VIDEO: Jozef Luptak (cello) and Corey Mills (dance) improvise together at Glen Eyrie.

Via Affirmativa is announcing its first Plein Air Paint Out for Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31 (two separate events – see details on web site) at the historic Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs. This event is open to painters of all mediums and includes over $2000 in awards. It will be judged by Skip Whitcomb, a nationally acclaimed Plein Air painter.

What is Plein Air?
En plein air is a French expression which means “in the open air”, and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.

The weekend event begins with limited attendance workshops on Saturday, followed by the juried paint out on Sunday. You may participate in either or both events. You may register now for either or both events at www.gepaintout.com. Reserve your space early for this limited registration opportunity to paint in one of the more beautiful locations in the west. Read more details about the two events on our web site at www.gepaintout.com.

Sponsored by Via Affirmativa and Navpress (www.navpress.com)

by Makoto Fujimura

Explore how the arts and faith live together and how you can bring healing to a hurting world through your own creation.

Is there a world where artists and conservatives come together to create hope and healing for a hurting generation? What would such a place look like, and how can two groups of such different cultures communicate? Makoto Fujimura, award-winning artist, brings artists and conservatives, believers and non-believers, together in Refractions, a series of essays, thoughts, and prayers about faith and the arts. Become inspired by life, and learn how to bring healing to the world through your own creation.

Available February 1, 2009. Read more or purchase your copy at www.navpress.com or call 1-800-366-7788.

Author Bio:

Makoto Fujimura was born in 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts. Educated biculturally between the United States and Japan, Fujimura graduated from Bucknell University in 1983 and received an M.F.A. from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music as a National Scholar in Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) in 1989. During his years in the program, he experienced “a transfer of allegiance from art to Christ.” His book River Grace (www.rivergrace.com) traces his journey of mastering Nihonga technique, using carefully stone-ground minerals including azurite, malachite, and cinnabar, along with his deep wrestling with art and faith issues.

In 1992 he became the youngest artist ever to have had a piece acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. Fujimura was appointed to the National Council on the Arts, a six-year presidential appointment, in 2003. WORLD magazine honored him as its Daniel of the Year in 2005.

In 1990 Fujimura founded The International Arts Movement (www.iamny.org), an arts advocacy organization that wrestles with the deep questions of art, faith, and humanity. His writings on art and faith issues have appeared in Image Journal, Books and Culture, American Arts Quarterly, and WORLD magazine.

Im reading “Blue Pastures,” by Mary Oliver, and this quote jumps off the page, grabs me by my reluctant neck, and says “Pay attention!” I hope it will grab your neck as well.

“…the most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to
creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and
uprising, and gave it neither power nor time.”

What permission do you need to set aside time? I have one suggestion! Set aside June 5-9, 2009 for the Next Via Affirmativa Gathering in Colorado Springs …

Gary Bradley

Permission Granted!

by Christy Tenant

If I paint more excellently than any other, but I do not communicate love in my painting, I am nothing more than an offensive noise; like Pavarotti accompanied by an out-of-tune piano: a mockery of the beautiful.

If I possess divine insights and wisdom, and even if I have strong spiritual fortitude, but I cannot speak the truth in love, I am nothing to boast about.

If I am generous with my art, my talents, and my creativity – exhausting myself for the sake of my craft – but the people around me do not feel loved or served in humility, I have accomplished nothing to speak of.

An excellent artist can wait for her moment, though years in the making, because she understands that recognition does not equal excellence; Van Gogh never sold a painting.

An excellent artist is kind; he makes his gift accessible and available to all who love and appreciate beauty.

An artist devoted to true excellence does not envy those who are more accomplished than she is, nor does she boast to those who have not accomplished as much as she has.

An artist of excellence does not reek of arrogance, nor does he have a reputation for being rude.

A truly excellent artist works well with others, appreciating the unique gifts and insights they bring to the table, rather than immediately assuming her way is the only way. (And she doesn’t get an attitude if the team decides to go in a different creative direction!)

An artist who is excellent does not secretly get a charge out of others’ failures, but rather encourages those who have tried and failed to try again. By the same token, he does not offer false compliments or patronizing feedback. He finds a way to be gently honest and constructively critical, because he values truth.

An artist or creative catalyst devoted to excellence in his craft sticks with it to the end. She doesn’t give up out of ego or pride or frustration or failure, but keeps hoping and believing in the source of creativity, turning frequently to that source for sustaining inspiration and grace.

Finally, an artist committed to excellence understands that creativity does not happen in a vacuum. Rather, it flows from a deep, rushing river, created by God and fed and filled by others who have been given the creative gift as well. The artist who stays close to the river and drinks often from it, by looking to and appreciating the beauty reflected in others, grows in ever-increasing excellence.

This artist is truly excellent.

One might say each artist is connected to the river from which all creativity flows, sometimes as a spring and sometimes as a tributary, and through this connection we have access to an ever-flowing source of inspiration, grace and hope, available to all who come to drink.

Christy Tennant, of the International Arts Movement

Colorado Springs, June 6, 2008
VAF Gathering

Post a comment for Christy here  and see the IAM website at www.internationalartsmovement.com

Striving, trying

I can do it.  I will do it.

Just gimme a chance. 

I think that I could be

One of those that

Change the world.

 

I’ll turn them away from the dark side. 

I’ll make them see what’s right.

I’ll save them from the enemy. 

My victory is in sight.

 

Striving, trying

I can do it.  I will do it.

It’s harder than I thought.

But a difference I will make.

I’m getting close

I can taste it.

 

But it doesn’t taste sweet

I thought it’d be sweet.

I’ve a sneaking suspicion

I’m failing.  Failing. 

 

Striving, trying

Seems I can’t do it.  I won’t do it.

 

I’ll just try to put on

The usual uniform

Try to figure this out

While I just survive.

I’m boxed into a corner, waiting for the final blow.

But I won’t throw the towel in

I’m still strivin’, tryin’

To own at least this corner.

Face You in this little corner

Until You back down. 

Let me be who I want to be.

Who do I want to be? 

I really want to be

I just want to be

Important.  Valuable. 

I want to accomplish something great.

But you’ve trapped me in this corner.  I’ll wait. 

Striving, trying

I can do it.  I will do it.

 

Working, shopping, making babies, making dinner

Making not much, in my heart’s opinion.

I think I was made to do more than little things

But little things are all there are to do right now.

Learning to do little things.

Learning to listen, learning to root

Learning to be gracious, learning to give.

So many little things.

I’m sorry for ignoring the little things.

This was not my plan, but here I am.

Still. Being still.

 

Why won’t You let me go?

It’s foolishness, You know,

Keeping me, a warrior, in a cage.

Maybe I could win the battle for You.

But that wouldn’t be enough.

Not special enough, not good enough,
Unaccomplished, unimportant,

Never enough.

 

Striving, trying

I can do it.  I will do it.

 

But here I am.

Still.  Just being still.

Just being Yours.

I’ve always been Yours.

And I’m starting to see

The most important I can be

Is Yours.

 

So I’ll trust You.

And when they ask me what I do.

I’ll try not to defend my existence with the things I do. 

I’ll try to be Yours in each moment.

Even in the little things,

Yours.

Sunita would love to discuss “balancing all the stuff we have to do in life, and how we feel about all those things in terms of identity. “