Father Keith Higginbotham, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Huntsville and associate pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers, has always been a fan of icons.
“The spiritual understanding of an icon is that it is a window, or a door, and we look through it at the saint who is in heaven,” he said. “And so, to pray with an icon is to sit as if you’re looking through a window to the saint who has gone before us.”
It was one day, while Father Higginbotham was praying near an image of St. John the Evangelist at the Huntsville church, that he had an idea.
“I was originally inspired by the image of St. John that we have in here. And I wanted something that was a little more enduring, a little more artistic for us,” he said. “It is still a beautiful image that we have there. But I wanted something a little grander.”
That’s where American realist painter Timothy Jones comes in. Deacon Tom Parks recommended Jones, whom he has known for a long time and is familiar with his artwork
Jones converted to Catholicism in 1993, thanks to the mentorship of friend and renowned Catholic writer and speaker Jimmy Akin. Until he moved in 2012, Jones attended St. Vincent de Paul in Rogers, where he volunteered to teach youth faith formation classes.
Jones said he’s been an artist his entire life and “picked up two degrees along the way” from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in 1984 and from the University of Arkansas in 1987.
“I worked in illustration and product design for about 20 years before seriously returning to fine art — my first love — as a career,” Jones said. “I hesitate to call my sacred images ‘icons,’ like the historic style we’re familiar with, yet this one of St. John seems to fit that category, in a more modern way.”
Jones said this icon took over a year to complete, which is longer than his usual process, due to his dedication to teaching art at Chesterton Academy of the Twin Cities in Minnesota and meticulously planning out the daunting iconography project.

“A lot of it was working out the approach I felt it needed, how much from imagination, and how much from real life (a model), as well as the painting technique,” Jones said. “And there were some revisions along the way.
“I started with a very basic composition sketch, then to a more finished charcoal drawing, then after revisions, transferred the drawing to a panel I’d prepared. After working out the underpainting in black and white, I applied color in thin glazes.”
Jones said the past 12 years as an artist have been spent teaching art and art history at Chesterton Academy and “developing that part of the curriculum for the Chesterton Schools Network, which has now grown to something like 70 schools around the country and a few in other countries.”
“Most artists I know, even many ‘successful’ ones, have some kind of steady work to help pay the bills,” he said. “Teaching at Chesterton Academy has been the most meaningful and fulfilling job of my life.
“Because of the limited time I have had for artwork, I have mostly focused on smaller paintings and drawings, mainly landscapes and nature studies, but I have always hoped to concentrate more on sacred images and have thought a great deal about the best way to depict the truths of the faith in a way that builds on the strengths of the great Catholic artistic tradition,” Jones said. “That helps move it forward a little to make it feel relevant to contemporary viewers. I have hopes that this will be the start of many more sacred images, beginning with the Mysteries of the Rosary). This is another great part of why conceptualizing this painting took such an unusually long time, the idea that it might be the first of — prayerfully — many more.”
The icon was unveiled to the congregation of St. John the Evangelist Church in Huntsville Dec. 29. Around the border is painted St. John’s name and the phrase, “In the beginning was the Word” in Latin. The icon is now hanging above the doorway between the vestibule and the sanctuary.
“I was deeply humbled at this response to my art and so grateful for the hospitality of the parish,” Jones said. “They were so gracious. It’s a joy when my artwork connects and is meaningful to others. That’s what I work and hope for.”
Parks said icons play a pivotal role in our faith by serving as visual reminders of it.
“The beauty of art can remind us of the depth and beauty of our faith,” he said. “Some of the symbols can remind us of Bible passages, while others prompt us to ask, ‘What’s that about?’ I believe that continual questions are essential to living the faith. We cannot know it all, but we can grow as we learn more.”
The Mass and unveiling were followed by a discussion panel with Jones and Father Higginbotham.
“I think everyone responds to beauty and recognizes beauty, even if we don’t understand exactly why it’s beautiful,” Jones said during the discussion panel. “(Beauty) does us good in ways that we can’t understand always, but it’s an important thing spiritually. It helps us to be stronger spiritually, I think. And we recognize God in the beautiful things of creation. …
“(Icons) are not concerned very much with what the people were supposed to look like exactly. They’re not portraits. We don’t know what St. John would look like, don’t really know what Christ looked like. But I love icons and their reverence, and the beauty and holiness of icons — and that they inspire us to pray.”