The Apostles
Kenneth Wyatt Paintings in the Fellowship Hall
see the 360° panoramic view of all the paintings
here ...
 Have
you ever taken a close look at the paintings on the wall in
the fellowship hall? Did you by chance recognize the
painter's name? Kenneth Wyatt, retired pastor and
accomplished artist, is a renowned western artist who's
prolific art no doubt you have seen many times on all sorts
of media.
Kenneth Wyatt’s spiritual journey mirrors his own life
lesson to "stay within the will of the Father." At the age
of 14, Kenneth was first called to ministry, licensed as a
local pastor, then appointed to a local church in central
Texas … all within the span of two weeks.
At the direction of that same calling, he found himself
30 years later, pursuing a new ministry in art. Known for
his Western and religious-based art, you can now find
Kenneth Wyatt paintings displayed throughout the world in
churches of all denominations … sharing the Word of God to
all that view.
Kenneth Wyatt and His Paintings
“It’s strictly a gift from God,” is Dr. Wyatt’s own
explanation for his talent with brush and paint. “It’s this
way-- some people hear music in their souls and, in
inspiration, they write it down. As for me, I see paintings
in my soul, and I just push the paint around until it looks
like what I see inside.”
Kenneth Wyatt has been pushing paint for the past thirty
years. To say it emphatically, he has painted over 8,000
paintings. His talent in art was always evident. His drawing
and sketching go back to his youth with doodles of horses
and other animals which adorned the borders of his school
homework papers. He does not believe that the drawings
helped his grades any, “But, at least the teachers didn’t
insist that I stop decorating my reports with them!”
Kenneth’s paintings are for everyone. They are in
offices, homes, and museums; among collections of farmers,
queens, bankers, movie stars, clergy and almost ever other
occupation known. His religious paintings hang in churches
of all denominations and in more than ninety countries.
Not only does this multiple range of owners make his work
widely accepted, but, also, it is his ability to paint a
diversity of subjects: landscapes, children, flowers,
westerns, portraits and animals. These and more cross his
pallet and come alive on the canvas. His mood swings alter
his style as well; one day he may be content to paint apples
in a still-life motif, and the very next day he may paint a
herd of stampeding horses in a thunderstorm.
Dr. Wyatt is a man dedicated to his calling, evidenced by
the tremendous number of hours he spends at the easel. With
renewed inspiration from God, family, friends, owners and
the awesome examples of great artists in years past, as well
as some really fantastic artists of today, he intends to
continue “twisting the tubes” and “pushing the paint around”
as long as he feels his Heavenly Father has need of his
work.
The following are quotes taken from the Kenneth Wyatt
Galleries website (kennethwyatt.com)
JESUS and THE APOSTLES
“To pick up a brush, touch it to a dab of paint, reach up
to the canvas, and then begin to create an image, which I
pray will mean something to others as well as myself, is
always a moment of real challenge and excitement. First, as
I began painting The Apostles, I felt the exuberance of
actually starting and a determination to do my best. Next,
came my complete commitment to the long months of
involvement with these paintings and, yet, a fear of doing
this holy task. Most important of all, I felt joy for the
opportunity of serving God and His Church. My models came
from many locations and from many walks of life. Jesus
selected His followers in much the same way: He called one
from the tax tables, another from the carpenter’s trade, a
few from the sea, and still others from tents, houses, and
deserts. I present to you Jesus and His Apostles as I saw
them in my mind and felt them in my heart.”
I have added the notation (in italics) to each one
identifying the model as Dr. Wyatt identified each one, not
by name, but by occupation, where the subject lived, or was
discovered by Dr. Wyatt. These identities are from another
interview that I discovered. Dr. Wyatt said that the model
for Jesus asked to remain anonymous. (Bill Holcomb)
 ANDREW
“Andrew, like several of the others, was raised as a
fisherman; however, he became more involved with matters of
the soul than with matters of boats and fishing nets. That’s
the way I wanted to paint him — continually busy,
concentrating upon the business of the moment.”
The model from Amarillo is an inspector for Owens
Corning products.
 BARTHOLOMEW
“I wanted to show what Jesus said about him the first time
He saw Bartholomew: ‘Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is
no guile!’ No deceit was in this man! Innocent. Pure. A case
of ‘What you see is what you get.’ There is a tradition
which speaks of Bartholomew’s pure white robe with a purple
stripe. This robe was to have lasted twenty-six years,
neither wearing out or becoming soiled. Upon reading this, I
knew I would paint a purple stripe on his robe.”
 JAMES
THE LESS
“Tradition holds that James the Less was a man of prayer. In
fact, the stories show James the Younger spending so much
time in prayer that his knees became hardened like ‘the
hooves of camels’. For this reason I painted him on his
knees with his head bowed.”
The model is a carpenter.
 JAMES
“James and John were given the surname ‘Boanerges’, which
translated means ‘Sons of Thunder’, It was from this
background of fisherman and ‘Son of Thunder’ that I wished
to do my painting. I placed James at the oar of a fishing
boat in a stormy sea with an eager smile on his face because
he would be eager to face anything.”
The model is a brick layer from Ohio.
 JESUS
“After that he poureth water
into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to
wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.” John 13:5
“I am certain that no artist has ever considered himself
worthy or his talents adequate to paint Jesus - the Christ -
the Messiah; however, I felt compelled to do just that. When
I started the paintings of the Twelve Apostles, I knew that
eventually I would need to paint their Master to complete
the project. The setting would be a time when He was with
all the Apostles. The Last Supper! One of my seminary
professors once said, ‘If the cross were not the symbol of
the Christian faith, then it would be the basin and towel,
representing the service that Christians must render to
others.’ What an opportunity to show this in my painting -
the Last Supper and Jesus in service to His Apostles! I
decided that I would paint the Christ as He rose from the
table, took off His garment, girded Himself with a towel,
and poured water into the basin.”
 JOHN
“...whom Jesus loved.” John
13:23
“A preacher, an evangelist pronouncing the Living Word -
that’s what I had in mind as I put him on canvas.”
The model is a sheet metal worker from Mexico.
 JUDAS
“When Jesus had thus said,
he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, ‘Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.”
John 13:21
“I found it impossible to walk up to a stranger (as I did to
most of the models of the other Apostles) and say, You are
just what I’ve been looking for! You look exactly like
Judas! In fact, it was an extremely difficult task to decide
whether or not to paint this Apostle. It was in one of those
moods of indecision when I happened to remark that I might
leave Judas out, that my daughter Jill chided me, ‘Oh, so
you are going to improve on the selections of Jesus?’ That
did it! Now I had to paint this Judas Iscariot.”
 JUDE
“Jude was probably the son of James (the Great) and
therefore the grandson of Zebedee, a rather successful
fisherman of Galilee. In Matthew 4:18-22, we find the story
of James and John in the fishing boat with their father,
Zebedee. This story was the key to my choosing the age of
Jude for my painting. I deduced that if the grandfather was
still working in the boats - and not of necessity, for Mark
plainly states he had hired servants - he was probably in
his early sixties. Zebedee’s son James then would be in his
forties. So Jude, son of James, must certainly be the
youngest of the Apostles at approximately the age of twenty
years. Jude - and I suggest that most young men at age
twenty feel this way - wanted to know all things, wanted to
find the truth of life, and wanted to search for the right
leader and follow him in helping make this world a better
place in which to live. That’s what I wanted to portray in
my painting of Jude.”
The model was a student at Texas Tech in Lubbock.
 MATTHEW
“Matthew was obviously well educated and rather wealthy; yet
he was a social outcast and a despised tax collector.
Remember, though, Jesus looks into the hearts of men and
sees them for what they really are. With that thought,
‘Jesus sees into the hearts of men’, I decided I wanted this
Apostle to have eyes which see more than just what is
obvious. That was the key to this Disciple - his eyes.”
The model is a school teacher.
 PAUL
“Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was the most educated of all the
Apostles. His travels show him to be probably the most
active missionary-evangelist of all the Apostles. Constantly
on the move, always in danger, sometimes alone, sometimes
with a companion, arrested, shipwrecked, beaten-this
self-proclaimed Apostle did so much for the church that he
had to be included in my paintings of The Apostles. It
wasn’t his death or his travels that I wanted to portray in
the painting; it was his letters-letters that carried on an
extensive correspondence with the new churches he had
formed. Paul and his letters! That had to be the theme of my
painting, and the setting for the painting came from
Galatians 6:11: ‘Ye see how large a letter I have written
unto you with mine own hand.”
The model is a retired electrical engineer from
Plainview, TX.
 PETER
“And Jesus, walking by the
sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they
were fishers. And He saith unto them, ‘Follow me, and I will
make you fishers of men’.” Matthew 4:18- 19
“I wanted to paint this fifty year-old, work-hardened
fisherman at that instant in the Gospel of John (21:11) when
Peter laid hold of his net, and, with one eye on his Lord,
pulled those fish ashore just as he would do so many times
afterward as a ‘fisher of men’.”
The model served in three branches of the military and
is a motorcycle rider from Florida.
 PHILIP
“When I read the conversation between Jesus and Philip in
the fourteenth chapter of John, I knew how I wished to paint
Philip. Jesus answered a question asked by Thomas while at
the table on the night of The Last Supper by making the
statement, ‘If ye had known me, ye should have known my
Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him and have seen
Him.’ This strong, matter-of-fact, deep-feeling Apostle,
Philip, looked Him squarely in the face and just said
flatout, ‘Lord-just show us the Father - that’s all - just
show us the Father - that will do it.’ It was at this very
moment that I wanted to “catch” Philip, full of his own
wisdom and worth - strong, but somewhat wrong.”
The model is a bee keeper from New Orleans.
 SIMON
“The dictionary states that a zealot is ‘one who is zealous
or full of zeal, especially to an extreme or excessive
degree; one carried away by excess of zeal; a fanatic.’
Zealot is also defined as ‘one of a Jewish sect which
struggled openly against the Roman Rule in Palestine.’ This
was Simon - an open fighter for a cause he felt was right, a
cause which would place an Israelite on the throne of
Israel. What better way to show this zealous Simon than to
place a sword in his hand!”
The model worked in a print shop in Amarillo.
 THOMAS
“The driver of an eighteen wheeler truck stopped in my
hometown for lunch at a restaurant where I was dining. I
immediately went over to his table and said, ‘Thomas?’ ‘No,’
he said, ‘my name is Larry Smith.’ ‘Well, it will be Thomas
before the day is over,’ was my reply. ‘Have no doubt about
that!’ I placed a lance in the hands of Thomas, for it is
often used as a symbol of Thomas’ martyrdom. Thomas was a
man who had thought of only two things. . . PREACH CHRIST
AND BUILD CHURCHES IN HIS NAME.”
To read more about Kenneth Wyatt and the Apostle paintings.
Tom McAnally of UMC.org Profiles interviewed Mr.
Wyatt about his faith and his art. The live interview
can be heard on the
UMC.org web site. We have the
Transcript of the interview.
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First United Methodist Church, Irving,
Texas |