Exploring the Landscape of Art + Reconciliation

We were honored to share our passion for art and reconciliation with the community at Luther Seminary. It's good for us to have traveling companions as we search for meaning with our art. Art can be a powerful proclamation of who God is in us and in so doing has the ability to touch the heart and soul of others. Our time at Luther inspired the creative spirit in us. Here are a couple of images of the community sharing their creative gifts. Blessings.

Luminae

Here are some of our thoughts about this painting from our journal pages:

PEG: When I imagine God breaking into creation I am also mindful that God is creation as well. Most often when I think of God, light is the visual in my head. Bringing that light to the canvas, and God's light shining into the four corners of the earth, helps me to remember how God permeates the cosmos. The small white symbols at the center of the light represent "the word" always present with God from the beginning.

CHUCK: I am not sure that this is where I thought this work would go. The layering of the pigment became an exercise of patient contemplation. In the many reside my thoughts, prayers, reflections, hopes and a whole stream of consciousness of the days and time standing before the painting. The color became more soothing with each addition of thin films of color. The light is still revealed in the intersection of teh divine (vertical) and humanity (horizontal). This is the intersection where Peg and I seem to reside. While simple in its form, this was a very complex path to simplicity.

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 9:2

One Twenty One

We just completed our painting "One Twenty One" last night. After stepping back to spend some time with our new creation, we realized that it connected for us how we feel about Inauguration Day. It wasn't our intention to make a painting to commemorate the day, but the strong feelings of hope and reconciliation crept up and out of our creative beings. It was as if there was no stopping what is happening in us, our community, our country and the world. We have had many thoughts and prayers from friends around the planet that feel this same sense of newness. So it is fitting for us as we explore our new Genesis+Art. Blessings for a new day.

New Beginnings

It is a new year for creation and new beginnings at the Genesis Art Studio. Changes abound for us and our work. We are beginning a series of seven paintings, one for each day of creation. The seven paintings are more of a continued fascination with the creation story and how it can become part of our own interior story. We have become increasingly more aware of light and have been pondering the first light of the universe and the connection to the light that is continually shining in one's own heart. We hope that the exploration will draw us closer to the continuing creation. 

In the Beginningness, In the time before time begins, In the rest before movement begins, In the space where nothing but Elohim is, was, and will be. It all unfolds and moves like the wings of a bird taking flight, like a spark turning to flame, spreading to fire in all directions. From this center everything travels toward its purpose, somehow moving its own kernel of destiny known only to the Holy One.

Genesis+Art: A new beginning

Today we launch our new blog with the intent of creating dialogue around art, faith and reconciliaiton. We have been working in this manner for over 8 years and are now formally calling our work Genesis+Art® and working out of our Genesis Art Studio. With this new beginning we hope to build a community of many faiths connected through art and the spirit where conversation can bring us onto Holy ground. We prayerfully look forward to the days ahead and where the Holy spirit might lead us.

The spiritual origins of early art are re-emerging in the 21st Century as a new art genre known as Genesis+Art . For centuries, prayer and spiritual practice have been intimately connected to a sacred story shared in community. Genesis+Art draws from the common elements of the creation story of Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. In this genre, the emphasis on the process brings forth the product.

©2008 Genesis Art Studio