Sister Gertrude Morgan: The Mystic of New Orleans - Book - Page 114
retirement, “I think this is one of the most moving pieces I have had
the privilege to contemplate.” When any kind of art conveys the numinous, it continuously haunts and inspires its observer with a palpable
yet ineffable inspiration.
In addition to being a master of non-contrived art, Sister Gertrude was an exemplar of multisensory sanctified expression, a key
dynamic behind sacred ecstatic experience. Scholar Elaine Yau caught
this same truth:
Morgan translated sanctification’s polyvocality, sensations, and performative dimensions into the realm of the
visual . . . Morgan’s “old-time religion” crackles beneath
the patina of age and vibrates with new energy . . . Some of
her paintings appear most like visual translations of vocal
performance.3
Sister Gertrude’s paintings glow with the Holy Spirit and
radiate sacred elation. I hope this book helps people catch some
of the soul-lifting emotion that still pours from her life story,
poetry, testimonies, songs, and art. It was Sister’s mission to help
make us ready to receive a great love in our hearts and get the Spirit
moving in our lives. Brad and I want Missionary Morgan
to know that her ministry accomplished its task. We can still
hear her preaching in a loud voice from the other side,
“Praise Him! Praise Him! Come on people eat the bread! Oh, you’ll
wish one day you had!”4
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