The Word of God, hand-illuminated through ancient methods by a contemporary master, brings the reader to an epiphany of the sacred. Those who allow themselves to savor the experience unfolding before them will come to see how Gospels and Acts beautifully marries text and image to serve the Word.

An internationally respected calligrapher, Donald Jackson is the artistic director and illuminator of The Saint John’s Bible. He is a Senior Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown Office at the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, a position in which he is responsible for the creation of official state documents. He is an elected Fellow and past Chairman of the prestigious Society of Scribes and Illuminators. His 30-year retrospective exhibition, Painting with Words, premiered at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota in August, 1988 and traveled to 13 museums and galleries. Donald Jackson works with a team of theologians and artists from Saint John’s University and Abbey on The Saint John’s Bible. From his scriptorium in Wales, he oversees scribes, artists, and craftsmen who work with him on the handwriting and illumination of the seven-volume, 1,150-page Bible.

The second in a seven-volume series of full-color, page-by-page reproductions from The Saint John’s Bible, Psalms engages the eye and ear with five distinct scripts and exquisite illuminations that include digital voice prints of sacred songs from many ethnic and religious traditions.

The Book of Psalms or “praises” is known as the prayer book of the Bible. For centuries, it has been a source of prayer, devotion, and inspiration. Part of the popularity of the Psalms is that they incorporate the entire breadth of human emotion and experience—joy, fear, anger, love—all the things we bring to God in our prayer.

Visual representations of chants from Benedictine, Native American, Muslim, Taoist and other traditions are the basis for illuminations of the Psalms. The varying pitch of the chants is rendered graphically to provide a motif for the abstract illumination. Every Psalm page features a small gold image that graphically renders the chanting of the monks from Saint John’s Abbey. This process of reading of the Psalms is a continuous reminder that the Psalms are to be sacred songs—and that in such singing God is present.

Jackson chose colors to represent different themes, and designs to symbolize the different types of Psalms. He devised a way of weaving the two together that resulted in a unique script, colors and shading. Readers can identify the patterns representing the national history of Israel corresponding with the individual types of Psalms.

The way the Psalms appear in The Saint John’s Bible provide a way to read our favorite Psalms with new eyes so that we might truly see the Psalms whether they are sung or read poetically.

Donald Jackson is one of the world’s leading calligraphers and the artistic director and illuminator of The Saint John’s Bible. He is a Senior Illuminator to the Queen of England’s Crown Office and is an elected Fellow and past Chairman of the prestigious Society of Scribes and Illuminators. His 30-year retrospective exhibition, Painting with Words, premiered at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in August, 1988 and traveled to 13 museums and galleries.

The launch of a national museum tour of the The Saint John’s Bible began at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota in April 2005 where record crowds greeted the inaugural exhibit during its three-month run. The Saint John’s Bible will continue its national exhibition tour that includes museums and galleries from throughout the United States and Europe. Simultaneous exhibits at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska and The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England are scheduled from January 21-April 16, 2006. The exhibition tour will continue on at The Tyler Museum of Art in Tyler, Texas, June 8-September 3, 2006; The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., October 6-December 15 2006; The National Museum of Catholic Art & History in New York, May 18-July 27, 2007; The Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, December 21, 2007-March 7, 2008; and The Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile, Alabama, October 10, 2008-April 10, 2009.

The longtime scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown office used age-old calligraphic techniques to create a modern manuscript: egg yolks, gold, silver, and platinum in the illuminations; goose quills and hand-ground ink on carefully selected calf-skin vellum for the text. Experience for yourself the story of the most extensive scribal commission in the world since the end of the Middle Ages, a story that has not happened for a long time and probably will never happen again. Available in DVD or VHS. 49 Minutes; English.

This full-color exhibition poster from Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s Bible features To the Ends of the Earth, a detail from Acts. The poster was created for the exhibition’s national tour premiere at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, April 2005.

Poster, 24" x 34"
(Item #87726) $10.95