For my graduate thesis exhibition at Utah State University in 2006, I created an installation, Synthesis and the Egyptian Temple. The overall layout was based on the concept of ancient temples, in which one would move from exterior to interior space, representing progress from the profane world toward the presence of God. While Greek, Roman, and Hebrew temples represented this movement primarily through concentric rectangles, the Egyptian temples took the participant on a linear journey from larger to smaller rooms, and I adopted this layout for my installation. 

The overall installation was approximately 10 feet by 30 feet. The panels are all 6 feet tall. After graduation, I was invited to install Synthesis and the Egyptian Temple at Palmer’s Gallery in Salt Lake.

I used male and female figures from Ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Renaissance sculpture, both to pay tribute to those cultures, which inspire and inform my own work, and to further symbolize progress as the viewer moves from room to room. 

Each room was separated from the next by a veil. The space between the final two rooms was separated by two veils, as was the division between the final two rooms in the ancient Hebrew temples, to prevent anyone but the high priest from viewing the holiest space. 

The final room of my installation was designed for one person to enter at a time, as I wanted this to be a personal experience for each viewer. That room held an altar, representing sacrifice: both that of the individual in coming to God; and that of Christ, the Lamb of God, in performing the ultimate, atoning sacrifice (which rent the veil of the ancient Hebrew temple), making possible our return to God’s presence and reunification with Him — the ultimate synthesis.