"You Are Not Your Gift": A Review

I recently featured singer, songwriter, author, and teacher, Michael Card. Last week, I came across this review by Aaron Lee at CreateLeVoyage.com of Card's talk at The El-Shaddai Worship Conference in Singapore last month. I found the points about artists, identity, and self-doubt to be interesting. See what you think.

Here's a taste:

The artist necessarily puts so much of himself into his creative work that his sense of self cannot be separated from his identity as an artist. The line between the artist and what he does is a fine one at best, and for so many of us, it often feels like there is no line. For Christians in the creative field, artistic struggles can be even more titanic because, in this field of human endeavor, our counter-culture philosophy and efforts are even more marginalised.

Read the rest of the article here.

On Poetic Language

Here's something I thought might interest you. The post, Deep Calls to Deep: Poetic Language, is written by Catherine Larson of the Point, the blog of BreakPoint Ministries. Here's a snippet:

It's difficult for me to explain how much poetry revives my soul. Sometimes I feel like we are self-deceptive. We try to pretend that our hearts are much shallower than they really are--that life really is just about making it through the day, getting out the door on time, who wins the game, who makes us laugh, what we had for dinner. The frenetic pace that characterizes our lives keeps us distracted from the deep places that sometimes open up like yawning chasms in our souls. Slowing down can mean we have to face those depths--depths which frighten us because we don't know exactly what to do with them.

Read the rest here.

"What's New": G. Carol Bomer

Early on, when I started this blog, I featured visual artist G. Carol Bomer. Carol's work seeks to evoke both image and impression, the tangible world and the spiritual world. Her work has been called "a silent form of poetry." She views her work as "a form of play rejoicing before the face of God" (Rookmaaker). This is reflected in the name of her Asheville studio, SOLI DEO GLORIA STUDIO.

I decided to check in with her recently to see what she's up to now.

LeAnne: What's your latest project?

Carol: Much of my new work is more abstract and minimal. I am still using hints of mixed media and text.

My latest project is several books related to my artwork. Actually it started because my friend and published poet Suzanne Rhodes has inspired many of my paintings--such as her poems titled "Advent", "Sunday Service", and "Banding" (see the paintings on my website). Most recently, Suzanne's poems, "The Gardener" and "Faith" and "Noah Plants a Vineyard", inspired paintings you can see in my New Work gallery.

We are working on a book together right now. Plus my first art book, which includes two of her poems that have influenced my work, is The Paradox of Grace, available from Blurb.

In the past year I have been renting a warehouse studio in the River District of Asheville, where I have a lot more exposure to the public. There are two well advertised Studio Strolls in the spring and fall. I am a lot more involved in my city having this space. I also teach mixed media painting at this studio. The River District artists are having a group show this spring. This fall I have a show in Philadelphia at Whitestone Gallery as well as several local shows, one at Haywood Community College Gallery in Aug-Sept.

What I continue to learn is that God is good and that He provides. He always gives me opportunities for His great name and for His glory. Jehovah Jireh!

Quotes on Art and Creativity

Enjoy, and may you be inspired.


"Art is the signature of man" - J. K. Chesterton

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." --Scott Adams

"Art is collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better."--Andre Gide

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." --Pablo Picasso

"There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish." -- Warren G. Bennis

"What's New": Randall Flinn, Ad Deum Dance

Every so often, I'm going to be checking back in with artists I've already featured to see what is new with them. Last year, I interviewed Randall Flinn of Ad Deum Dance Company. Randall has been carrying the message of the arts to the glory of God with excellence and servitude for over twenty five years. He is a professional dancer/choreographer, directing the premier Christian contemporary/modern dance company in the USA called Ad Deum Dance Company. He also serves on the faculty for Houston Ballet Academy and Houston Metropolitan Dance Company.

LeAnne: What is new with Ad Deum Dance Company?

Randall: We are quite busy preparing for several spring dance performances including our tour to NY to perform for the exciting Project Dance Times Square outreach. We are also working on a piece called The Long Journey Home created by Hope Boykin (another Believer-Artist) from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. We will perform this work in conjunction with the Ailey company's end of March performance in Houston, Texas. In the midst of all this, we are also busy preparing for both our spring dance intensive this week (March 16-20th) and our summer dance intensive (Aug. 2-7th) which bring dancers to us from across the globe for a week of integration of professional dance and matters of faith in Christ and spiritual growth.

I stand amazed looking over my own journey as a Believer-Artist/Dancer for 28 years now. The times have truly changed and I believe for the better. Twenty eight years ago it was like finding a needle in a haystack to locate professional dancers that were committed to their Christian faith. Well, we have come a long way from the simplicity of "praise dancing" in the safety of the local churches that would allow it. Now God's dancers are scattered around the world and yet miraculously discovering one another and uniting for visions far greater than themselves. These dancers that love God are being sent out not just into the church or missions but into the world to shine as lights and to be the salt. These are the Daniels in Babylon and Esthers in Persia and they will possess the land with God's grace and favor. I only pray that the Body and the Church will remember them in prayer and support their works and their vocational callings.

Must-Read Books about Art

Byron Borger of Hearts and Minds Books writes excellent book reviews. You've got to check out this collection of his reviews of books about art and see if there are any you have missed along the way. I found a few that are new to me and am going to place an order with Hearts and Minds. Here's a little about them from the website:

Welcome to a bookstore which attempts to create a new space for serious, reflective readers. Unabashedly Christian, we are often told that we are different than most religious bookstores. Our name, we trust, gives a good first clue to what we are about.

What distinguishes us most is our enthusiasm for the development of a uniquely Christian worldview where Christ’s Lordship is honored and lived out in relevant ways in the midst of our highly secularized, post-modern culture. We offer quality books for the sake of faithful Christian living. We serve business folk, scientists, artists, college students, moms, dads (and kids!), pastors, poets and politicos. We believe Biblical faith leads to "thinking Christianly" about every area of life.

Sounds perfect to me!

"How I Work": Poet Jean Janzen

I interviewed Jean Janzen last year and wanted to find out more about how she works. Jean is a poet living in Fresno, California, who has taught at Fresno Pacific University and Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. She is the author of six poetry collections, the most recent one entitled Paper House (Good Books), and a book of essays on writing entitled Elements of Faithful Writing (Pandora Press). Her work has been included in numerous anthologies and many journals, including Poetry, Gettysburg Review, Christian Century, and Image. Janzen received an NEA grant and other awards. She also has written hymn texts which have appeared in various hymnals, and some of her poems have been set to music, including an oratorio written by Alice Parker. She was interviewed in Stonework, an online magazine from Houghton College, where some of her poems have also appeared. Her poems have also appeared in New Pantagruel.

LeAnne: Jean, I'm fascinated by artists' creative processes. What is yours like?

Jean: The first necessity for me is to be open, a stance I try to keep as I go through my day. To begin writing I need to sit down, to be quiet and open, to receive whatever is willing to rise from the deeper places, the far places. In that position I sense the swirl of chaos--so much milling around from memory, observation and reading. From that disorder I hope to be given a beginning, an image, or an event. Sometimes such gifts arise from the stream of writing in which I have been immersed in recent weeks or months.

The next move often requires my willingness to move into unknown territory, a kind of wilderness. Questions arise for which I won't have answers, but perhaps an understanding of the question will enlarge. I am participating with God in the ongoing creativity of life.

Overarching all is the necessity of humility, the knowledge that I may not discover or be given anything, and that my efforts may not become art. With this position I am willing to start writing a rough draft, short lines that move down, that turn and turn again. Something concrete, a real connectedness to the senses is required. Abstractions float away, do not connect. Will it lead to something? I don't know. If I know the outcome, the poem will not be art. The joy of discovery comes when the poem assumes a direction of its own.

A developing poem is making some order out of chaos. It is finding a shape, a form,in which the wild can be held. It can become a reservoir for grief or for joy, or both. Even then, the necessity of revising and revising again is paramount, for precision and for beauty. I test the meter and the line-breaks. Are they appropriate to this poem? I listen for the music of rhyme and alliteration. I let the poem rest for days, weeks, and sometimes a year and look again. Does it need more revision? This is not about self-expression; it is about giving faithful witness to the grace which is present in the created order, and sometimes finding it.

LM: What is your latest project?

JJ: Currently I am working on memoir essays as well as new poems. My latest book PAPER HOUSE was released in October 2008 by Good Books, Intercourse, PA.

Today is the conclusion of my "How I Work" feature on Corrie Eddleman, who I interviewed last May. Corrie Eddleman is Assistant Professor of Acting at North Greenville University. She holds a BS in Theatre and Speech Communication from Hannibal LaGrange College and an MFA degree in Acting from Illinois State University. Corrie will begin her training as a Certified Alexander Teacher this summer and hopes to complete the program in 2012. A member of Actor’s Equity since 1999, she has worked professionally in New York, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois and Texas. Most recently she was seen as Kate in Taming of the Shrew and Tamora in Titus Andronicus at The Illinois Shakespeare Festival in 2008. Corrie has also had the privilege to study acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford, England), The National Theatre Institute and the Chautauqua Theatre Conservatory. In addition to teaching, acting and directing on campus she directs the Act Two traveling Drama Ministry Team. She is married to Matthew, a hospice chaplain with Spartanburg Regional.


LeAnne: What are you working on currently?

Corrie: Currently I am in the throws of directing The Miracle Worker at North Greenville University. The play tells the historical story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. It is a story about rising above the difficult circumstances we encounter in our life. It is a story about strength, endurance, hope and redemption. The Christian surely can relate his/her life to Helen Keller’s struggle. As Christians we used to be moving about this earth blind, deaf, and ignorant of an amazing world of light and possibilities. Once we said “yes” to our Redeemer and Savior, we could not imagine living a life back in that darkness.

I am very excited about this production. We have a great cast who all are ready to take on this challenge. As a director, I will be applying Viewpoints, a technique developed by Tina Landau and Anne Bogart. Viewpoints helps develop a common vocabulary between director and actor as well as helps the actors create ensemble. My goal is to help the actors let go of performance anxiety so that their world on stage becomes second nature to them.

"How I Work": Corrie Eddleman

This week, I'm starting another new feature called "How I Work." I'm fascinated by how artists approach their work and would like to learn more so I've asked some of the people I've interviewed to talk about their creative process.

First up is Corrie Eddleman, who I interviewed last May. Corrie Eddleman is Assistant Professor of Acting at North Greenville University. She holds a BS in Theatre and Speech Communication from Hannibal LaGrange College and an MFA degree in Acting from Illinois State University. Corrie will begin her training as a Certified Alexander Teacher this summer and hopes to complete the program in 2012. A member of Actor’s Equity since 1999, she has worked professionally in New York, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois and Texas. Most recently she was seen as Kate in Taming of the Shrew and Tamora in Titus Andronicus at The Illinois Shakespeare Festival in 2008. Corrie has also had the privilege to study acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford, England), The National Theatre Institute and the Chautauqua Theatre Conservatory. In addition to teaching, acting and directing on campus she directs the Act Two traveling Drama Ministry Team. She is married to Matthew, a hospice chaplain with Spartanburg Regional.


LeAnne: Describe your creative process. How do you work?

Corrie: I always start at the beginning… with the script. First I read for pleasure and to comprehend the story line. Then I will read through the script multiple times, looking for how my character helps move the plot forward, acquiring character clues, and acquiring clues about the world of the play.

Throughout these multiple readings I will also begin my research. I look up the meaning of words, research costumes, music, art, political climate… anything that might be helpful for me to visualize a fully developed world. After I feel like I have a grasp on the world of the play, then I will start digging into the details of my character.

From the character clues, left to me by the playwright, I will play around physically and vocally. How does my character hold herself? How does my character speak? How does my character laugh? Etcetera, Etcetera. This exploration is the most exciting part of the process for me. This is the time I turn off my edit button and just say “yes” to my instinct. I must turn off my head and allow the character to show herself through my movement and through my voice.

I will then walk myself through the five senses. I decide what my character’s favorite sight, sound, smell, touch & taste is and I keep those items in my dressing room for inspiration. Being a visual person, I have this need to put up inspirational pictures of the world of the play and my character around my make-up station.

Lastly and most importantly, I listen to my scene partners. I could develop a very intriguing character but if she doesn’t listen and genuinely interact with her world then all of my work would be in vain and I would have failed the playwright.

This whole process is my ideal way of working, but very rarely do all of these elements fit into a nice neat box. I have to allow flexibility in my creative process so that I stay open to what the Director wants, what the play is calling for, what my cast mates are calling for, and of course the ever practical time restraints. I’m always open and looking for new ways to approach a character.