“How do you mark the ending of one part of your life journey, while anticipating the next,” he wrote in a journal entry from that day. 

Roughly an hour after seeing his students off, he was on his bicycle pedaling toward a ferry that would begin an 1,800-kilometer (1,118-mile) journey across three countries in 22 days. Photographs from his ride along the EuroVelo 10/13 bike route, which follows the coast of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as journal entries he logged during the trek, are the featured exhibition on display at the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery. An opening reception for Holsopple and his collection of photos, paintings and writings was held at the gallery on Friday, Feb. 21. The exhibition will remain on display through March 21.

Holsopple, who joined the 91����Ƶ faculty in 2000 (he taught the school’s first digital media classes as a part-time instructor starting in 1998), is retiring this year. His contributions to 91����Ƶ throughout the past 25 years are too numerous to name, but include the creation of the communication major within the Language and Literature Department in 2000. 

“He actually built the communications department,” VACA Professor Steven Johnson said in introductory remarks at the reception. “It eventually merged with the art department to become the present-day Visual and Communication Arts department that you all know and love. … VACA majors look to Jerry for honest feedback and wise mentoring.”

Holsopple spent the 2009-2010 academic year as a Fulbright scholar at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania. His Into the Window exhibition, featuring icons he painted during his year there, was the first exhibition held at the Gehman Gallery when it opened in 2010.

The title of his latest exhibition, Finding Water, relates to the route he and his biking partner, Glyn Jones, took along the Baltic Sea coastline. “Every day we would see the water, from sandy windswept beaches to large rock boulders left by the glacier centuries ago,” a journal entry states. But, it also relates to how the metaphorical river of life carries us along our journeys. “I wanted this to be a show that’s not about remembering what I’ve done for 30 years or whatever, but about embracing the mystery of what is yet to come,” he shared at the reception. “And, what each day on a bike trip brings you that you don’t know is going to come your way.”

“Why did I take this bike trip?” Holsopple asked the crowd gathered at Friday’s reception. “Because I was looking for a way to process what it meant to say goodbye to these people. I stopped to visit people along the way that I had known all these years. It was like giving all three countries a big hug.”

The exhibition features several grids of photographs, each related to a theme. One grid shows Holocaust sites in the capital city of Riga, Latvia. Another is a collection of photos of churches that he passed by on his route. A grid of coffee shops includes his favorite cafe in Estonia, Kehrweider, “with its underground feel, good coffee and snacks, and an attitude,” he wrote in his journal. “In the early days of bringing students on these trips, you couldn’t get a carry-out coffee anywhere. Now, coffee shops are everywhere and people carry their paper cups down the sidewalks in hordes.”

Referencing a large photograph of trees along a shore, Holsopple recounted his experience capturing the moment. “It was about 6 a.m. when we went down the hill and I saw this reflection and I jammed on my brakes,” Holsopple said. “I was not going to pass up that reflection. I’m always fascinated by reflections because I think it plays with this idea of reality and what we imagine and what we see if we really pay attention to what’s happening in life.”

Finding Water also includes a pair of icons that Holsopple painted. One of them is inspired by an icon that Maria Skobtsova, a Russian poet, nun, and member of the French Resistance during World War II, was working on before she died at the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. Holsopple and 91����Ƶ Theater Director Justin Poole created a musical theater production based on her life that opens at the MainStage Theater in March. The other icon is a stylized self-portrait that he created in 2016. 

Cassidy Walker, an 91����Ƶ senior majoring in art, photography, and digital media, attends every gallery opening through her work for the VACA department, but said Holsopple’s was special to her. 

“Jerry’s the reason I ended up coming to 91����Ƶ in the first place,” she said. “I had gotten into some big art schools, and he convinced me that I would get a great education here and that I’d get to be one of the Lithuania kids.” 

Walker was part of Holsopple’s final intercultural trip to Lithuania in 2023. She spoke about his guidance in helping her figure out her goals for the future. “I was nervous about becoming a triple-major and he’s been this person I’ve been able to lean on,” she said. “He’s always been there for me.”

Rachel Holderman ’18, who graduated from 91����Ƶ’s VACA department with degrees in Photography and Art, now works as a photographer for James Madison University. She took several classes taught by Holsopple and said she likes staying connected with those who helped develop her skills. At the opening reception, she said she was drawn to Holsopple’s use of reflections and unique angles. “It’s mirrored so perfectly that it’s hard to tell where the surface is, like where reality meets reflection,” she said about the photo of trees on a glassy lake.

Holsopple is an artist, photographer and renowned videographer who teaches photography and digital media-related courses in 91����Ƶ’s VACA department. He has a BS degree in Bible from 91����Ƶ, an MDiv from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and a PhD in Media & Communication from European Graduate School. He led undergraduate intercultural trips to the Baltics in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2023. 

A 2013 trip to the country resulted in the photography exhibit and book, Traces of a Social Movement: The Baltic Way, about people who participated in a 630-kilometer-long human chain, formed in August 1989 across Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Last year, Jerry Holsopple spent his days teaching in the visual and communication arts department at 91����Ƶ. These days, he’s still teaching – but he’s doing it at LCC International University in Lithuania.

Jerry Holsopple is captured on a photo expedition by one of his students at LCC International University.

Holsopple, 52, is in Lithuania for the duration of the 2009-2010 school year on a Fulbright scholarship, a grant that allows academics to engage in global intellectual pursuits. The application process is extremely competitive; Holsopple is one of just two scholars in Lithuania this year. He’s based at LCC International University, where he teaches photography, film and culture and religious art classes. He chose the country for his studies for a number of reasons.

"I chose Lithuania since I have brought 91����Ƶ students here for six-week experiences and really enjoy the students here," Holsopple said via e-mail. "I also wanted to study [religious] icon painting and connected on a previous trip with a Russian Orthodox priest who agreed to teach me if I came back for a year."

Holsopple first became fascinated with icons – broadly defined as religious works of art – on a trip to Bulgaria in the 1990s. "I visited several churches and a large gallery, which was where many were put in these countries during the Soviet era, and became fascinated by them," he said.

But rather than learning about the icon-painting process from a book, Holsopple wanted to try it firsthand. He studies with the priest who had previously agreed to teach him. The man "speaks primarily Russian and Lithuanian. I take LCC students along to translate," Holsopple said. "The conversations are about more than icons, [they’re] about life and the way we approach our work."

The duo have plenty of opportunity for conversation, because the icon-painting process is lengthy. It begins by roughing the surface of a quarter-sawn piece of wood and then applying coats of gelatin and water mixtures.

"After two or three layers of this, you soak a piece of linen cloth in the gelatin water and then smooth that onto the board," Holsopple said. Then, the board is coated with about a dozen more coats of gelatin water mixed with chalk; between coats, "you sand, gradually using finer and finer sandpaper," he said. This part of the process takes four to five weeks, he said, after which the board is ready for use.

For his icon, Holsopple chose the angel Michael, drawing inspiration from other paintings for his own etching. "I start with a very old one painted by Rublev, seeking to understand how he draped the clothing," he said. "Learning to do the eyes and the hands took the most time."

When Holsopple’s drawing was complete, he transferred it to the board using carbon paper and then scratched it into the surface with an awl. After that, he began painting and applying gold leaf. All that’s left is to finish painting and then apply a clear varnish to protect the image. The final step, Holsopple said, is to have the icon blessed.

"To be a full part of the tradition, the icon will need to be blessed by a priest," he said. He plans to bring the icon back to the U.S.

In addition to icon-painting and teaching, Holsopple finds time to explore Lithuania, camera in hand. Some highlights of his trip so far include taking a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Stockholm, buying wool socks and fresh fruit from "old ladies in little markets" and photographing a Lithuanian wedding. He’ll return to Harrisonburg at the end of June, a bittersweet conclusion to a rich year.

"I will miss Lithuania, especially the people, when I return, but it will also be good to be back with my colleagues at 91����Ƶ," he said. "I hope my year immersed in another tradition and type of work will allow me to evaluate in new ways my own tradition and work."

Dr. Jerry Holsopple

Dr. Holsopple will spend the 2009-2010 academic year as a Fulbright teacher at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania. While there, he will also devise an implementation plan for a communication concentration for the school.

Holsopple has led 91����Ƶ cross-cultural summer seminars to Lithuania in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

The 91����Ƶ professor expects to “build on relationships” made in prior visits while teaching courses in digital imaging, photography, popular culture and communication and related areas. He will also study Lithuanian religious images – “crosses and other symbols are seen everywhere,” he said – and wants to learn to paint icons in the Russian Orthodox tradition.

“Lithuania, and the other Baltic states, is a fabulous place to do photography, especially with old and new architecture intersecting with that of the Soviet era,” Holsopple said. “I envision writing a book on the cultural analysis of photography, helping persons better use this medium in learning more about another culture and people.”

Holsopple, who joined the 91����Ƶ faculty in 2000, completed a BS degree in Bible and camping, recreation and youth ministries from 91����Ƶ, received an MDiv degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., and earned a PhD from European Graduate School.

The Fulbright program, America’s flagship international educational program, is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas.

Since its inception, some 286,500 people – 108,160 Americans have studied, taught or done research abroad while 178,340 students, scholars and teachers from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the U.S. The program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.

Fulbright award recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership in their fields.

Fulbright award recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership in their fields.

It is the second year in a row for an faculty member to be selected for the Fulbright honor. Mark Metzler Sawin, associate professor of history at 91����Ƶ, spent the 2008-09 year teaching courses on “constructing identity: teaching and the cultural work of history and literature” at the university in the capital city of Zagreb, Croatia.

Sigita Lukaviciute was 13 when Lithuania declared its independence from the former Soviet Union, spawning a national movement toward privatization.

Sixteen years later, most of the country