Trinity Artists 5x15 06-08-09: Jason Campbell

Thanks Jason.

Symposium on Faith + Art: Community: Tonight!

Tonight at 7:30 at Trinity Vineyard, we will be having our third Symposium on Faith & Art. The topic this evening will be Community. We will be viewing artwork from a number of different photographers among our community, hearing a short keynote from Jeff Guy, and connecting with other artists in our individual disciplines, or with other Art Lovers.

Hope to see you tonight at 7:30!

5x15 episode 5 (June 8th, 09): Jeff Guy & Erik Newby

This was filmed in honor of Amy Byrd, who's art form is gardening.

On Friendships & Community

Photograph by Cat Norman. She & others will share portraits at the next Symposium on Faith & Art at Trinity.

There's an old proverb of King Solomon that goes something like this...As iron sharpens iron, so one friend sharpens another. Proverbs something something. (translation, mine)

Sounds hard, right? Kind of painful, perhaps. And definitely would produce an awful sound. So what's the point? A real friend is one who puts it to you straight and has the courage to hear it from you straight. Or to continue with the analogy, a true friend speaks hard, painful, awful sounding truth. What good comes from this? Well in blacksmithing, a refining happens. This is the outcome in friendships as well.

Are we friends really? Have we given our friends permission to refine us? Do we submit ourselves to their refining?

As an artist, I have a few close friends that I have given permission to refine me and my creative efforts. These friends know they can tell me that my work is crap, I spent too little time on it, haven't thought through the ideas thoroughly, or simply- they don't enjoy it.

As a friend who has submitted myself to their discretion I know that; (1.) My identity is in my creator God, therefor this is not a critique on my personhood. And (2.), this is a critique of my artwork and these words will refine my creative efforts. Because of this, I do not stay angry or hurt. I receive their input respectfully and I ask the questions; How will this refine my work? What can be done to make this work excellent? Do I erase it, do I cover it, do I transform it, do I scrap it, or do I set it aside? I thank my friends for their honesty, knowing their courage in speaking the truth. Then, I think about tomorrow and what I'll do to better the work.

This is not the responsibility of every friend you have, every acquaintance, everybody you meet. This is deserving of your closest companions. In this context, it will be most effective.

Coming soon, we will have the opportunity to engage one another at Trinity's Symposium on Faith & Art. This Symposium will focus on friendships and community. We will gather and eat simple foods while listening to some local music. The Photography community is submitting portraits for the occasion and these may be purchased if you are a patron. After viewing these works, we will hear a short keynote talk on healthy community. Then, we will be given time to break out into groups based on our various disciplines. We will get to meet like-minded artists and patrons. The hope is that friendships like the ones mentioned above will form. If you are seeking to be a friend and be part of a vibrant community of believing artists then I would encourage you to come. It's going to be on Monday, September 28th beginning at 7:30pm here at Trinity.

I hope to see you there. Christ be with you as you create.

5x15 episode 4 (June 8th, 09): Kit Hughes

Kit works for Phillips as a designer. Here is a project of his that is extraordinary.

a poem and some lights

Photograph by Rune Guneriussen

For the Artist at the Start of the Day

A poem by John O'Donohue

May morning be astir with the harvest of night;

Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question.

Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse

that cut right through the surface to a source.

May this be a morning of innocent beginning,

When the gift within you slips clear

Of the sticky web of the personal

With its hurt and its hauntings,

And fixed fortress corners,

A morning when you become a pure vessel

For what wants to ascend from silence.

May your imagination know

The grace of perfect danger,

To reach beyond imitation,

And the wheel of repetition,

Deep into the call of all

The unfinished and unsolved

Until the veil of the unknown yields

And something original begins

To stir toward your senses

And grow stronger in your heart

In order to come to birth

In a clear line of form

That claims from time

A rhythm not yet heard,

That calls space to

A different shape.

May it be its own force field

And dwell uniquely

Between the heart and the light

To surprise the hungry eye

By how deftly it fits

About its secret loss.

As you enter into the rhythms of Fall (and for many - a season of work, study or busyness), may you become "a pure vessel for what wants to ascend from silence." And may your senses be stirred and your light shine brighter as you partake in our church community.