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The next couple weeks are going to be the busiest SojournVisualArts has ever seen.  We're working towards finishing the Prayer & Wisdom exhibit and there's a ton of work to be done.  It's not just 'artists' creating this exhibit.  It's the church creating it together.  Here's how you can help:

PACK & PATCH -Tuesday, February 16.  9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

We'll pack up the Mega Churches exhibit and get it ready for traveling back to the artist.  Then we'll patch the holes in the wall and paint the patches.

PAINT & PREP - Wednesday, February 17 - Saturday, February 20.  9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. each day

We'll be painting all the background colors and beginning installation for the Prayer & Wisdom Exhibit.  We could easily use 4 people at a time working on this most of each of these days.  Email mwinters@sojournchurch.com with your availability if you can help.

HANG THE THING - Monday, February 22 - Wednesday, February 24. 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. each day

We'll be wrapping up the installation of the exhibit.  We'd like to have at least 2 assistants there at all times to help the 15 project directors hang things, run errands, etc .  Email mwinters@sojournchurch.com with the times you'd like to come help and we'll get you plugged in.

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Sunday, February 21.  11:15 - 12:30

Room 310 at the 930

Come join us on Sunday Feb. 21st at 11:15 to make new art for Sojourn Visual Arts' upcoming exhibit "Prayer & Wisdom".  The "Wisdom" portion of the exhibit is open for any one of any age to participate.  Just show up and we'll have the materials and instructions all laid out for you!

If you can't make this time and place, you can still participate. Either pick up the information on the 930 gallery table or just email mwinters@sojournchurch.com and request the info to be mailed to you.  But act quick because the deadline to participate is Feb. 21.

Tags: Artist Opportunities, Our Projects | No comments on this yet

For our upcoming exhibit 'Prayer & Wisdom: Reflections on Psalms and Proverbs' we really didn't know how to create a promotional image because even though the exhibit is only three weeks away, none of the artwork exists yet (!).  The exhibit is going to be pretty wild and most of it is installation art that needs to be built into the space once the Mega Churches exhibit comes down.

So, the image above is what Bradley Speaks and I came up with.  In Sojourn Visual Art's main studio, we just piled up a bunch of the junk we're working with, banged some nails in some plywood, and wrapped the extension cord through the nails to spell 'prayer & wisdom'.  Then we plugged one end of that extension cord into the wall and the other end into one of the strobe lights I use for photography.  Bradley held the light, I clicked the picture, and with a long exposure going, Bradley walked out of the frame, leaving his image sort of ghostly.

I love the metaphor that happened.  Without too much forethought on our parts, the light, metaphorically, became evidence that there is power in prayer and wisdom.  Yes, it's literally electrical power, but in my mind it comes to represent spiritual power which, of course, is the most powerful kind of power.

I don't know if people looking at this briefly will even recognize that the light is powered by the same cord that spells out the exhibit title, but I hope so.

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The list begins....
If you have this stuff and can let us have or borrow it, let Michael Winters know (mwinters@sojournchurch.com).  We start installation Feb. 22.

This list will be edited to reflect the current inventory of needs and resources as people turn in their lists and we get stuff in.

NEEDS

For Wings Shelter:

Aluminum wireform rolls
Pvc pipe
Cotton or polyester batting
Feathers (I found a company online for these)
Plaster cloth
Felt (soft blue & gray)
Cardstock (silver & gold)

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"Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper." - Proverbs 13:4

I often have people introduce me to others as 'an awesome artist' or some such thing, but the truth is that I haven't made much artwork in the last few years.  I want much to have that reputation, but I haven't been making work in any way that deserves it.  Well, today I'm finalizing 4 new substantial pieces to hang in Quill's coffee shop.  The work might not be awesome, but it's satisfying.

I tell myself that I haven't been lazy about artmaking.  There are always a million excuses - it's expensive, family comes first, and my job is demanding.  Well, under the pressure of a deadline, I'm getting something done and it feels good.  Of course artmaking is real work, but it's not the kind of work that will make you prosper financially if you are just diligent enough.  But today there has been some prospering going on in my soul.  I've been finding a way of making work that's restful and rest that is working.

After studying what Proverbs has to say about work and wealth the last couple weeks, we're now turning to what Proverbs has to say about friendship.  Join us this Sunday for a worship service as we discuss friendship through the wisdom of Proverbs.

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For Advent, we put up a new stage background and added eight large canvasses around the room.

The window design is a paper cutout of the same design found in st. vincent de paul (the cathedral sojourn is likely going to purchase on shelby street).

The canvasses going around the room hopefully makes the room a little more unified rather than just being a separated stage and 'audience'.  The same canvasses will be reworked four times a year when we change the stage background.

The design was made by Tyler Deeb, who runs pedale design.  The digital, diamond-shaped design was turned into a silkscreen and printed with metallic gold ink.

This is what the front of the room looks like.  The light pattern on the green wall is created using the existing track lighting shining off of mirrors, which were hot glued to the ceiling.  There are also lights shining from the floor onto tree branches, creating shadow patterns on the wall.  The concept for this was generated by Katherine Groce and was based on the idea that in Christ becoming a human baby, heaven met earth.  The shadows moving up the wall, and the mirrored light are meant to reflect this truth.

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A couple weeks ago a middle school class from Christian Academy Southwest came to the 930 for a tour and they completed the Proverbs project.  Their creatively responded to the scriptures in a way that was each unique to them.  I can't wait to see more examples of people illustrating the Proverbs.

If you'd like to participate just email mwinters@sojournchurch.com and we'll mail you as many project panels as you want.  They'll all be displayed in the gallery and online with the verse they relate to.

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Right now, we're working hard on two great projects.  The first is called Prayer and is based on the book of Psalms.  The second is called Wisdom and is based on the book of Proverbs.  We're asking people from around the country to take one of these 4x6" panels and illustrate one biblical proverb.

Let us know if we can mail you one, or more.

We need them back to us in about a month, so act quick!

We're going to display about 300, put them all up on our website, and hopefully print a book or catalog further down the road.

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photo: dinner at Ramsi's.  Joe is the tall, smiley one in dark blue.

Most people are shorter than me.  But Joe Johnson is not.  He's 6'5''.  He teaches at University of Missouri at Columbia.  Among other awards, he was a runner up for the Aperture Foundation Prize in 2008.  He was an apprenticing assistant for Abelardo Morrell for 3 years (one of my favorite art photographers).  He grew up in Kansas and went to school in San Francisco and New York.  He's been published in a bunch of places and has had fancy exhibits.  In short, he has the whole list of accomplishments I myself dreamed of having while I was studying photography at UofL.

I could have mentioned any of that this past Friday night when I introduced him before his artist talk, but I didn't.  Instead, without thinking really at all, I just stepped up to the mic and blurted out what was essentially a disclaimer about his words being only his own, and not necessarily reflecting the views of the venue or the church.  I had the thought to give that sort of disclaimer earlier in the week only because he was going to be talking about megachurches and if his opinions about megachurches came out I didn't want people to think that those were shared opinions with Sojourn.  Fair enough, but it's not cool to just give a disclaimer and not share a single fact about how awesome Joe's work is, or how swell of a guy he is, or anything.  Anything.

It wouldn't have been extra terrible except that somewhere in the process of giving this stupid introduction, I must have stepped on the power cord for the projector so that the projector needed to be plugged in and restarted, making an awkward introduction more awkward.  In the end though, Joe got up there and gave the best artist talk I think the 930 has ever had.

As soon as my little fiasco occurred, I was embarassed, but that night and the next morning my bafoonery was ringing in my head.  I'm such a moron.  I'm such a moron.  Why do I get to be the director of this awesome arts ministry if I can't even introduce an artist without disgracing him and unplugging his powerpoint?  These are the thoughts I was having.

Now, it's Tuesday and I'm not waking up with those thoughts ringing in my head.  The thought process that stopped the 'voices' went something like this:

Why do I cringe so bad at my own faultiness?  Do I really think I've ever deserved my position at the 930 and Sojourn?  No, of course not.  If I got everything right all the time, where would God's grace be found?  It's grace that anybody would let me get in front of a microphone.  It's grace that I've got the 'job' that I've got.  It's grace that I get to meet artists that are like heros to me.  It's grace that Joe didn't hold such a bad introduction against me.  It's grace that secures a future for me, not my own accomplishments. God's grace is sufficient and maybe it will grow me to not screw up in the same way next time.

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