Vera Streetman’s eyesight may have faded over the last 25 years, but her memory and her painting ability sure haven’t.
Streetman, 76, recently shook the dust off her feet and her paint brushes and went back to an old hobby and a hometown landmark that combined for a picture-perfect project: a painting of First Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, Franklin Association, where she and her husband, John, wed in 1952.
And when she presented the finished product to First, Phil Campbell, Sept. 12, a month after its centennial celebration, church members agreed — her artistic ability and impeccable timing were a match made in heaven.
Though she was always a gifted artist, Streetman said weakening eyesight prompted her in 1979 to put away her paints and tuck into the closet a partially done sketch of a small country church she attended during her childhood.
Age before beauty
In 2003 — 24 years later — she pulled it out, dusted it off and finished it.
The completed painting met with such success that she decided to paint more — first her current church in Birmingham, then another church that was etched vividly in her memory: First, Phil Campbell.
And the decision was not a moment too soon.
When Streetman mentioned her nearly complete project to Scott Moore, pastor of First, Phil Campbell, at the church’s 100th anniversary Aug. 12, he was impressed.
But he didn’t picture the magnitude of the results until a month later when she unveiled her “masterpiece” for the church and presented him with a framed reproduction — a beautiful view of the church seen through a wispy curtain of fall leaves.
“When I talked to her at the anniversary celebration, she said she had some finishing touches yet to apply,” Moore said.
The painting held meaning, he said, because Streetman’s husband had grown up in the Phil Campbell congregation and she had “always had a real love for the church.”
And when she presented the work of art to the church Sept. 12, Moore said he’s “sure there was a sermon in there somewhere.”
An important element of all three artistic endeavors has been the strategic placement of a prominent bird, such as the yellow hammer perched in the foreground of the Phil Campbell church painting.
“The Bible uses birds to communicate divine security and encourage us not to fear,” Streetman told the Phil Campbell congregation.
The explanation took her labor of love one step beyond honoring the church itself — it became a symbol of provision and a reminder of God’s truth.
And it’s a reminder that is already hanging in the church foyer.
“Vera Streetman’s gift of art will now be a permanent part of First Baptist history,” said church secretary Shari Beaver, adding that the painting was icing on the “anniversary cake.”
Share with others: