By Isaac Tsetan Gergan, Marianne Lettieri, and Rachel Hostetter Smith Three friends, who participated in the Art for Change 2020 International Artist Residency in New Delhi, India, reflect on its theme. God designed beauty and meaning through differences Isaac: From the beginning of creation, we see differences in all aspects of God’s design: physical, emotional and… Continue Reading
Category Archives: civablog
Communing with Saints
by Ryan Stander A shoebox at a flea market changed my life. A simple Nike shoebox filled with discarded family photographs broke my heart. With each photograph of unfamiliar faces and disconnected stories I flipped through, I grew a deeper realization of our shared humanity and mortality. Each photograph – a certificate of someone’s life… Continue Reading
Mirrored in Mourning
by Jordan Lienhoop I was standing before two alabaster statues in the Speed Art Museum: Hooded Mourner with Rosary and Hooded Mourner with Missal. Created in the mid-1400s at the School of Jean Cambrai in France, the sculptures are encased behind glass, standing no more than two feet high. Their faces are somber, heads bent,… Continue Reading
Defining the Terms of Beauty and Goodness in a Sin Cursed World
by Robbie Mackintosh Amongst Christian artists there is a lot of talk about beauty and goodness and how we should reflect these God-given realities in our work. But how do we define the boundaries and scope of these realities? Within the context of the lost and fallen world, how do we emphasize the beauty and… Continue Reading
Prayers in Paint
by Dawn Waters Baker These past 16 months have been some of the hardest of my life. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Maybe you’ve felt that way too. I have talked to doctor and counselor friends who are seeing a significant rise in mental health across the board. Just this week I was… Continue Reading
“Let all who are wise-hearted come and make…” Exodus 35:10
by Lisa Smith The story of the Tabernacle seems dry in comparison to everything else going on in the book of Exodus. Burning bushes, parting seas, clouds of fire and smoke, a golden calf – all seem more engaging than chapter after chapter of lists, details, and instructions. But this (not so little) story is… Continue Reading
Beyonce: A Reimagined Madonna
by Vicki Stuart The famous Beyonce shocked her audience once again: rather than wowing them with her silky dulcet tones, however, the artist’s maternity photos caused the public uproar. In the capturing of Beyonce’s pregnancy in 2017, photographer Awol Erizku controversially reimagined the typical depictions of the Mother Mary and challenged socio-philosophical norms of the… Continue Reading
Wounds to Beauty
by Bruce Herman 1Most history seems to carry on its back vestiges of paradise… There is hardly a civilization, perhaps hardly an individual consciousness, that does not carry inwardly a sense of distant catastrophe. Somewhere a wrong turn was taken in that “dark and sacred wood,” after which man has had to labor, socially, psychologically,… Continue Reading
Honoring Our Father
by Vicki Stuart Yes, we honor our familial fathers and father figures this Father’s Day. But, we also must acknowledge Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name — whose kingdom in which we live, whose will is expressed on earth as it is in heaven, who forgives us of our trespasses, who… Continue Reading
“Why is the night so long?”
by Beat Rink / Translation by Bill Buchanan ENGLISH Worldwide success of a singing priest There are few Christian musicians who can fill venues with 30,000 people – and certainly no singer/songwriters who sit on the stage with a simple guitar and, with cracks in the voice, gets the whole audience to join in. In… Continue Reading