Framing Their Faith : Works by members of Crosshatch, a Christian-based group of artists, are on display at a Woodland Hills gallery.

In 1985, muralist Kent Twitchell founded the group Crosshatch to unite artists in Southern California who share the Christian faith.

Cliff McReynolds came up with the name, which refers to both the artistic practice of hatching or shading with two or more intersecting series of parallel lines, and to the idea of something “hatching” from the cross, the central Christian symbol.

Crosshatch members work in various mediums and styles, and represent a broad range of Christian denominations. “Because of its diversity, no definitive statement of purpose for Crosshatch has been formulated. Most members would agree, however, that Crosshatch acts as a support for them as they attempt to live and work as artists in an art world that is frequently indifferent or hostile to religious belief, and in an ecclesiastical world that is also frequently indifferent to, and if not hostile, then at the very least suspicious of artists,” writes member Michael Schrauzer.

Founder Twitchell recently moved to Northern California, but the group goes on without him. Twenty-three works by 18 Crosshatch members are now on view in the exhibit “Fruit of the Spirit” at Artspace Gallery in Woodland Hills. Gordon Fuglie, director of the Laband Gallery at Loyola-Marymount University in Westchester, juried the show.

Fuglie looked for “voices that had some concern for beauty or mystery,” he said, for artwork that showed some “re-presenting and imaging of the Christian mystery.”

In his juror’s statement, he noted that most of the Crosshatch works here “have much in common with tendencies within the contemporary art realm, but with three differences, generally observed. First, there is a desire to testify to a larger redeeming mystery as central to authentic human existence, even in works with a critical stance.

“Second, there is an inferred morality encoded in the settings and narratives of many of the images. Third, the natural world and human figure are more frequently evoked and accessibly rendered as metaphors for our spiritual condition.”

Though several of the pieces do not contain specific Christian symbols, a few use them to convey the essence of the artwork. Brad Coleman’s charcoal on paper “Passion Play” presents a vessel literally drawn to the dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit. There are also symbols of Christ’s Passion--a nail, hammer and crown of thorns.

Other works incorporate Christian symbols in a more indirect way. Lush trees turn into crosses in Jo Anne Mallinson’s Impressionistic acrylic on paper, “Tree of Life.” The focus of Duncan Simcoe’s large oil painting and assemblage, “Your Strangely Present Absence,” is on two shopping carts marooned near railroad tracks. One spends some time considering the plight of homeless people and taking in the engaging colors and composition of the image before noticing the blessing hand at the top of the piece.

In “The Saints Project 1: 3/17 Harvard & Beverly,” Susan Southwick brought a small plaster saint to an open lot where furniture and garbage had been unceremoniously dumped, placed the icon among the trash, and photographed it. The Cibachrome print hangs in the gallery next to the plaster saint.

“The Saints Project” consists of 77 plaster saints left around Los Angeles or near it, early in the morning on 11 Sundays from May to September of this year. “The project was documented photographically in their settings,” Southwick writes.

Among the more contemplative and interactive works is Roger Feldman’s steel and wood construction, “Witness.” One is encouraged to step up onto this witness stand, and sit in its high chair. Feldman writes: “The experimental metaphor of ascending to arrive at a destination of examination and reflection is my intention. Does the railing serve as protection or definition? . . . The simplicity of form and function raises larger questions about one’s own experience.”

Other artists represented in the show: Becky Ahn, Leslie Caldera, Kerne Erickson, Wayne Forte, Lisa Frahm, Mark Fredericks, Fred Hartson, Mary Hughes, Barry Krammes, Ken Mattson, Cliff McReynolds, Kevin Short and Alan Valencia.

Where and When What: “Fruit of the Spirit,” an exhibit by members of Crosshatch. Location: Artspace Gallery, 21800 Oxnard St., Woodland Hills. Hours: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays through Dec. 18 and Jan. 11 through Jan. 29. Closed Dec. 19 through Jan. 10. Also: Family Fun Day begins at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 18, featuring hands-on activities for every age. Call: (818) 716-2786.