God calls us to be in community. Using art + prayer we explore a deeper understanding of ourselves and of our place in creation.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sketchbook Project: The Things That Change Things
Saint Paul Snow
New Jerusalem Series at the Bigelow Chapel
Black and white, left, right, good, evil, conservative, liberal, I have it right, you have it wrong, faith divided by moral and political ideologies, not budging from our sense of beliefs, just waiting for the power structure to change or better yet, move off with our own tribe of like thinkers and wait for the next dividing issue. How can we move towards one another? How can we begin to see God in the color that resides in both the black and white? What could happen? Would life be more rich in celebrating our differences with understanding? Could we have a sudden outbreak of hope? Can changing our lens from seeking differences to finding understanding lead us to new truth? Can our imaginations and creativity lead us to grace margins and a compassionate and faith filled way forward? For those who dare the possibility to become transparent and to interact with one another we think we not only connect with creation, but find out who we are in it, and who we are in relationship to others. Could it help lead us back to our humanity for the love of Christ?
© Genesis+Art Studio
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
What does art have to do with reconciliation anyway?
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Let's continue the conversation for peace
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Works of Reconciliation at St. Anthony
peg: Walls, whether they are built to protect or divide, bring a constant reminder to fear what's on the other side. The walls in Northern Ireland were meant to mitigate violence between the Catholics and the Protestants but the net result is to maintain division. Chuck and I have been working to bring down the walls in Belfast as we watch them being built between Israel and Palestine. This painting was a reminder that the oppressed nearly always become the oppressors.
The New Jerusalem Series at Saint Andrew's
How can we move toward one another? How can we begin to see God in the colors that reside in both the black and the white? What could happen? Would life be richer in celebrating our differences with understanding? Could we have a sudden outbreak of hope? Can changing our lens transform us to new truth? Can our imaginations and creativity lead us to the grace margins and a compassionate faith-filled way forward? Could it help lead us back to our humanity for the love of Christ?
Our new series of work titled The New Jerusalem will be up through November at
St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, Mahtomedi, MN
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Reflections of China
Monday, September 27, 2010
Shanghai Inspiration
Hobbs Open Studio Event
Hallmark Creative Leadership Symposium
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
New Jerusalem Series at Luther Seminary
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
New work at Luther Seminary
Monday, September 6, 2010
ECVA Justice & Peace Exhibition: Bonfires
ECVA Justice & Peace Exhibition
CURATOR'S STATEMENT: In this exhibition, the third in our Baptismal Covenant series, artists were invited to respond to these lines from the covenant:
“Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help.”
The resulting exhibition articulates the inherent tension between care for ourselves, our own families and communities, and a respectful concern for the broader community of faiths, cultures, and the environment. Each image calls us to a broader world view, inviting us to see ourselves as part of a larger whole and to act upon that understanding.
We invite you to sit with these images and see what response awakens within you.
Diane Walker
Curator
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Art as a visual language
Great Wall of China
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Springfield Road
Peg: Peeling off the resist and revealing the “fencing” was just like experiencing the barbed wire in Northern Ireland, the wire gets so in between the observer and the “landscape”. It becomes the object and what’s on the other side becomes distant and unreachable unknown.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Blessings
blessings
30 x 30 acrylic on canvas
chuck + peg: This work has special meaning for us. It speaks to the potential we have as a community when we lift each other up rather than turn away when times are difficult. Reaching out a helping hand, asking nothing in return, can bring many blessings for both the giver and receiver. The light that comes from another’s blessing on our behalf during dark and uncertain times gives rise to new beginnings and blessings in return.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Genesis+Art at 19 Below Gallery
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Intruding Upon the Timeless
peg: I was thinking about gratitude and wondering why we aren’t walking “gratitude journals.” I think it’s because to be grateful we have to be attentive and aware, and usually we human beings are neither. By focusing and noting all the things for which we are grateful, we flex our “attention muscles” and begin to notice all the little things that bring joy everyday.
chuck: This work began by reflecting on the word gratitude. The spiritual practice of gratitude can be considered a state of mind going even further to being a way of life. Gratitude links us in relationship to the divine in every part of creation. By practicing gratitude in both good and challenging experiences, we bless others and in turn are blessed. This personal and social renewal also opens our imagination – and more specifically, the imaginative intersection where spirit and artistic vision meet. By starting with gratitude, we risk reconnecting beauty to goodness and truth.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
New Works of Reconciliation
Luther Seminary Annual Donor Celebration
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Hallmark Creative Leadership Symposium
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sacred Ties
chuck: We’ve painted with this color palette before, but little did we know that the theme would be part of a painting we created for our son John and his wife Ye’s wedding. As we venture to Shanghai, China for the ceremony, we will encounter the connection being made between families as well as cultures. Honoring and nurturing the best in another gives rise to our greatest self. The poetry of John O’Donohue expresses it this way, Awaken your spirit to adventure; Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Dabar
chuck + peg: Dabar is the Hebrew (Aramaic) word for “word.” The Hebrew concept of ‘word’ is far more dynamic than the Greek conception. Dabar is the word that is the divine creative energy. All of creation contains the living wisdom of Dabar with the creative energy flowing through all things, all time and all space. In Genesis, the story tells us, that God spoke and then the powerful beings of creation – light and darkness, sun and moon–into existence. Dabar, which is translated as ‘word’, implies deeds and actions, not just words. This creative energy or word of God we believe is still active today–it is constantly creating and inviting us (all beings) to participate in this continuous process.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Welcoming Family
Leadership + Creativity Workshop
FROM OUR STUDIO:
Imaginative space where faith and artistic vision meet
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Work in the studio
Design + Letterpress
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Liturgical Arts
We wanted to share some of our design and liturgical art. We have worked with congregations to give words to their vision and purpose in ministry. We then work with them to transform the words into images and symbols that are used in altar cloths and banners to help create sacred spaces for worship and prayer. Embracing the sacred ensures that symbols, sacrament, sacramental art and space lead people to encounter God. Shown here is a 20' triptych permanent installation at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Port Charlotte, Florida and an altar clothe created for the Earth Day Celebration at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. For more information about our workshops and portfolio go to our web site.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Meet Rudy
FROM OUR STUDIO:
Art Opening August 6, 2010
FROM OUR STUDIO:
We've been busy in the studio preparing for our upcoming show at 19 Below Gallery in Kansas City's Crossroad District on 6th August. Along with a show at Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis and our work in the Bigelow Chapel at United Theological Seminary, our work will be at Gloria Dei Lutheran in St.Paul. Work continues on Luther Seminary's commission for their Prodigal Son Collection. Hope to see you on the 6th.
Forged
Peg: When we first went to Northen Ireland, tension in the neighborhood where we worked was high. People were constantly on edge and suspicious of those around them. The hostel where we stayed was locked and gated at dusk and teh IRA and paramilitary were acting as vigilanties. People were divided, yet in the midst of the troubles there ran thin golden strands of hope holding everything together.
Chuck: I don't think that I can put words around this image. It took a long time for it to emerge and continues to immerse me in contemplation.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Borderless World
FROM OUR JOURNAL PAGES:
This painting had a unique significance for us because we knew for whom it was being birthed before we started. Most often we create paintings together without knowing who will bring it home to their own space.The fact that it was created for Pam Kelley’s birthday has even more meaning. Birthing has been a reoccurring theme for us. We refer to our art as birthing images, so honoring the birth of Pam into the world in a painting, takes on the mystical wonder of creation.
Peg: My vision for the painting centered around the dawn of creation. Symbols, language and possibiity emerge into the darkness, bringing light, carrying the potential for communication and creativity. The cerulean blues cannot contain the energy and strength of the written word and the symbolic languages burst forth with a spirit of their own. Creation truly imagines a borderless world of peace and inclusion.
Chuck: The work brought me to the place of wonder and mystery of ongoing creation. Pam uses language to express and birth her ideas into the world, and all of these thoughts and prayers went into this piece. My thoughts and reflections centered about creation coming out of darkness. This became the birthing of something new. The new being hope for a borderless world, a new world that emerges in God’s continuing creation. Letter forms stream from the light with the hope for new dialogues that bridge differences and change to a healthy, mutual world, celebrating diversity and the harmony that can be created together.
The painting for us has become a contemplation of creation in space and time, visually depicted for all to contemplate the ongoing formation of the universe, our hearts, minds and spirits.
Tension
FROM OUR JOURNAL PAGES:
PEG: This is the first painting Chuck and I created after he moved to Minneapolis to go to seminary. Somehow I expected us to paint like we had for the last two years, but it was a struggle. We spent weeks trying to get back to our normal painting process, and each other. We didn’t get comfortable until our subject matter matched our emotional state. Finally with the help of the painting we dealt with the reality of the changes we’d experienced. It reminded me that reconciliation is a process and requires tending. Relationships between people, communities or countries need attention.
CHUCK: Tension when managed can lead to new discoveries. When left unattended can spin out of control and can lead to divide. This painting has been a dialogue of working through our tensions of creating together. Our process and each other needed tending and nurturing. Working through our process of listening, responding and creating again confirmed for us that holding in the tension can lead to something new. The risk being that tension left unbalanced can lead to destruction.
Global Missions prayers offered on World Canvas
The World Canvas Project was part of the Global Missions Institute gathering at Luther Seminary. Students from around the world, faculty and friends of the seminary gathered in community and to hear a presentation from Dr. Guillermo Hansen.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
World Canvas Project begins at Luther Seminary
The World Canvas Project is a prayer canvas where your prayer is first penciled onto the canvas, then select a color to paint your prayer into the canvas. The canvas has been part of the Minnesota Without Poverty gathering, Luther Seminary, Global Missions, United Theological Seminary and the Summer Institute in Spirituality & Art. A second canvas is currently in Iraq. Photo's by Holm Photo.