Painting as prayer in East Belfast

© Genesis+Art Studio photo by Heidi Hoffman

FROM OUR STUDIO:


We try to create a space for both the physical and spiritual aspects of our art making. We have a studio where we have a physical space in which to create or at least attempt to create. But perhaps a greater challenge is to create a spiritual space in which we can be truly present and mindful to one another and to the creative process. Peg and I work together on the same canvas at the same time, forging ideas together that neither of us would create alone. We experience this as both visual and verbal communication and believe that it takes courage, faith and time within this space to be transformed by the process. We believe we have to allow chaos early on in order to get to the deeper order that unifies. Our rushed and thoughtless behaviors give way to the quiet gift of being together.


We bring this process into the workshop setting as well, where we create paintings in large groups. As with our own work, these workshop settings involve prayer, silence and visual conversation. The visual language of color and shape facilitate thinking together and, as in all life, it can get messy. But out of the mess can come transformation. In life, as in conversation, ideas don’t move in a straight line. Idea development is organic and flowing in nature. When we begin our conversation it is important to let each of our voices be heard, allowing individuals to express unique perspectives. Arising from this conversation is a third element: the spiritual. At this stage, we begin to uncover the collective wisdom revealed from the depths of the painting. If we are willing to listen, be curious and respectful about the possibilities that come from these diverse voices, unification can rise from the chaos. We are always surprised by what we discover, what we hold in common through this process we call Painting as Prayer. 

Do we really need art?

© Genesis+Art Studio photo by Heidi Hoffman  

FROM OUR STUDIO:

It’s been a few weeks since returning from East Belfast and the completion of our mural project. I’m still excited by this work and the people it touched along the way. I believe art has the ability to connect us on a creative and spiritual level and in the process has the potential to transform us.

We began the project with the folks at East Belfast Mission. They worked with the East Belfast Partnership to secure a site for the mural, through Translink in Belfast. Those connections brought us in contact with the Ballymac Community, the site of the mural, who’s community members participated in painting the mural. That took place on the east side of the pond. Before the actual painting could take place, our studio began the design process back here in Kansas City. We mentored and guided four design students from the University of Kansas: Amanda, Jared, Lauren and Samantha. They invested five months working in our studio on the design and presentation of mural ideas, followed by two weeks the two week adventure in East Belfast. Daughter Heidi helped us both with the painting and with capturing the story in photography.

I’m proud of our group of designers and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with the folks in the Ballymac. We will be sharing more of our story in the weeks ahead. We hope to illustrate with word and image how works of the heart help to create and to transform communities.

Presbyterian Church of Ireland

photo © Genesis+Art Studio

FROM OUR TRAVELS:

We recently facilitated our workshop Heaven of the Heart at the Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Twenty four artists from all over Northern Ireland gathered for a day of creative, artistic and spiritual exploration. We concluded our time together by offering painted prayers on the World Canvas. The workshop was sponsored by the Presbyterian Church of Ireland and displayed our work at the General Assembly being held in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Transformation

Photo © East Belfast Partnership

FROM OUR STUDIO:

We have been busy in our studio the past several months designing a mural that will find its home in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. Amanda Kilwin, Jared Bergeron, Lauren Maibach and Samantha Fine, all recent graduates in design from the University of Kansas worked with us in our studio. We traveled to Northern Ireland for two weeks to complete the project by painting the mural with the Ballymac Community Group and the East Belfast Partnership. The mural is located in the subway at the Titanic Quarter Train Station in East Belfast. To see more go to With Growth Comes Transformation.

Join our workshop at Ghost Ranch

Photo © Ghost Ranch

FROM OUR STUDIO:

Join us at Ghost Ranch for our workshop Heaven of the Heart: Creating a Space for Sacred Imagination June 25–July 1. Ghost Ranch is situated on 21,000 acres located in northern New Mexico, stands proud as an ecumenical and interfaith education and retreat center of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). For more than half a century people have come for spiritual development, to discuss issues of peace and justice, to work together in creation care, to paint and write, to hike and ride horseback, to research rich and globally renowned archeological and fossil quarries, to see where Georgia O’Keeffe painted or simply to rest and renew their spirits. For more about our workshop or to register click on Heaven of the Heart. Hope to see you.

Heaven Of The Heart: Creating A Space For Sacred Imagination
What connects our spirituality, creativity and living out our vocation? How might an intentional engagement with our creativity and our spirituality increase our ability to live as people of faith? In this workshop you will push back the boundaries of familiar distractions and enter a Sabbath time in which to explore the intersection between creativity and spirituality. Using hands-on exercises, personal reflection and imagination see how your creativity can form sacred community.

Art of prayer

© Chuck Hoffman / Genesis + Art Studio

FROM OUR JOURNAL PAGES:

Rain waters the earth, making it bring forth and sprout…. The whole creation is groaning in travail… A sower went out to sow. We are reminded that prayer is not a lifestyle option, or a mechanical technique, but something natural to all creatures, like breathing out and breathing in, like metabolizing our food, like the process of growth which we achieve without knowing how we do it. In moments of crisis, when we feel ourselves on the edge of existence, we reach out to our creator. We do not engineer our growth – in the body or the spirit – but allow God to make us fertile.

Crossing the Frontier

Crossing the Frontier © 2012 Genesis+Art Studio

FROM OUR JOURNAL PAGES:

We have been experiencing genuine and dramatic changes. These tectonic life-shifts have put us on a journey across unfamiliar thresholds to deal with many emotions and new experiences. At times these changes have dragged us into view of the very things we'd tried hard to avoid. We offer our art as an expression of our spiritual practice that explores the healing potential of shape, color and form. By exploring universal themes of life and death, nature and earth, conflict and the redemptive power of love, Crossing the Frontier is a trek into the heart of wisdom and transformation. Without seeing ourselves as we are, we can never see ourselves as we are meant to be.