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August 26, 2009 by Michael Winters
We're now looking for artists and crafts-people (what is the right word for that?) for the affordable art show during the sojourn fall festival at the 930. This will be the third year and it's always a good time. If you make stuff people might want to buy, fill out the online entry form on the930.org. Details there.
August 21, 2009 by Michael Winters
Richard Fudge, from down in Memphis, asked me to take part in a really cool project he's started called 'To Send a Prayer'. He's mailing three journals around to Christian artists around the country and asking them to make one spread in the journal into a personal expression of prayer.
The picture above is my addition to the project. I came across a striking song lyric that inspired a prayer in me that inspired me to make this image. There is a Mount Eerie song 'Lost Wisdom' in which the writer has a mystical experience in nature. At one point the song sings, 'I open the front door and the back door and let the wind blow through.' For whatever reason this line really stuck with me. I didn't even consider that he might be talking about a physical door. In my mind, the door in this line refers to a door to a human spirit. The doors are opened and the Wind comes through, the Pure Spirit. I hope this image conveys both an emptiness of the human spirit and the capacity for God to dwell within us.
I'm sure some people will read it as a t-shirt that doesn't say anything, but that's what I get for not putting any words on this spread.
To see other spreads from the project and to see if you can get involved, check out http://2sendaprayer.blogspot.com/
August 21, 2009 by Michael Winters
Recently, I was given the task of writing up some notes for how 'the artist' can be a metaphor for leadership. Once Mike Cosper and I come up with the final draft, maybe I can post it here, but for now I'll just share my first thought. The first thought I had when trying to wrap my mind around this topic was to remember Adam's first words upon seeing Eve for the first time.
"'At last!' the man exclaimed.
'This is bone from my bone
And flesh from my flesh.
She shall be called woman,
Because she was taken from man."
Adam, from the start, was leading his family well from the well of joy he was experiencing. His poetry was a blessing to Eve and a spontaneous praise to God who created her.
Artists are leaders. They are at the front lines of cultural trends and artists create the contexts in which we all live our lives. Architects shape the space of our living. Visual artists can change the mood of a whole room with a small piece of artwork. Musicians shape the emotional range of our work places and our homes. Of course, the emotional range created by artists can set the tone for bitterness, or fatigue, or mindlessness, but I think it's also possible for artists to shape contexts into a tone of joy.
I chose the picture above of Jason Crigler during the installation of his current exhibit 'Ethiopia' at the 930 because I think he and the other artists that worked on that exhibit created a context for joy. Partially because of Jason's contagious smile, and partially because of his deep understanding of joy in the midst of poverty, I think the Ethiopia exhibit and the artist behind the photographs lead us toward joy.
August 7, 2009 by Michael Winters
Copied from the new wordsfail blog, a project by an anonymous sojourn member.
Does art have the power to change us?
Art can confront us with bold images, subtle visual puns, shocking or mundane images, new forms and old concepts revisited, often turned on their head.
But can it change us? Can my contemplation of a work of art, because of the nature of that art, bring change in me? Greater still, can a group of people be encountered with the power of art and find new perspectives that endure?
The same could be asked of song lyrics, pieces of music, plays, films, dance, and all forms of creativity.
The best I can come up with is “No.”
But a thing a beauty, a visual pun, a symbol, the creative act expressed or shared as an act of kindness might create a space in time and place where we are open to God’s kindness, love and word which do bring change that endure.
I came across this idea reading Michael Card’s book, Scribbling in the Sand, and it was lost upon me. I was reading the book, mining out the link between art and faith in general, and the powerful lesson in the first chapter didn’t resonate with me until this last week as I pondered anew the question about the role and nature of art bringing change.
Artisans creating place
Artisans called by name, constructed the tent of meeting in the book of Exodus and in their obedience and creativity they created a place where God intended to meet with His people. It was a place consecrated, set apart. A place of refuge, a place of contemplation, a place of renewal.
It was a place, made through the creative activity of artisans, where God was manifest and could be encountered. He commanded the place to be built, to His specifications and He intended to dwell there, to encounter people there.
The same is true of the tent King David set up to worship God with music before the Ark of the Covenant. Also the Temple, built later under Solomon was a beautifully and extravagantly created place where God intended to draw near.
The Artisan creates space.
The religious leaders of the Temple had brought a woman “caught in the very act of adultery” to Jesus to try to trap Him. Moses commanded such to be stoned by the community. Would Jesus set Himself above Moses? Would He defy the occupying Roman law that forbade death by stoning?
Jesus “stooped down” and with His finger wrote in the sand. The religious leaders demanded a response, so Jesus stands and answers “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” And then he stooped back down to write in the sand. One by one, the accusers all left, until it was only the woman there, and Jesus, creating something in the sand.
When He stood up and saw no one there, He asked if no one had condemned her, and when no one did, He said He also did not condemn her and charged her to go and sin no more.
In the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus through creative activity, scribbling in the sand, created a space.
A space between the accused woman and her accusers.
A space between the accusers and Jesus.
But most importantly a space where God’s wisdom, God’s holiness and God’s kindness could be encountered.
His creative act also, paradoxically, created tension, an angry religious crowd awaited, demanding an answer, He answered and went back to the sand and in that space God’s wisdom and mercy and truth prevailed.
Our only hope and our challenge.
Then for any who would express themselves creatively, there is the realization that our art can’t bring change, that our art isn’t the source for change. But also there is the challenge to create beautifully, intelligently, with such passion, such deliberation, such obedience that we may create a space, a physical space or a pause in time, in which God can draw us and draw near to us.
August 6, 2009 by Michael Winters
Copied from the Why Louisville website:
Just in time for back to school, WHY Louisville announces the “Kids Are Alright” T-shirt Design Contest!
WHY Louisville, known for its locally designed t-shirts, is reaching out to the next generation of young artists to encourage creativity and to illustrate that they can turn their doodles into something more substantial.
The winning artist will have their drawing made into an official WHY Louisville t-shirt! Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place and all the entries will be on display as part of the WHY Louisville window display on Bardstown Road in the Highlands in September.
Kids can make their drawing at school, home or even at the WHY Louisville store at the designated Kids Are Alright drawing desk. Entries can be submitted at the store located at 1583 Bardstown Road during normal business hours, can be emailed to bubs@whylouisville.com or mailed to the store address.
The deadline for entry is August 31st, 2009.
All the rules can be read here on the Why Louisville website.
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