It was a very, very scary position for me to be in early on when they asked me to do this piece.

Because it's humbling. How do you depict God? How do you depict God in a way that will help people to fill the spirit?

And not look at the piece and be critical.

I'm Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News.

Welcome to the Church News podcast.

Today we are excited to be coming to you from the studio in Provo, Utah, of artist Michael

Hall.

He has created some artwork that you may be familiar with, even if you don't know

his name. If you've had a chance to visit the renovated Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah,

you've likely seen some of his pieces. And today we're excited to talk with him about the process

of creating those pieces of art and the spiritual experiences that he had during that process.

Michael, thanks for being with us today. Thank you. I am fascinated by the work that you have done and would love to hear more about

that experience. But I think that it would be really helpful for those who are watching and

listening today to hear a little bit about your background and how you got involved in creating

works of art that that focus on on

deity and and perhaps exemplifying parts of your testimony can you share how how you got into this

yeah so i i've been interested in art ever since i was a young child and my mom nurtured and

encouraged me i love love drawing comic books and

superheroes when I was a little kid. And then when I was about 10 years old, my mom took me to

the studio of my great uncle, Averd Fairbanks, up in Salt Lake City. And I walked in and Averd handed me a chisel and a hammer

and took me over to a marble sculpture that he was working on and said, why don't you try

carving a little bit? And that was a very exciting experience for me as a 10-year-old boy.

...