by Dianne B. Collard, D.Miss My journey from being a missionary with no artistic background to serving as both the Europe Director for Artists in Christian Testimony Int. and the Founder/Director of ArtsCharlotte, is one that could only have been borne in the imagination and sovereignty of our Creator God. My life was changed by… Continue Reading
Weight, Beauty and Hope
by Margaret Bustard And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7 ESV) I stood in the Medieval Sculpture Hall two weeks ago at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. An exhibition called “Crossroads” had opened all the way back in March, but because… Continue Reading
Reflecting on Virtues
by Scott Crosby “This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it” (Psalm 118:24.) Fellow CIVA board member, Steve Prince, opened CIVA’s Kitchen Table Talks: Authority and Influence in America with this verse and call to worship. The psalm extols God’s steadfast love toward His creation and calls… Continue Reading
Better Balance
by Karen Brummund In early August, Scott Crosby reflected on the practice of balance in both American and Chinese landscape paintings. Drawing out how two different times, cultures, and styles share a similar human longing. Balance as a practice rather than the subject resonates in my own studio where I’ve largely spent time wrestling with… Continue Reading
When Things Fall Apart
by Christine Lee Smith This summer, after over a year of planning, working, preparing, thinking, naming and finally installing my MFA thesis body of work, it dawned on me what this body of work is ultimately about. I stood in the gallery, mask on, stunned into silence. In January 2020 I finished photographing my 4×5… Continue Reading
The Decisive Moment
by Randall J. VanderMey, PhD I am no lover of paraphernalia—tripods, gimbels, lenses, filters, light reflectors—so if it were not for the iPhone, I probably would not be a photographer at all. I would continue to be a writer-poet with an arrogant sense that words were most truly evocative, whereas images were merely documentary or… Continue Reading
In the Balance: Molten Images and Tipping Points
by Karen L. Mulder, PhD Something held “in the balance” suggests an outcome in some jeopardy, with a precarious tipping point, poised to fall. Americans have lived in a 49% to 51% society for decades, often negotiating out of a wearying polarity between reactive rhetoric and responsive dialogue. The great statue controversy of our time… Continue Reading
One Longing, Two Pathways
by Scott Crosby We continue this blog theme of Balance and Harmony in a time that seems to laugh at such quaintness. But with a moment of reflection, this time is also full of reminders of the need for looking toward such disciplines, even as we delve deep into the pursuit of our days and… Continue Reading
Balance and Harmony
By Margaret Bustard As we work on the next issue of SEEN with the topic of Balance and Harmony, it is hard to not notice that the world around us is anything but balanced or harmonious. Through the uncertainty of COVID-19, the cultural moment that is the Black Lives Matter movement, and even the fight… Continue Reading
It Takes Time to Learn to See
By Joseph Tenney Note: The photos that accompany this essay are part of the traveling exhibition Time and Again. As a pastor, I love having an art gallery in our church. I have found it to be deeply formational for myself and our people because artwork stirs us to adopt valuable willingness to inquire, to… Continue Reading