Taking a Break

After 300 posts, and almost 3 years, I'm taking a break from this blog. I am pursuing other interests this year, including the CS Lewis Fellows Program, as I've mentioned recently. The Fellows Program is a one-year intensive study program that will allow me to read books and articles by great Christian thinkers, to meet with and discuss the readings with other fellows and mentors, to meditate on and memorize related scripture, and to write about what I'm learning. I've already started the reading and have learned so much already. It's going to be quite a year.

I plan to continue writing my other blog, Beauty and the Beholder, about the beauty around us. I post on Wednesdays and often discuss art as well as creation. Check it out if you haven't already.

I'll also continue writing occasional articles, essays, and devotionals and whatever else God leads me to.

I've enjoyed this blog so much and have met many fascinating people through it. Thank you for reading. Thank you, also, to all the artists, art experts and enthusiasts I've interviewed through the years. Artists, stay true to your gift and your faith. And God's blessings on you all.

In the Name of the Greatest Artist of all,
LeAnne

Christian Wiman: Image's Artist of the Month

Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry, poet and essayist, is Image's Artist of the Month for July. Wiman was raised in a conservative Baptist home but his faith "fell away", he says, in college. He felt its absence, though, and in the past few years has returned to his faith. Read his essay, God's Truth is Life, in Image's 60th issue.

Luci Shaw's Breath for the Bones

I'm reading so many fascinating books this summer--some for the CS Lewis Fellows program and some about creativity and faith. Right now I'm just on chapter two of Luci Shaw's Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination, and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith and I have already underlined much of the book. Here are a few favorite passages from the intro and chapter one:

"The artist, then, becomes something of a prophet: the seer, the mouthpiece. The role of the artist is to call to attention."

"The artists--the prophets too--are called to this role: presenting pictures and models, words, and visions. They have a special calling--to recognize God's creating hand, God's storied art, God's order."

"There is another calling for the artist, and that is one of linking earth to heaven, pointing the human to the divine, finding the connections."

"In art and creativity, we make visible to others the beauty and meaning God has first pictured, or introduced, into our imaginations. In that sense we may each think of ourselves as a small extension of the creative mind of God."

"How I Work": Beverly Key, Visual Artist

Today my mind is on my friend, visual artist Beverly Key, who I enjoyed coffee with this morning. This post is from my original interview with her two years ago when she talked about how she works and gave some advice to young artists.

LeAnne: What are your favorite forms or methods of painting?

Beverly: Recently 
I've begun to do large abstract oils, and for many
 years now I have been painting large abstact 
landscapes on paper with watercolor, where I pour
 paint through paper filters using dried beans and peas 
and string for design elements.  I also do collage.

LM: When did you know you wanted to paint?

BK: When I was in first
 grade, I tried to sneak a box of crayons into the 
grocery cart. As I was growing up I always thought of
myself as an artist. I was one of the ones in school
 who was always doing the bulletin boards for the 
teachers. Both my parents painted as a hobby so I grew 
up with the smell of oil and turpentine. I took some classes after school with a wonderful woman,
 Abbott Downing (of course, in south Alabama we called 
her,"Miss Abbott"). However, I graduated from college
 with a degree in special education, and thought that 
would be what I would do. I taught a few years, got
 married, had 2 boys and in 1986 we moved to Atlanta.
 At that time, my husband and I decided to try to have another child 
and I also took some art classes at the Atlanta
 College of Art. Since that time I have been painting
 professionally.    

LM: What advice do you have for young or new artists who are Christians?

BK: I would say "trust yourself". You are the 
only person who will see the world the way you see it.
 Take confidence in that and draw from your own
 experiences. Keep working some every day. Most work
 gets recognized because the artist just kept at it.

Arts Moments Yesterday

Hope you had a great July 4th celebration.

Yesterday was a full day for me. There were three points where the arts particularly touched me:

1. During the worship service at church, our back-up worship singer sang Watermark's "Captivate Us." It's a gorgeous, intimate song, and she sang it beautifully.

2. My family and I watched The Incredibles. The amount of Christian worldview and symbolism in that movie took me by surprise. We loved it.

3. I finished the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel about the German Occupation of one of the Channel Islands during World War II. The story was told entirely by letters--the kind that show up in a mailbox. I thoroughly enjoyed that book.

What arts moments have you enjoyed lately? Leave a comment and let me know.

Replay: Barry Morrow, Part 2: Excellence in Our Work

This week I'm replaying my interview with Barry Morrow last year. Today Barry has a few words for artists about excellence.

Hope you have a happy July 4th! God Bless America!

Replay: Barry Morrow: Art & The Extraordinary Goodness of God

A few weeks ago, I was accepted into the CS Lewis Fellows program through the CS Lewis Institute. Since Lewis is on my mind a lot these days, this week I'm doing a replay of an interview with a Lewis and culture expert, Barry Morrow. Enjoy!

Judith Couchman, Part 2: Writer, Art History Teacher, Speaker

Here's the conclusion of my interview with Judith Couchman. She has published more than 40 books, compilations, and Bible studies. Her books cover topics as diverse as art history, discovering your purpose, thriving in difficult times, shaping the soul, body image, flower gardening, and breadmaking. But whatever the topic, Judith leads readers to consider their own spiritual growth and formation in everyday life. In addition to her publishing career, Judith now teaches ancient, early Christian, Byzantine, and medieval art history courses as a part-time instructor for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Judith has worked as a full-time freelance writer, speaker, and writing coach for 15 years. During this time she created the Write the Vision Retreats, intensive weekend gatherings for female writers, and the Designing a Woman’s Life Seminar, a one- to two-day workshop to help women find their purpose and passion in life. She’s also spoken to professional and women’s groups around the country, and has served as a magazine teacher and consultant to nonprofit organizations overseas. In recent years she’s donated consulting time to Eastern European editors of Christian publications.

Before working as an author, Judith founded and served as editor-in-chief of Clarity, a national magazine for women. She’s held jobs as an editor, journalism teacher, communications director, and public relations practitioner. She’s also received national awards for her work in each of these positions, and for her books. Check out her website and blogs:

http://www.judithcouchman.com
http://www.judithcouchman.blogspot.com
http://www.startingover-judithcouchman.blogspot.com


LeAnne: What three things do you want your students to know when they leave your classroom?

Judith: First, because I teach online classes, I want students to know how to research and study on their own. These skills will serve them for a lifetime. Second, art is an expression of its culture and time period, so we need to understand the culture and era in which artists created it. Third, one era of art isn't "superior" to another. When we understand the context, we can appreciate its contribution to the world.

LeAnne: You're a speaker, too. Your seminar, "The Mystery of the Cross", based on your book by the same title, sounds intriguing. You talk about how early Christians honored the message and image of the cross in their art, worship, and lives. Can you tell me more about that?

Judith: I'll first say that I develop seminars based on some of my books. So currently I have about six seminars I offer to churches and organizations. The Mystery of the Cross seminar helps people understand the work of the Cross, how it transforms them, and influences their everyday lives. I use images and sensory experiences to enhance their understanding.

LeAnne: Is there anything you'd like to add about the topic of Christians and the arts?

Judith: Be yourself. Be true to your creative calling. Take in wisdom, but in the end, don't run your creative life based on what other people think. Pursue your passion. Listen to your soul. Your work will be authentic and meaningful, for you and your audience.

Judith Couchman: Writer, Art History Teacher, Speaker

Judith Couchman has published more than 40 books, compilations, and Bible studies. Her books cover topics as diverse as art history, discovering your purpose, thriving in difficult times, shaping the soul, body image, flower gardening, and breadmaking. But whatever the topic, Judith leads readers to consider their own spiritual growth and formation in everyday life. In addition to her publishing career, Judith now teaches ancient, early Christian, Byzantine, and medieval art history courses as a part-time instructor for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Judith has worked as a full-time freelance writer, speaker, and writing coach for 15 years. During this time she created the Write the Vision Retreats, intensive weekend gatherings for female writers, and the Designing a Woman’s Life Seminar, a one- to two-day workshop to help women find their purpose and passion in life. She’s also spoken to professional and women’s groups around the country, and has served as a magazine teacher and consultant to nonprofit organizations overseas. In recent years she’s donated consulting time to Eastern European editors of Christian publications.

Before working as an author, Judith founded and served as editor-in-chief of Clarity, a national magazine for women. She’s held jobs as an editor, journalism teacher, communications director, and public relations practitioner. She’s also received national awards for her work in each of these positions, and for her books. Check out her website and blogs:

http://www.judithcouchman.com
http://www.judithcouchman.blogspot.com
http://www.startingover-judithcouchman.blogspot.com



LeAnne: I came to know your writing through your book, Designing a Woman's Life. What draws you to writing?

Judith: From an early age I knew I wanted to be an author. In my sixth-grade journal I wrote, "I want to write a book." I think it's the only sentence I wrote in that journal, so I wasn't off to a good start! But I remember writing poems and stories in grade school and by high school I wrote for the school newspaper. I thought writing would be the coolest job in the world. I considered some other things, but always returned to a deeply embedded desire to write. I spent years teaching journalism and working as an editor, but I knew that eventually I'd write books. At the same time, those jobs prepared me for what I'm doing now. I learned to write by editing other people's work.

Saying I'm "drawn" to writing probably isn't strong enough. I'm compelled. I can't not write. Being an author is my main identity. It's hard to explain, but something about expressing myself through the written word deeply satisfies me. I also consider writing my calling. It's my ministry in the world; something I want to pursue the rest of my life.

LeAnne: What kind of topics do you write about?

Judith: I write nonfiction about a wide variety of topics, but primarily the work encourages readers to integrate faith into their everyday lives. But I don't think of myself as a how-to person--at least not these days. I like to use stories and memoir to create a common ground with readers and make them think. I don't like giving them "answers." I'm especially drawn to helping people pursue their purpose and passion in the world--to use their gifts and be who God created them to be. That's why I wrote Designing a Woman's Life and have taught seminars based on that book. I also write a blog called Starting Over, for people beginning again in any area of their lives. These days the publishing industry stresses author identity, so I've been thinking about this. I've recently learned that I can be an agent's nightmare because I'm interested in so many things. So after creating 40 books and compilations, I'm wrestling with how to define my brand or author identity.

LeAnne: You also teach art history. Why did you pursue a degree in art history? What draws you to it?

Judith: Even though my main identity is "author," I also love art. I think many creative people are interested in more than one artistic endeavor. Often they work in one main field, but dabble in others. I'm not a visual artist, but I've visited museums and gazed at art for years. Whenever I traveled, I found the nearby museums and spent hours walking the galleries. I wasn't formally trained, so my appreciation was from a gut level. I enjoyed or disliked something based on my feelings. That's not a wrong way to approach art, but I eventually wanted to understand what I observed. Even though I already had a master's degree in journalism, I began taking undergraduate courses in art history--one at a time--in the evenings. Then eventually I pursued another master's degree in art history through an online university. I juggled studying art history with writing. I studied Christian art from its inception through the Reformation. Eventually this led to teaching art history part time (online) for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. This combines nicely with my writing life.

I've also begun writing about art, combining my two interests together. I recently finished a book for InterVarsity Press called, The Mystery of the Cross. It's about the art, life, and worship of early Christians, based on images of the cross. The book can be described as "art meets spiritual transformation." Readers apply what they've learned to their spiritual lives today. Right now I'm writing The Art of Faith, a handbook about Christian art, for Paraclete Press. I particularly wanted to write about and teach early Christian art. When we explore the art, rituals, and culture of early and medieval Christians, we understand our spiritual roots. When I began studying early Christian art, I was shocked by how I didn't know about my heritage as a believer. The early church and its art was different than I'd envisioned it--more elemental and tied to the Roman culture than I'd thought.

More from Judith on Thursday.

Sound of Music in a Train Station

I came across this YouTube a couple of days ago and just had to pass it on. The video was made in the Antwerp, Belgium Central Train Station on March 23, 2009. At 08:00 am a recording of Julie Andrews singing 'Do, Re, Mi' begins to play on the public address system. As bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances. They created this stunt with just two rehearsals. It's so creative and such fun! I wish I had been there.

Coming soon: New feature!

Ruminate Magazine

Do you Ruminate? Check this out (from the website):

"RUMINATE is a quarterly magazine of short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, and visual art that resonate with the complexity and truth of the Christian faith. Each issue is a themed forum for literature and art that speaks to the existence of our daily lives while nudging us toward a greater hope. Because of this, we strive to publish quality work accounting for the grappling pleas, as well as the quiet assurances of an authentic faith. RUMINATE Magazine was created for every person who has paused over a good word, a real story, a perfect brushstroke— longing for the significance they point us toward. Please join us."

On the site you can get a taste of the current issue and glimpses of past issues. Kudos to Ruminate!

On Reactions to Art

Here's an excellent article written by artist Dayton Castleman called "Can Cy Twombly Be Trusted?". Thanks to my friend Byron Borger of Hearts & Minds Books for bringing it to my attention.

Sacred Harp Singing

I'm a Southern girl with gospel roots, but I've never been to a live performance of sacred harp singing. My knowledge of it is limited but my fascination is growing. If you've never heard of it, you'll want to check out these resources:

1. An article by Paul Harvey titled "Wondrous Love: The living tradition of Sacred Harp singing". Harvey writes about sacred harp singing and discusses two books that deal with it: Kiri Miller’s Traveling Home, an academic study, and Kathryn Easterburn’s A Sacred Feast: Reflections on Sacred Harp Singing and Dinner on the Ground, a collection of essays, reflections, and even recipes.

2.The documentary, “Awake My Soul.” (The website has a clip of the singing as well as a trailer. You can buy the soundtrack and the DVD on the site as well.) Here's the description:

"Awake, My Soul is a feature documentary that explores the history, music, and traditions of Sacred Harp singing, the oldest surviving American music. While often linked only to its history, (e.g. the songs were used in the recent historical films "Cold Mountain" and "Gangs of New York") this haunting music has survived over 200 years tucked away from sight in the rural deep south, where in old wooden country churches, devoted singers break open The Sacred Harp, a shape note hymnal first published in Georgia in 1844. These singers have inherited The Sacred Harp and its traditions from those who came before them and preserved these fierce yet beautiful songs, many of which are much older than the hymnal itself. And so they, like the early singers, begin each song by intoning syllables which are represented by each shaped note in their hymnal: fa, sol, la, and mi. To the casual observer, it is some foreign, unintelligible language, but to these Sacred Harp singers, it is the key that unlocks mysteries: songs of both beauty and sorrow, of life and of death, songs that cause feet to stomp and tears to flow, often at the same time. They are ancient sounds, which are at times disorienting to the modern ear, and yet they are sung with such passion and force that it becomes obvious that these songs are very much alive. Awake My Soul is a film that captures both the history and the vitality of a music that is utterly unlike any music most viewers are likely to have heard.”

Enjoy! And if you're a fan of sacred harp, leave a comment and let me know.

My Guest Post

I'm honored to be the guest blogger on CITA's (Christians in Theater Arts) blog for the month of June. My post is about some of my favorite moments in theater. Here's the link if you'd like to read it:

http://cita.org/site/?p=161

Summer Arts Conferences

School is out and summer is on my mind, so I thought I'd post a couple of summer arts conferences. If you know of any others, please leave a comment with links and contact information.

Two summer conferences sponsored byRedeemer Presbyterian Church in New York:

"This summer, the Redeemer's Arts Ministry will be presenting two Professional and Personal Development Conferences, to use this slower-moving time of the year to think more deeply about our callings, our careers, and our lives."

Redeemer's new professional development series for artists is designed to help artists think through their careers from a Christian perspective, identify their "calling," and approach their careers with information, integrity, and vigor.

Professional Development Workshop
Friday, June 26 - 7:00-9:30pm
Saturday, June 27 - 10:00am-4:00pm
Redeemer offices (1359 Broadway Suite 400)

The Healthy Artist
Friday, July 17 - 7:00pm-9:30pm
Saturday, July 18 - 10:00am-4:00pm
Redeemer offices (1359 Broadway Suite 400)

Questions? Contact Luann Jennings at luann@redeemer.com or (212) 808-4460 x1343.


Another conference is Karitos

Karitos 2009
"He Must Increase"
July 16-18
Living Waters Church
Bolingbrook, IL

"The mission of Karitos is to provide Biblically-based artistic and technical growth experiences to Christian artists." These tracks are offered: Master Classes, Dance/Mime, Literary Arts, Music Biz Track, Theatre, Visual Arts, Worship. Something for everyone!

More new features coming soon!

The Beauty Around You

I have another blog called Beauty and the Beholder. I thought yesterday's post on that blog would be a good exercise here as well. Check it out, and leave a comment about your favorite things of beauty.

Coming soon: more features

Happy Memorial Day

On this holiday and every day of the year, I am grateful for this country. And I'm grateful for the many people who sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we have. What a tremendous gift!

Quotations

I found these quotations in Leonard Sweet's Soul Salsa. I like them and thought I'd pass them along.

“A true artist always puts something of his time in his art, and also his soul.” French sculptor Auguste Rodin

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Heav’n above is softer blue
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen.” from George Wade Robinson hymn, I am His and He is Mine

“He who has eyes sees something in everything.” Roy Lichtenberg

Wilmer Mills, Part 3: Poet, Teacher, Carpenter

This is the conclusion of my feature with the poet Wilmer Mills.

To hear Wil read two poems, click here.
To read more of the essay he excerpts in our interview, click here.
To see some of his paintings, click here.


LeAnne: In addition to being a poet, you're also a carpenter. Has creating with your hands also helped you create with words and vice versa?

Wil: I have done a lot of carpentry, but I no longer do it professionally. I built my own house and am forever doing projects on it. They never seem to end. Working with my hands is the most important activity for stimulating my creativity. It is what makes me most human and also what puts me closest into contact with my creator. I also believe that working with my hands taps into a separate kind of human intelligence. There is the usual I.Q. kind; I often feel very deficient in that area. But when I work with my hands, I feel a broadening of connection-making ability. I am able to see how things fit together, how things work in a series of steps, almost how a story fits together. Yes, it’s all very narrative. I don’t think, though, that working with words has helped me work better with my hands. I think it only works the other way around. Manual dexterity or activity stimulates mental facility, not the reverse.

LM: You're also a teacher on a fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill. What has teaching students to write taught you?

WM: It has taught me how much I still don’t know. I never wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to work with my hands. But I couldn’t make a living that way and teaching has been my salvation. This has been a great surprise to me, because of how much I love it and for how much I learn by teaching. I’ve learned more about poetry by teaching in two years than I have in fifteen years of writing. Having to explain something forces one to learn the material in a deeper way. I hope to be able to continue teaching poetry.

LM: What would you like for your students to know when they leave your classroom?

WM: I teach my students how to construct a good line of verse both in strict meter and with lively and compelling syntax. Poetry is built out of lines, not feelings. When they learn how to build a good line, when they know the rules, then they can learn how to break them in intelligent ways, something that is essential for formal poetry, but especially for free verse, which, by definition, depends on variation. If you don’t have a grasp of regularity, your variation or “freedom” from a norm has no meaning.

I teach them to develop their ears to pick up the rich musical possibilities of language and how to channel that music through accurate observations of the real world around them. Too often, student poets think that writing a poem is about constructing an elaborate riddle with words, and that their job is to give cryptic clues to what the meaning is. This is at the root of most horrible poetry. If given the choice between the subtlety of mystery and the enigma of the mysterious, they will invariably choose the latter and drip it with oozings from their psyches.

I teach them to get out of their own heads, to stop thinking that poetry is a soapbox for self-expression. Poetry is about expressing the dictionary. Once they catch on, they realize that words are more intelligent than people are, and that words do a much better job of expressing their feelings and thoughts. Let good language do the work. So I teach students to look at what they see right in front of them and to say what they see in the most compelling language. Poets should make sense and make it sing.

Wilmer Mills, Part 2: Poet, Collector of Words

This is the second of three parts of my feature on poet Wilmer Mills. Mills was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was graduated from The McCallie School in 1988 and The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee with a B.A. in English Literature in 1992. He received a Masters in Theology from Sewanee in 2005. His first book of poems, a chapbook, Right as Rain, was published by Aralia Press in 1999. His first full-length collection of poems, Light for the Orphans, was published by Story Line Press in 2002.Wilmer Mills has published poems in The New Republic, The Hudson Review, The Southern Review, Poetry, The New Criterion, Shenandoah, Literary Imagination, and others. His poems have been anthologized in Penguin/Longman Anthology of Contemporary American Poets, 2004, and are forthcoming from The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets.Mills has worked as a carpenter, furniture maker, sawmill operator, artisan bread baker, white oak basket weaver, farmer, and a white water raft guide, and poetry teacher among other things. He lives with his wife, Kathryn, and their two children in a bungalow he built himself in Sewanee, Tennessee. But he currently teaches poetry at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he is their Kenan Visiting Writer.

To hear Wil read two poems, click here.
To read more of the essay he excerpts in our interview, click here.
To see some of his paintings, click here.


LeAnne: Describe your creative process. 

Wil: I’m a linguistic bower bird. I collect words, bits of conversation, road signs, etymologies, etc. I write down what I find in a pocket notebook, and these bits and pieces then germinate in my mind and slowly settle into the lines of my poems. Whole poems grow out of certain images on their own. I don’t go after poems. They come to me as sonic excitement clicking in the syllables. I wait for the idea, the thing, the moment--wait until it appears already packaged in the phonetic music that will make it sing.
Then, ironically, what writes a poem is the syntax. Once I latch onto the right syntactical pattern (a tone, a pacing of clause, subject, and verb), the poem basically writes itself, pulling the subject matter along through the meter, sometimes in rhyme. It is important not to force the language to go where you want it to go, but to listen to it and let it guide you. The word “author” is descended from the same word as “augur,” meaning “seer.” A poet’s job is to see things, to point out the obvious that other people don’t see, not to reinvent reality with some hokus-pokus romantic notion of “inspiration” or creativity. That’s called disappointing the obvious. Once I have a draft of a poem, I sometimes spend years revising it. That’s when the real writing takes place.

LM: Tell me about your book of poems.

WM: In 1999, I published a small chapbook called Right as Rain by Aralia Press. In 2002, my full-length book of poems, Light for the Orphans, was published by Story Line Press. The press is now out of business, and my book is out of print, but used copies can still be found. Many of the poems in that book are narratives, stories about imaginary characters. That means that I am also a fiction writer--only I do it in verse, not prose.

Recently I have begun writing fiction in prose. A short story of mine was in the April issue of Image.

More from Wilmer Mills on Monday.