CORAM DEO

Show Opening:
Saturday, July 19, 2025 · 12p—3p

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Coram Deo: Before the Face of God

It is with profound gratitude and anticipation that we announce our newest exhibition, Coram Deo, a five-person exhibition bringing together the extraordinary work of five women from across the world. Each of these artists demonstrates exceptional talent, vision, and dedication not only to their studio practice but to a life lived faithfully before the face of God.

Coram Deo, a Latin phrase meaning “before the face of God,” encapsulates the heartbeat of this exhibition. These women are each professing followers of Jesus who diligently and faithfully seek to live every aspect of their lives in full view of His presence, grace, and truth. They do not separate their creative practice from their confession of faith; rather, they see their studio work as deeply and inseparably tied to the reality of Christ’s Lordship in their lives.

This exhibition showcases a stunning range of mixed-media works and diverse artistic visions. From intimate material explorations to bold conceptual statements, each piece invites you to consider what it means to live Coram Deo. This question What does it mean to live every moment before the face of God? is perhaps more urgent today than ever before. In an age marked by distraction, distortion, and disintegration, these artists challenge us to wrestle with the profound implications of God’s presence in all things.

We invite you to join us in this contemplation. May this exhibition stir your imagination, quicken your heart, and open your eyes to the beauty, truth, and goodness that arise when art is made in the light of Christ’s constant and finished work.

Come and see. Consider with us. Live Coram Deo.

Ryan Lauterio
Director, Shockoe Artspace

Cassandra Martin

Cassandra Martin is a multimedia artist in Mechanicsville, Virginia. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at James Madison University and is continuing her studies at the Maker Institute. She has served in the mission field in Guatemala, Belize, Africa, and Costa Rica. She currently lives and works in Richmond, Virginia as a middle school art teacher and as a gallery assistant at Foyer Gallery. Her work is fluid and ever changing often through the mediums of oil paint and ceramics.

My work is an invitation to see my relationship with the Lord—an opportunity for curiosity and conversation. Lately, I’ve been reminded to make with freedom, to explore and embrace mistakes. It’s something I have been trying to teach my 6th graders, and what God is gently teaching me too. He’s funny like that. I’m learning to make from the overflow of His goodness, not striving, just being obedient. So I hope you enjoy the overflow.

Mary E. Miller

Mary Elizabeth Miller is a native of Richmond, Virginia, graduate of the arts department at Covenant College in Georgia, and current graduate fellow at the Maker Institute of Studio Art and Theology. She has a background in graphic design and painting. In recent years, she has sought to find the intersection of creativity and social justice through local anti-trafficking work as well as creative service in the recovery community. She is currently exploring abstraction and markmaking as a tool for spiritual formation in prayer; while leaving space for essential play and lighthearted wonder.

As I grapple with the tensions of the immediate, deep brokenness in my city and eternal hope of the reconciliation of all things in Christ, I am increasingly drawn to artmaking as a tool for spiritual discipline. I pray that my eyes will be trained to see the Lord’s hand at work and my mind renewed as I meditate on his promises. Just as the Israelites were instructed to stack stones on their journey to remind themselves of God’s faithfulness, so my desire is that my work will testify to present and future generations of the unshakeable goodness of God.

Damaris Otremba

Damaris Shaded Otremba is an artist/painter who grew up in a missionary Polish/Syrian family in a long line of Polish artists. She received her BA in Art and Biblical Studies at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS in 1998, and her MA in Fine Arts Education at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland in 2015. For the past 21 years she and her husband were involved in church planting in Poland. They currently live in Philadelphia, PA, where Damaris is continuing her studies at the Maker Institute while her husband attends Westminster Theological Seminary.

In the midst of the fast pace of life, I crave silence and solitude as I reflect and make art. I desire to meditate, pray, and commune with my Creator and His Word; to listen to His soft, loving and gentle voice; to enjoy Him and express my heart in the space of my studio. My relationship with God fuels my art process as I seek to paint for His glory. This relationship extends to others as I long to awaken the evangelical church to the beauty of the Triune God by bringing visual arts back to the church.

Anne Edgin

Anne Whitfield Edgin is a Maryland-based artist whose work celebrates the colors and rhythms of everyday life. After years of balancing art around raising and home schooling three sons, Anne now pursues art as a graduate fellow of the Maker Institute of Studio Art & Theology. Through her church and the Brehm Artist Residency, she has had the privilege of presenting collaborative art projects to her community.

My work is shaped by a dialogue between internal reflection and everyday scenes. For
years, while raising a family, I found fleeting moments to create – sketching during
church, studying faces, and turning bulletins into visual journals. Small acts of
expression shaped my understanding of art as a tool for connection and remembrance.

This recent series of landscape paintings is largely drawn from photos that were taken
during car rides and vacations. They are not only a celebration of color but also an
attempt to capture the fleeting wonder of places glimpsed in passing – an invitation to
experience light, shadow, and color as well as to celebrate the interplay between visual
response and memory.