the center of the universe, complete with planets, nebula, and stars.
Over the course of two days, Elders Burgoyne and Mcintyre used five different stencils to paint the Christus and used a wide variety of colors.
“I chose the resurrected Jesus because that is what our church stands for,” Burgoyne said. “That He lives today.”
The backdrop of the piece features an intergalactic theme with planet and stars. The theme draws from the murals on display with the “Christus” statue in Salt Lake City. Elder Burgoyne said the backdrop denotes the fact of “Jesus Christ being the beginning and the end of everything.”
Check out these pictures of the mural below:
Lead image courtesy of Mark Franck
