Adversity, Challenge & Fertile Ground

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This morning I was ruminating about just how much God loves me.  I was thinking about how I love and appreciate Him.  It was a time of deeply personal praise which nearly brought me to tears.  Like everyone else in this sin-infested world, I have been through my share of the pooh-pile.  I’ve had my sufferings.  And while they’ve been less severe than those of many others, they’ve made their impact nonetheless.

Adversity & Inspiration

I got to thinking about how and why I so deeply appreciate God.  I was thinking about His presence through all I’ve endured so far.  And I became aware of the being borne out of those experiences.  Let me state it flatly; it is my view that we, God’s faith-driven creatives, would have absolutely no-thing to say or share with the world without our having to endure adversity and challenge.  In effect, it a gift.

It got me thinking that in this way, even Christ’s suffering is a living example for us of the unbelievable gifts we reap when we experience adversity, and yes, even real suffering.  In the same way that my love, admiration, and respect for God and His Son are heightened by His suffering, I see also that we, God’s creatives, incur a more substantial credibility in the eyes of those who engage our art.

Transformed & Empowered

For the faith-driven artist I see two gifts/blessings; 1) that we are transformed by the experience and have something meaningful to share. And 2) that our “audience” sees that we actually know something of which we “speak.”  So I was asking myself, What would I be without the pooh-pile of my past?  What level of compassion would I have, and to what depths would my faith go today?

Two years ago I came to an earth shattering revelation; If the one and only purpose of the tumultuous early life I have endured did nothing but help me to see my utter and desperate need for the love of God through Christ Jesus, it has all been worth it. Every beating I endured, every criticism, every rejection, every embarrassing, confusing, naive moment of my youth has all been seeds planted which are resulting in a fully surrendered faith in God.  Not only have those experiences transformed in light of the love and salvation of God through Christ, but it can all be harvested in my art today.  From the pooh of adversity comes a rich, meaning-filled art-practice.

Am I making sense?  The forge hammer of difficulty has not only driven out the dross, but has gifted me with something worth saying to others through my art.  I have something to share, not the least of which is that God does indeed walk with us right the way through our sufferings.  He knows suffering and so can be there with us and for us.

God’s Creative Voice

Likewise every painting, every novel, poem, or play, every sculpture, dance, or song are how we, God’s chosen creative voice, are able to communicate the relevance, reality, and presence of His love for us all.  And most of us are speaking from the reality of personal experience.  Personal experience carries with it an intimate knowledge of what it’s really like to suffer, which makes the meaning we share through our art all that more powerful.

So, while I have absolutely no desire to experience what I have, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  The pooh of life is being used as fertilizer in the garden of my life, and God and I are harvesting a bounty of rich meaning-filled creativity to share with the world.

It’s Not About Me

When I began my art studies way back in the early 70′s, it was all about me; my success, my career, my creations.  I was in film school then and wanted to be the next Steven Spielberg or George Lucas.  I wanted both fame and fortune; a wall filled with Academy Awards, American Film Institute trophies, and awards from the likes of Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals.

Just before I turned 18, my Maternal Grandmother, my Guardian and last “parent”, died leaving me, my brother and, our sister on our own to fend for ourselves.  This and the trials, tribulations, broken dreams, and broken lives of former generations in my family brought me to make a vow; I was going to become a multimillionaire so money would never be an issue in my life, and I was going to be famous so that someone in my family would finally accomplish something.

That was some 40-years ago.  Today God has relieved me of that arrogant burden.  I no longer pursue a career in either film or theatre (not that either discipline is bad in any way), but I am no longer center stage.  Today my art involves me only in the making of meaning (Art: Fearfully & Wonderfully Made). Once a work is made, it has been born, and I release it into the world.  I let it go, the way a wise parent finally removes their hands from the lives of their children.  The work, like a child, must be released to become whatever it will in the hearts and minds of the viewers.

In that context I am no longer present, except perhaps spiritually.  I’d like to think that there’s something of me in every piece I create, and that there’s a connection with those who engage the work.  But in my physical absence, God and His Spirit can emerge and become present in the relationship the work has with the viewer(s).  I praise God for leading me this place of getting this sorted out – It’s not about me, but in all ways about Him. Even if the work isn’t particularly Biblical or religious, I am always hopeful that somehow He is evident.

It seems to me that we faith-driven artists are rather like John the Baptist proclaiming, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” I see art – in all its myriad forms; dance, ceramics, theatre, painting, film, sculpture, literature, mixed media – made by faith-driven artists as both pointing to and inviting people to the Cross of Christ.  Whether subtle, or overt, obvious or not, I see the works of God’s Creatives as glorifying Him as He is somehow present in the work and His messages are communicated.

John declared, “He must increase; I must decrease.” (Jhn3:30)  And so it is with me in all of the art I make; hopefully there is both a declaration of and an invitation to approach the Throne of Grace.

I’d Like to Think About Hand-Made

I’d like to think that as the things I make enter and live in someone’s life in some way our spirit’s connect.  I’d like to think that someday when I’m gone the objects of art and craft which I’ve fashioned will retain that connection, whatever it is.

I’d like to think that the object(s) itself, having been fashioned by a human-being, rather than a machine, carries something of me with it into the life of the the person who possesses it.  I’d like to think that they will always value the nuances of the object(s), the so-called imperfections, seeing them for what they are; marks of the maker.

When I handle something handmade, whether from past generations, or from an art studio or gallery, I am holding an object which has been thoughtfully made.  A person did far more than merely design this object.  They also fashioned it.  They gathered their materials and guided them into an object of meaning.  I enjoy the impressions of the maker; their marks.  In fact I look for them; brush strokes, penstrokes, tool marks, hand impressions.  I like to imagine them gathering their materials, and perhaps without much thought, through years of experience, guiding an object of meaning into being.

I’d like to think that, in some way, I’ve made some kind of precious impression through the object(s) I create; to have transmitted something in common with the owner(s). I’d like to think that my work is valued, not only for the sustainable, up-cycled aspect of my art practice, but that it is seen as something which interprets, translates, and communicates meaning, either mine or theirs.

Certainly I want to make a good/decent living at my art practice.  But I am far less interested in fame or fortune, and far more interested in leaving behind a substantial body of work which continues to transmit meaning.  With the singular, personal objects I’m privileged to make, I’d like to think that the connection between our spirits, my patrons and mine, will be both valued and eternal, perhaps for generations to come.

FAITH Driven / Not CHRISTIAN Artist

It’s a discussion (I don’t waste my time in debate or argument) that’s literally as old as the hills.  When we live as Disciples of Christ, what does that really look like?  In my art-making, I’m searching for and realizing that context whenever I work to make meaning – art.

FAITH is what powers my art-making.  FAITH is what I need to choose a color, blindly create a texture, or sketch an image that’s a mere blur in my mind when I’m awakened in the middle of the night with an “idea”.  FAITH drives the confidence engine I need to keep making art even when I’m experiencing a lag in self-confidence.  FAITH in God’s design of me and my life; in His divine plan for the good work He has begun in me and which He will see to completion.  FAITH propels me forward even when I see no way to move.  FAITH says that my art is from God for this world.  FAITH says, “I need you to create, to communicate My messages to people who need to “listen”.  FAITH says not to worry about whether it will “work”, but to simply do my very best.

Here’s an awesome “poem” that clearly speaks to this tough-love truth.  May I suggest you REPLAY this piece several times.  Every word in this poem speaks volumes of truth to us all.

Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus | YouTube | Jeff Bethke/bball1989

MERE RELIGION is nothing more than dried up, over-regulated, rituals and rules which have absolutely no meaning.  MERE RELIGION actually keeps us from God; it gets in the way.  MERE RELIGION is what Jesus railed against simply because it stood between God and His people. MERE RELIGION is a dead lifestyle of dead works. MERE RELIGION is dead, closed, and restrictive.  MERE RELIGION is precisely what Martin Luther questioned when he nailed his 95 Theses on the front door of the church.

FAITH however is a living, life-giving, breathing, life-changing relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ.  FAITH is taking risks, making mistakes, and believing in what cannot be seen.  FAITH is alive.  FAITH is as tough as our willingness to submit to God the Father and follow Him wherever, whenever.  FAITH is open, organic, relational, living, dynamic, and powerful.

CHOICE is within everyone’s grasp because Christ’s death & resurrection makes that possible.  I choose FAITH over MERE RELIGION any day.  My life, my art, my marriage are all driven by, nourished by and nurtured by my walk in FAITH.

YOUR TURN;

What does FAITH-driven art-making look like for you?  How does your FAITH in God, through Christ, empower, nurture, nourish, and make works of meaning?

Planning: Overrated!

I’ll show my hand here at the outset; I’m not against planning.  I’m against my former anal-retentive, hyper-controlling methods of getting creative things done.  Can you imagine how much of my own art-making I’ve stifled simply because I’ve “planned” what I’m going to make down to the n-th degree?

At the gallery (ArtFx) last Friday evening I got to speak with people about my work.  Many were engaged by the power of the colors.  Others were taken by the impression of movement.  Some of them moved in closer and mentally dissected the work wondering how it was made.

“How’d you do this?,” they’d ask.  Do you sit down and plan what you’re going to do?”

“No,” I’d tell them. “It’s all an act of faith.  I trust my instincts and feel my way forward not knowing what I’m going to get.”

That’s a really big change for me in the last few years because it hasn’t always been like this.  Up until recently I’d plan everything trusting entirely in the plan and the planning process itself.  What I was doing was completely left-braining a right-brain process.  I was rationalizing, naming, labeling, and categorizing the work, all the while thinking that something creative would emerge from the process.  I was a really tight person.  You would not have wanted to spend much time around me.  Heck, I didn’t even like being around me back then.

For me it was a control issue.  Brought about by the way I was raised, my hot-button was having control of my life taken from me.  How I was raised; who I had become through that horrid process had imposed itself upon my art-making.  It was killing me.

What I’ve recently discovered in the growth out of that tight, closed thinking is another dimension to the convergence of faith and art.  It’s one thing to be a faith-driven artist; making art in the company of the Lord.  It’s another to believe not only in God the Father through His Son, Jesus, but to believe in the creative process from within that milieu.

In the nourishing and nurturing environment of faith in God, I am asked to trust, to surrender, and to really believe in what I do not yet see on the panel.  I am asked to simply choose colors, forms, and movement as He and I “dance” in the studio.  And, I say it again, every single time I open the gluing press the next morning, it’s all-ways a surprise.  I am always amazed at what was made even though I was present for every moment of the making.

I don’t plan anymore.  These days I simply gather, ruminate, and respond.  My blood pressure is almost ten-points lower.  My joy is high and growing daily.  And my faith and confidence in this additional convergence of faith and art is an endless exploration of discovery.

In the end that’s what I told folks at the gallery about the art I make; that it’s all-ways an act of faith, and a process of discovery.  And you know, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

In the studio, what does faith look like for you?  Where do you find convergences of faith & art?  How does that work for you and your own art practice?

2012: Rampin’ It Up!

This theme of releasing the past, turning around and facing the future has been something the Lord and I’ve been dealing with for a while now.  The biggest gift I’ve been given this time round is that in order to move on it’s important to simply make a new tomorrow.  It’s about not looking back, not making repairs, and not re-working what’s already been lived and gone.  It all reminded me of the song Don’t Stop, by Fleetwood Mac.

A number of years ago, during a rehearsal break, a dear theatre friend came up to me and the Music Director, and feeling tremendous release from former criticisms, she just hugged us.  With tears in her eyes she said, “I feel like I’ve come home here.”  She’d been carrying around the burden of opposition and rejection of her art for a long time.  She had nearly given it all up until she auditioned for us.  That first season she played major roles in, I think, three of the four productions we did.

Later on returning the gift she introducing me to Julia Cameron and The Artists’ Way.  In those pages, which I’ve long since dog-eared, annotated, and highlighted, I found another level of my own release from the burden of opposition and criticism.  It lead me to both art-journaling as a faith practice, and to “artist dates” for creative nurture.

It is art-journaling which now has become my devotional time with God.  The writing is spontaneous, prayerful, even meditative.  I simply write what He and I are working through at the moment.  These days I fill my journals with praise, gratitude, challenges, celebrations, in both imagery and words.  It has become the richest source of inspiration I have for the artworks I’m making.

This year, I’m not looking back.  God has brought me to this place of love and safety and I no longer need to turn around in regret wanting to “fix” something back there.  This year I am facing forward, ramping up the art practice and looking forward to a tremendous year of blessings.

For another perspective, from blogger, writer, actor, Jeff Berryman: Thriving and the Now Factor.

Here’s to a new year; for you may it be filled with God’s richest blessings of abundance and deep, creative growth.  And do me a favor, won’t you?  Let me know how you’re doing, what you’re overcoming, and how you’re growing through it all.

Being & Becoming an Artist

I’ve been hovering around several blogs commenting on 1) being an artist, and 2) becoming an artist.  I need to begin here with my own exploration of being/becoming by stating, that so far the best handles (definitions) I’ve arrived at for what art is, and what an artist is are these; ART is highly-skilled creative expression, and ARTISTS are persons who must make art.

I don’t mean to sound all uppity and intellectual. It’s just that I’m struggling to find my own way.   It seems to me being/becoming is a huge aspect of what art and art-making’s all about; discovery and self-discovery.

ART: Highly Skilled Creative Expression

As I’ve written here before about Contemporary Art, there’s very little about it that is either “highly skilled”, nor “creative”, nor “expressive.”  And it’s certainly not for lack of training.  Most of those who participate in the contemporary art world have earned at least a BFA, and many more hold MFA’s.  So what I’m talking about has less to do with training, than well developed, well applied skills of creativity, excellence, and meaningful expression.

ARTIST: Must Make Art

I’ve worked with, talked with, commiserated with creative people at all stages of their creative careers.  One central discovery which has lead me to my own definition of what I call a “true artist” is the idea that a true artist must make art.  From Julia Cameron, through Madeleine L’Engle, to Eric Maisel, right into my own experiences and conversations; everywhere I turn some highly creative person is suffocating from a lack of opportunity to make their art.  I won’t bore you with my own story of this experience except to say that it was arduous.

Which brings me to the part about discovery and self-discovery; the art-making I do, and that I watch others make very often contains the adventures of discovery and self-discovery.  It seems to me that well applied discovery, implies growth, and with growth comes heightened abilities; the development of talents, and better skills.

This is what I dislike about the oft re-quoted saying that, “Everyone’s an artist.”  I believe that everyone is creative, but certainly not that everyone is an artist.  There’s only a handful of people who experience the suffocating effects of being denied (or of denying themselves) the opportunity to pursue highly skilled creative expression.  As well, that same handful are driven to make meaning; to interpret, translate, and communicate.

Being

As for “being” an artist, well to my mind, there must be a willingness to pay the price of discovering and developing one’s skills and talents.  I’m one of those artists who struggles with my creativity.  It doesn’t come to me as it did to either Mozart, or Conan Doyle, already finished in their heads.  No, I’m like so many others I encounter; we have to search, and experiment, and make wonderful mistakes, and feel our way toward the finished work.  It’s a journey akin to chopping my way through a jungle of fears and excuses, the judgements and opinions of others, and my own self-doubts to uncover something of creative meaning.  It’s a process I’ve discovered about myself, and have come to embrace it.

I’ve also found that “being” an artist is a life-choice; a 24/7 openess to input, ideas, and inspiration.  It’s often a perception of the world others usually find odd, different, and even peculiar.  It’s a willingness to grapple with this stuff and figure out a way to live with it, to get it out in some kind of creative manifestation, and share it with others.

Becoming

Becoming an artist; well to my mind, that’s a life-long pursuit.  It’s a choice to get into the trenches and commit to whatever it takes.  I remember popping out of college, degree in hand, feeling so finished and complete.  Like my peers I was ready to make my mark in the world.  Because school was behind me I figured that I had learned just about all I needed in order to get out there and make my art.  Are you laughing yet?

In the daily process of art-making, I quickly learned that what I left school with was merely an ability more akin toward imitation than to originality.  Little did I know that the wondrous journey of discovery had only begun.   And I think most artists begin this way.  I see it in young artists of all media all the time; they begin with what little they know, and that’s usually only what they’ve studied in school.  I was no different.

It has taken years, decades even, to be willing to make this mistake ridden, experiment laden journey to find out who and what I am, and then to see my own creative voice emerge from all of that experience.  And on it goes, the daily joy of discovery, and development; of growth in self-awareness and abilities.

Some additional perspectives and insights;

Making Meaning | The Cult of Genius | Sarah Jane Gray

jeffberryman | Don’t Forget What You’re Doing | Jeff Berrymen

Stone Works | The Need to Pay Attention | Luci Shaw

Would love to hear your views and experiences;

How do you realize the idea of “being an artist?”  What does that mean to you?  How do you pursue “becoming” in your art-practice?  As it pertains to your art-practice, what does “being” and “becoming” mean to you?

Creative Journeys: A Path of Discovery

As I look forward from the current showing I have up to what’s next for my work, I am reminded of the creative journey I’m on, and how I’ve come to this place.

A lot of artists I read about talk of how they’re engaged in “process,” or how the materials drive the “making.”  While I agree with both of these motivations, mine is much more about the discoveries which emerge throughout the journey of making.  As long as I’m willing to get up, get into the ArtRoom, and become open to the possibilities, I am taken on a journey of, “What about this?  What if we added these?  How about this?  What’s that do for it?”

I find it useful to revisit my creative journey simply because it causes me to make course corrections; to realize the fertile place from whence came my current work; to appreciate the fact that I’m not stagnate, but am developing new elements to the work I’m making.  I revisit the journey, less to justify what I’m making than to reground my choices.  It’s a lot like checking and rechecking the road map along the way.

What’s most fascinating to me about checking where I’m at and where I’ve come from are the serendipities along the way.  Art, when it’s merely nurtured and not mauled into submission, has a tendency to take me places I’ve never imagined.  These discoveries are priceless gifts because I’ve chosen to live in a creatively nourishing and nurturing place.

The creative garden doesn’t grow unless it’s got lots of chicken pooh and compost all thoroughly turned in to the soil.  The garden needs seed, sun, water, and frequent attention, and without forcing it into being, the fruits of my labors emerge.  They timidly break the ground seeking the light of life.  They begin simply, undeveloped, and hungry for water, air, and the light of day.  Like a new fruit tree, these new works need pruning and gentle guidance to encourage them to produce the best fruit.

Last Friday night while at the ArtFx Gallery responding to questions, one young lady asked me if I know what I’m going to be doing next.  I told her that I’m incredibly excited because I have a sense of the next steps out ahead of me, and I can’t wait to get back into the ArtRoom and begin working on them.  Through my Morning Pages (Julia Cameron), art journal, and sketchbook, I always have something creative in development.

The future – the near future – is filled with many possibilities waiting to be explored.  It is in those explorations that I will find new works, new processes, and new bodies of work.

Are you on a creative journey?  Is it something you review from time to time?  How do you feel your way forward creatively?  Creatively, what are you nurtured and nourished by?

Have Courage.  Don’t think too much.  Live and create in Faith.

After the Party

You know how it is when you’ve hosted a really good party.  There’s bits and pieces of stuff lying all around; shreds of streamers, dirty dishes, empty glasses.  It’s the stuff of friends and family having been there.  It all looks just as if they have simply had fun, said “Goodbye,” and walked away.  Their presence and laughter almost hangs in the air.

That’s what the ArtRoom looks looks this morning; a brush rests in the water pot, the hair-dryer sits on the worktable, a press block has not been put away yet.  It’s a scene of something having just happened.  It bumps the heart for a moment.  My usual reaction to the morning after a party is to savor the memory; to hear our guest’s voices again; to capture the fleeting scent of the moment.  In the end, a party becomes an ethereal memory in just a heartbeat.

The really great thing about art-making is that it’s up to me to start another “party.”  It’s my job to straighten up the ArtRoom a bit and get back to making more artworks, because in art-making, the fun never stops.

At the ArtFx Studio Gallery, where I currently have a show on view, I’m available on the evening of the First Friday ArtWalk there in Fremont.  I get to answer people’s many fascinating questions and enjoy their reactions to the body of work on display.  I love listening to them because I learn a lot about their perceptions to the work.  I get to share in their own personal revelations as they engage the many pieces hanging on the wall.  And in this case, since these works deal with the art of quilts, I’m gifted with their stories about quilts; everything from how they make their own quilts, to their recollections of quilts they own.  It’s priceless.

But there’s still the morning after the party.  The ArtRoom’s empty.  There’s no new work on the tables waiting for the next steps of making, and there’s no regret, remorse, or after-party let down.  I simple get to make more.  I get to begin at the beginning and make more paperstock, and create more collage quilt blocks, and group them into new and exciting pieces of new artworks.

What happens next is entirely up to me.  The Gallery Reception was fun, and there’s another just a month away, and I’ve moved on to the next generation in my work.  But there’s little time to sit and savor what’s done and gone.  Right now it’s time to get back to work creating art that engages conversation, contemplation, and brings a little beauty into people’s lives.

Happy Creativity!

Featured Artist at ArtFx Studio Gallery – Nov 03 through Jan 29

I have been given a great opportunity and am the Featured Artist at the ArtFx Studio Gallery in the Fremont District of Seattle.  The show will run from November 3 through January 29 where my Collage Quilt Block artworks will be on display and for sale.

There will be an Artist’s Reception on Nov. 4 from 6-9pm.  This opening coincides with the Fremont First Friday Art Walk, so there will be loads of art to see and open galleries to walk through.

If you’re in town, I’d love to see you at the reception.

These Collage Quilt Blocks are my own abstract reinterpretation of that timeless artform, quilting.  I’ve long been enamoured with both the design and storytelling qualities of traditional quilts.  And at a major Quilt Show in Portland, Oregon, I was blown away by the awesome imagination of those who produce art quilts.  It’s as if they’re painting in cloth & fibre.

Having spent time around quilts, pouring through coffee-table quilt books, and just taking in this incredibly beautiful artform, I found myself seeing the quilt as collage.  My vision had changed and I no longer saw merely beautiful blankets, but fabric assemblages of color and texture.  By following my creative nose, I found myself creating these visually powerful blocks.  They’re based on traditional forms which I have researched and chosen specifically for their movement and energy.

I use upcycled materials, hand-painting my paperstocks, and accepting gifts of surplus latex paint and masonite panels.  I find working in latex pigments to be every bit as agile as both watercolors and acrylics.  I can do almost anything with these paints, and they end up on walls as art instead of in landfills somewhere.  To my mind these works are a win-win.

I work with the large sheets of textured paper just as one would fabric.  I literally crop and cut each individual piece, working with the visual force of motion and energy found in the paperstocks.  When it all comes together, it’s always a surprise.  I love getting into the studio in the morning and opening up the stack press to see the dried, pressed, finished piece.

I hope to meet you at the reception, but if you can’t make that, this work will be on display for the entire holiday season.  Stop by and tell ‘em Lew sent you!

Happy creativity!