Dordt University senior Katy Timmer’s art show, "Better Homes & Gardens," combines her love of agriculture, floral design, and graphic art to explore themes of God’s abundance, feasting, and the hope of New Creation.
As Katy Timmer started her senior year at Dordt University, she wanted to find a way to connect her floral experience and her graphic design degree. Her senior art show, “Better Homes and Gardens: A Floral & Feasting Senior Art Exhibit Pointing to the New Creation,” gives her the chance to do this.
“I am a farmer and a florist at heart,” Timmer shares. “I spend every chance I get in the field and in the studio.”
She works for The Cornucopia Farm of Sioux Center, where she helps harvest vegetables and, this year, helped arrange bouquets. She found it a great “chance to meld that with the graphic design that I’ve studied at Dordt.”
“Better Homes & Gardens” centers around the abundance of God, especially connected to themes of feasting and New Creation.
Timmer’s creation opened in the side room of the Fruited Plain Café in Sioux Center. White drapes hung the windows and walls, and around the edges of the room she had arranged borders and vases of flowers.
“I picked the flowers from The Cornucopia,” Timmer explained on the opening night, “and arranged them and brought them all here.”
The flowers are a major part of the exhibition. It’s a detailed dinner table, set with white frosted china, a sliced bread loaf, and garden vegetables. The show, by emphasizing God’s abundance, speaks to Jesus’ answer to human limitations.
“I once heard Dr. Justin Bailey say, ‘our own hunger is a very visceral reminder that we are not God,’” Timmer says. “A lot of Jesus’ ministry is centered around feasting in community. He would take time to sit with people and share in their lives.”
Timmer was inspired to create “Better Homes & Gardens” a year ago. An independent study course at Dordt allowed her to earn academic credit while developing and planning her show.
Time spent in the Theology Department helped her articulate the foundational themes to her show.
“Through chapel messages, class discussions, and office conversations, Dr. Justin Bailey helped inspire my theme for this show,” Timmer says.
Her adviser for this project, Art & Design Professor Vaughn Donahue, invested thought and attention in her ideas.
“He really took his time to think through my ideas,” Timmer shares. “He was all in, and supported my out-of-the-box ideas, and gave me so much confidence to create art for the Lord.”
Creating art connected deeply to her faith is an opportunity that Timmer jumped at. She sees art as a means to reflect God’s creative work. Through this installation, she mirrors Scriptures’ bookends.
“At the beginning of the Bible we see the Garden of Eden, and at the end, the New Creation,” Timmer explains. “The blooms are meant to give a tiny glimpse of the New Creation that we so earnestly wait for. This show is a chance to explore the abundance and the goodness of God.”
The show opened at 7 pm on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. It will be on display for the duration of the week.
About Dordt University
As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, Dordt University equips students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community to work toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Dordt is a comprehensive university named to the best college lists by U.S. News and World Report, the Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review.
Dordt University’s nursing program has been named the top nursing school in Iowa by RegisteredNursing.org, recognizing its strong NCLEX pass rates, hands-on learning, faith integration, and commitment to preparing students to serve confidently in the nursing profession.
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