IAM Global Blog
When Creative Catalysts Unite...
This “fractured-ness” extends into the artist community. Like any city, there is stiff competition for gallery and studio space, residencies, grants, and other opportunities. But unlike many cities, this is an unhealthy competition. The President of the Kennedy Center (a nationally-recognized non-profit that assists struggling arts organizations) Michael Kaiser recently spoke in St. Louis. He explained that the number one problem keeping the arts community in St. Louis from flourishing is that there are many great organizations doing incredible things to support the arts, and few if any of them are even talking to each other. While many explicitly state that they have a holistic, city-wide vision for artistic renewal, they ignore their own rhetoric when it requires them to cooperatively work with other like-minded organizations. Once opportunities are created, they are jealously guarded and protected.
Now for an important disclaimer: I am not an artist, I am a seminary student. Formally, I am pursuing a Master’s degree in theology, but informally I love to study people, culture, faith, communities and the interactions between all of these. To steal a term from IAM Founder Makoto Fujimura, I am a “creative catalyst.” I am an “art enabler,” seeking to support the engagement of our “world that is” and the creation of a “world that ought to be” by any means possible.
I am passionate about the arts for many reasons, partly because I have many friends who are artists. They valiantly and creatively wrestle with values, ideas and potential both fulfilled and unfulfilled. If art is, as Fujimura posits, “society’s existential statement” and “answers the question of ‘why live’?” I cannot help but see how the work of my artist friends - those both inside and outside formal faith communities - empowers and challenges my own understanding of truth, reality and the world in which I live. I am served by their passion to create, and my passion as a “creative catalyst” is to serve them.
So how does one serve the artists in St. Louis in such a way that addresses the unique needs that come with living and working in this city, with an eye on creating an environment in which all of humanity will flourish?
This is the question that Art Underground has been asking everyone we can get to listen to us. One way we have sought to bring healing to this “fractured-ness” is by partnering with other like-minded creative catalysts. On January 27th this year, 14 church-based leaders of various initiatives to serve the local artist community convened to discuss what that partnership could look like. Unified by a common foundation as creative catalysts, we discovered that virtually everyone who came that morning felt the same need to collaborate. We saw the same fractured city, the same fractured community, the same need for collaboration to spark healing.
Each organization represented had a unique niche, complete with corresponding strengths and weaknesses that could complement the other initiatives represented. Non-profit leaders are now conspiring to connect artists with the manager of a grant-funded residency program. A communications director is lending her expertise in the theatre community to help a gallery manager think creatively about how to bring performance into a space that has been, until now, a purely static display. An experienced entrepreneur offered advice on how to help artists see their work as a business and gain valuable professional development.
While we certainly did not solve all the problems of the world (much less of St. Louis), it is our hope that this sparked the beginning of a conversation that will bear fruit in healing our fractured city. All of us were excited about the potential to build a community that, rather than contributing to unhealthy competition, facilitates a spirit of grace and cooperation unified by the same desire to see all of St. Louis engulfed in a living, breathing vision of a “world that ought to be.”
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Brad Edwards leads Art Underground (STL), an affiliate of International Arts Movement.
Arts Patronage: So Simple, Even a Child Can Do It
Hi everyone,
First, I want to thank those of you who became early supporters of my project, LOVETOWN PA, on Kickstarter. I am encouraged by what has been pledged so far and by the fact that people other than myself are excited about this project and want to see it happen. Thank you. We have a long way to go to reach our goal before the deadline, so if you know of anyone who might be interested in becoming a backer, please send them the link to the kickstarter page.
I want to remind everyone else that there is still plenty of time to back the project. And yes, my six-year-old nephew and my eleven-year-old niece have both made pledges. It just goes to show how easy and fun it is to become an arts patron. Put it on your resume. Bring it up in conversation at a dinner party. Say it to yourself as you drift off to sleep. "I'm an arts patron." Sounds nice, right? I know this has been a tough year for most of us, and I know there are needs in this world much more pressing than my little jaunt through Philadelphia. So I would never try to convince anyone what they should do with their money. I'm simply presenting you with an opportunity to be a part of something that I think is kind of exciting. So if you are able, and if you would like to, would you consider helping to make this project happen? Please follow this link to learn how.
Thank you
Gene Schmidt
"The artist is a bridge between despair and hope." Jon Foreman on Huffington Post
The artist is a bridge between despair and hope. The artist, more than anyone else is responsible for the re-creation, re-definition and re-thinking the world around us. Every poem, every song, every painting has tremendous possibility. Each of these creations could be a letter of resignation to The World That Is or a window into The World That Is Not. Each poem/painting/song could be a vehicle to a new reality, one in which the artist plays a part no matter how small. The artist paints a world into existence. The canvas, the paint, the brush--these known quantities of existence and reality are tools for stepping into the unknown. The notes of the song are a bridge from what is to what is not yet.Click here to read the rest of this excellent article.
Charis Exhibit in Hong Kong Extended to Feb. 20
Makoto FUJIMURA: Charis, extended to 20 February 2010
Gallery EXIT, G/F, 1 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong
Mon - Sat, 1100 - 1900
Charis, the first solo exhibition of Makoto Fujimura in Hong Kong, will be extended to 20 February 2010. A few new works will be on view from 25 January onwards.
IAM Releases “InsideOut,” a Collection of Poetry by L.L. Barkat
NEW YORK, NY (January 15, 2010) – International Arts Movement’s mission to “inspire, engage and create” is realized in a new collection of poetry. InsideOut, by L.L. Barkat, was published last month by the non-profit arts organization. Pre-release copies were available prior to Christmas, but the book’s official release will take place at IAM’s Space 38|39 in midtown Manhattan on January 29. Barkat, whose previous work includes the memoir Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places (InterVarsity Press, 2008), will read from her collection, and singer/songwriter Brooke Campbell will also perform.
In reviews of her first book, Stone Crossings, L.L. Barkat’s writing has been compared to Annie Dillard and Eugene Peterson. Byron Borger, owner of Hearts and Minds Books and frequent book reviewer, calls Stone Crossings, “one of the best books I've read in a while,” and Steve Hayner, President of Columbia Theological Seminary, calls Barkat’s writing “beautiful and intelligent.” Moving from memoir to poetry, Barkat maintains her unique voice, sensitive to the dignity in everyday encounters.
A prolific blogger, Barkat contributes to Seedlings in Stone, Tweetspeak Poetry, and High Callings Blogs, where she is also a Managing Editor. Barkat is also a staff writer for The Curator Magazine, and in February, she will speak on “The Poet as Minor Pastor” at the Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh.
“An Evening of Poetry and Music,” featuring L.L. Barkat and Brooke Campbell, will take place at 7:00 PM on Friday, January 29, at IAM’s Space 38|39, located at 38 W. 39th Street, 3rd Floor, in Manhattan. For those who are not in NYC, the event will be streamed live at www.InternationalArtsMovement.org as part of IAM Live, an online resource from the movement. For more information, please visit the web site. InsideOut will be available for purchase at the event, and the poet will sign copies of her books that night.
InsideOut, poems by L.L. Barkat, may be purchased online from Amazon, both in print and for Kindle. More information on the book, author and publisher is at www.internationalartsmovement.org/insideout.
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Source: International Arts Movement
Contact: Christy Tennant
Revisiting the One-Size-Fits-All-Education-System at Encounter 10
I bought a sweater once that was "one-size-fits-all," but I quickly discovered that "one-size-fits-all" is a bold-faced lie. When it comes to clothing, one size most definitely does not fit all. I am a size four, and the sweater practically swallowed me whole. It was supposed to be one of those items that stretched and retracted to accommodate its wearer, but instead it was bunchy and bulky and unflattering. It quickly moved to the back of my closet, only to be donated to Goodwill for some other gullible shopper to get suckered into buying.
One-size-fits-all is a lie when it comes to clothing. And, I am coming to learn, it is a lie in pretty much everything else. When the IAM staff first got our iPhones, mine felt clunky and large in my smallish hands, while my coworkers who are men with much larger hands did not find it awkward at all. When I go somewhere, I slide easily into my Nissan Sentra, but when I recently gave my friend Allen a ride, his height and girth made my small car a bit of a challenge. For him, a truck or larger sedan would fit much better. The more I think about it, one size does not really "fit" all. Rather, "all" adjust or accommodate or simply get used to using something that doesn't fit all that well. The more I think about it, life depends on "all" adjusting to the "one-size." I suppose, in some backward way, that is how manufacturers can get away with saying that "one size fits all."
I subscribe to Books and Culture, the bi-monthly book review publication, but because of the profusion of reading material that fills my days (not to mention my desk, bedside table, coffee table, and dining table), each issue usually gets shuffled around from living room to bathroom to briefcase to Staten Island Ferry, and back again before I finally get to read it. That's why it took me until January 13 to read Rebecca Ward Lindsay's very helpful review in the November/December issue.
In "School Daze," Lindsay touches on three books that address the broken educational system in America. She rightly points out that, "No country can boast as many spectacular universities as the United States. And yet, our primary and secondary schools lag behind dozens of other nations." The three authors mentioned in this piece have differing opinions on the cause of our educational woes, and they each offer contrasting solutions to the troubles facing children in the public school systems as they are presently operating. Yet all seem to be unified on one thing: the system is in need of repair.
At International Arts Movement, we are not only interested in addressing issues facing artists and creative catalysts. Our interest as a movement is in the broken systems in all spheres of culture. And one system that is undeniably broken is our education system, from the current proliferation of standardized testing that has alienated and marginalized not only many students, but also teachers, to an imbalanced emphasis on critical thinking and problem-solving divorced from the creative arts. As the daughter of a retired public school music teacher, I witnessed the evolution that seemed to begin in the late '90's and early '00's, when Standards of Learning (SOL's) became the obsession of the public school system. Teachers, who had cultivated their programs through spending years in the classroom, had to suddenly become like drill sergeants, hammering information potentially covered by SOL test questions into their students so that they could keep their jobs and their students could be promoted to the next level.
As I was reflecting on this today, I called my mom, who is now retired from teaching but serves as a substitute teacher in the system in which she taught for years. In fact, she happened to be subbing today, and she called me back during her short lunch break. After we discussed her experiences as a public school teacher, she said, "There are cycles in education," she said. "What they're doing now is not what they will be doing later. We (teachers) just have to wait and adapt to those changes."
I remembered hearing about changes that my mom's programs experienced as the pressure mounted to pass SOL tests each spring. Mom used to produce school musicals that gave all of the children in a given grade level a chance to learn about performing, stage craft, dance, story-telling and other cultures. Occasionally, during the weeks of rehearsal, she would pull soloists or groups of dancers out of class for additional rehearsals. The teachers were very supportive and accommodating of this. However, as SOL pressure grew, the teachers no longer allowed students out of class for those short rehearsals. Instead, Mom was expected to mount school musicals with only two 30-minute rehearsals during her classes each week.
As a result, Mom had to "dumb down" her programs. Whereas in the past, she would invite a professional Spanish dancer to come in and teach one group of gifted movers some more challenging choreography, she could no longer do that with the limited time she had. She had to use simpler music, simpler movement and simplified dialogue. However, Mom pointed out optimistically that "a creative person can find ways to both accommodate the SOL requirements and keep it engaging for the kids." In fact, she adapted a musical for her school that incorporated lessons in Virginia history, which were part of the SOL prep, and the musical was so popular with the kids and effective as a teaching tool that other schools in her system requested the materials for their schools too, proving that, once again, necessity is a wonderful creative catalyst. She also used "Schoolhouse Rock" material liberally throughout the year, which "the kids loved."
In his excellent TED lecture, delivered in February 2006, creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson bluntly proposes that education, as we currently approach it, kills creativity. Challenging the way we're educating our children, Sir Ken champions "a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence."
The "one-size-fits-all" educational system that presently marks our nation simply doesn't work for everyone. But, as with every other broken system, most people adjust. (I almost said "simply adjust," but the adjustment is far from simple. Rather, the adjustment often requires a team of paraprofessionals, administrators, counselors, advocates and teachers working together to help certain students fit in to the one-size-fits-all system in whose margins they spend a third of their days.)
One of the questions that will be addressed at IAM's upcoming Encounter 10 will deal with this issue of how the one-size-fits-all education system is broken. We want to push people to wrestle deeply with the questions surrounding this issue and to cultivate creative, alternative approaches to a system that leaves so many floundering on the sidelines. While the actual question is still evolving a bit, we plan to ask something to the effect of, "Are we teaching art - and everything else - all wrong?"
Meanwhile, we would love to hear your thoughts. Do you agree with Sir Ken Robinson's assessment:
What these things have in common is that kids will take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a go. Am I right? They're not frightened of being wrong. Now, I don't mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know is, if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original. If you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this, by the way. We stigmatize mistakes. And we're now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities. Picasso once said this. He said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately, that we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it. So why is this?Are you an educator or parent who would like to connect with others who are displeased with the one-size-fits-all system currently being proliferated by our schools? Do you want to participate in this discussion?
Please send me your thoughts at christy (at) internationalartsmovement.org, and please consider joining us for Encounter 10, March 4-6 in lower Manhattan. Details can be found at www.IAMencounter.com.
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Through Fujimura, New York Produces its Bible
The commission is an illuminated manuscript designed and illustrated by Fujimura, published by Crossway to commemorate the four hundred year anniversary of The King James Bible. The leather-bound English Standard Version of the four Gospels, printed with a six-color metallic process, will be released January 2011. Five major new works by Fujimura will be reproduced before each gospel and on the frontispiece, making this the first such manuscript featuring abstract contemporary art in lieu of traditional representational illustrations. This unprecedented marriage of a modern, usually secular art form with ancient scripture is what most interests Fujimura, who aims to depict “the greater reality that the Bible speaks of... for the pure sake of integrating faith and art in our current pluralistic, multicultural world.”
The artist is quintessentially multicultural. Born in Boston to Japanese parents, Fujimura lived in three countries before the age of ten. While attending school in Japan and the US, he met and married an American woman, then became a New Yorker. He is both culturally and literally bilingual, a seasoned navigator of the uneasy overlap between East and West. But he also traverses the deeper divide between the art world and the church. As an Artist and a Christian rather than a Christian Artist, Fujimura is Crossway’s ideal candidate, an individual defined by the very juxtapositions this Bible will display.
Fujimura’s work also fits the commission. As a student of Nihonga, a Japanese technique dating to the 8th century, Fujimura and his classmates at the Tokyo University of Fine Art set out to “[break] with tradition in order to revitalize and expand the art form,” according to Dillon. Fujimura created an “entirely new approach to Nihonga,” a synthesis between traditional and modern techniques.
Fujimura is not alone in his complexity. Sociologist Tony Carnes sees Fujimura as part of a “global religious transformation,” the result of blurring lines between mainstream and religious culture. Another recent illustrated manuscript, Genesis, by decidedly secular illustrator R. Crumb, is evidence of this shift. Fujimura also recognizes this movement, saying “the Age of Faith is coming.” This illuminated manuscript, painted in Midtown Manhattan by a cultural navigator like Fujimura, will be further affirmation. “Jesus is a New Yorker,” Carnes says. “And he’s got an illustrated Bible.”
(Click here to download a PDF of this press release from Crossway.)
Susie Ibarra Selected for 2010 TED Fellowship
The TED2010 Fellows reflect both geographic and discipline diversity. From Israel to Brazil to Malaysia, these innovators excel in the technology, entertainment, design, science, film, art, music, entrepreneurship and nonprofit worlds. The group also includes filmmakers, engineers, artists, scientists and musicians.
"We are thrilled to embark upon our second year of the TED Fellows program with these 25 individuals. They represent a spectacular concentration of cross-disciplinary talent in the arts and sciences, entrepreneurship and engineering, education and new journalism. We look forward to their contributions to the TED community and the amazing collaborations that are sure to occur among them," said Tom Rielly, TED Fellows director.
In addition to participating as full members of the TED2010 conference audience, each TED Fellow will participate in a two-day pre-conference, where they will receive world-class communication training, deliver a short TEDTalk, and collaborate with their peers, among other benefits. The Fellows will also participate in the TED community throughout the next year, by telling their ongoing stories on the TED Fellows blog, being featured in the online Fellows directory and participating in a private social network.
The TED Fellows program seeks individuals of age 21-40 (though anyone over age 18 is eligible) who demonstrate remarkable achievement in their field of endeavor. The program focuses on candidates from five regions: Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East. The TED Fellows program is made possible by the visionary support of the Bezos family, Sherpalo Ventures, the Harnisch Foundation, the Case Foundation, private donors and Nokia.
Meet the TED2010 Fellows:
Mubarak Abdullahi (Nigeria/UK) - Aircraftengineer who, at 24, built a homemade helicopter out of old car and bike parts
Milena Boniolo (Brazil) - Chemistand PhD student at Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil, who is developing methods to detect emerging contaminants in the environment
Premesh Chandran (Malaysia) - Co-founder and CEO of Malaysiakini.com, an independent Malaysian news website
Perry Chen (US) - Co-founder and CEO of Kickstarter.com, a web platform offering people a new way to fund their creative ideas and endeavors
Anita Doron (Ukraine/Israel/Canada) - Surrealist filmmaker and documentarian
Ndubuisi Ekekwe (Nigeria/US) - Engineer, inventor, author and founder of the African Institution of Technology, an organization seeking to develop microelectronics in Africa
Saeed Taji Farouky (UK/Palestine) - Documentary filmmaker, photographer and writer focusing on human rights in the Middle East and North Africa
Jessica Green (US) - Professor at the University of Oregon's Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, whose research focuses on microbial diversity
Benjamin Gulak (Canada/US) - Inventor of the Uno, a "green" electric street bike, and founder of BPG Motors
Robert Gupta (US) - Violinist and youngest member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic whose area of study also included neurobiology
Cesar Harada (Japan/France/UK) - Coordinator of the Open_Sailing project, working to develop open-source technologies to intelligently inhabit the oceans
Susie Ibarra (US/Philippines) - Composer, percussionist and co-founder of Song of the Bird King, a production company using music and film to preserve indigenous culture and ecology
Jennifer Indovina (US) - Founder of Tenrehte Technologies, a semiconductor company developing wireless smart-grid applications
Mitchell Joachim (US/Canada) - Architect and co-founder of Terreform ONE + Terrefuge, non-profit design groups that promote ecological design in cities
Raffael Lomas (Israel) - Sculptor and teacher of creative visual workshops for the blind
Kate Nichols (US) - Artist-in-residence at the Alivisatos Lab who synthesizes nanoparticles that exhibit structural color and incorporates them into macroscale art pieces
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Pakistan/Canada) - Documentary filmmaker and founder of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan, an educational institution and heritage center established to preserve Pakistan's history.
Sarah Jane Pell (Australia) - Artist-researcher, diver and founder of Aquabatics Research Team initiative (ARTi)
Manu Prakash(India/US) - Junior Fellow at Harvard Society of Fellows, physicist and inventor pursuing research in the field of physical biology
Kellee Santiago (US) -President and co-founder of thatgamecompany, a video game company working to create games that communicate unique emotional experiences
Durreen Shahnaz (Bangladesh/Singapore/US) - Founder and Chairperson of Impact Investment Exchange Asia (IIX), a social stock exchange for Social Enterprises to raise growth capital
Gavin Sheppard(Canada) -Founder of I.C. Visions and co-founder of The Remix Project, a youth program acting as an arts and cultural incubator in Toronto, Canada
Hugo Van Vuuren (South Africa/US) - Fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Fellow at The Laboratory at Harvard, co-founder of Lebone - asocial enterprise working on off-grid technologies
Angelo Vermeulen (Belgium) - Biologist, filmmaker, and visual artist creating large-scale collaborative art installations
Daniel Zoughbie (US) - Founder and CEO of the Global Micro-Clinic Project (GMCP), an organization working to prevent and manage diseases in the developing world using low-cost behavioral interventions
Details on each Fellow and the program are available at www.ted.com/fellows. To support the program, or to receive more information, please contact Logan McClure at +1 212.346.9333 or via email at fellows@ted.com. Follow the TED Fellows blog at http://tedfellows.posterous.com.
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where three exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action, and TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world. Follow TED on Twitter, twitter.com/tedtalks, or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/TED
TED2010, "What the World Needs Now," will be held Feb. 9-13, 2010, in Long Beach, California, along with TEDActive, a simulcast conference of TED2010, in Palm Springs, California. TEDGlobal 2010, "And Now the Good News," will be held July 13-16, 2010, in Oxford, UK.
Mako's "Charis" Opens Tomorrow in Hong Kong
Makoto FUJIMURA: Charis
2009.12.12 - 2010.01.23
Opening reception: Saturday, December 12, 5-7 pm
Location: Gallery EXIT, G/F, 1 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong
Gallery opening hours: Mon - Sat, 1100 -1900
Website: www.galleryexit.com
Gallery EXIT is pleased to present Charis, the first solo exhibition of Makoto Fujimura in Hong Kong. The center piece Charis is a monumental gold composition over 3 meters in width which shows the significance of Fujimura's most powerful work. "Charis" is the Greek word that St. Paul used for "grace," shorthand for the word "charisma," which means gift. Art is a gift, and essentially, art is grace. The more Fujimura journeys deeply into the effects of gold and mineral pigments, the more he is taken by the refractive possibilities of the materials, while at the same time, drawing us into the glory built into them.
Makoto FUJIMURA was born in 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts. He received a M.F.A. from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a Japanese Governmental Scholarship in 1989. His thesis painting was purchased by the University and he was invited to study in the Japanese Painting Doctorate program, a first for an outsider to this prestigious traditional program.
It was during the six and a half years of studying in Japan that Fujimura began to assimilate the combinations of abstract expressionism explored in the US with the traditional Japanese art of Nihonga. After 20 years as a successful artist in Japan and the U.S., Fujimura has become a voice of bi-cultural authority on the nature and cultural assessment of beauty, by both creating it and exploring its forms. His paintings address the creative process and explore what it means to see. The work moves the observer from cognitive categorization to visceral experience.
The artist will be present at the artist talk and opening reception. There is still limited seasts left for the artist talk on December 12, 3:30 - 4:30pm. Please RSVP as soon as possible. For more information, please contact Doris Wong at the gallery at 2541 1299 or email info@galleryexit.com.
IAM's Maureen Lovett Warms Charlottesville
Maureen Lovett is part of the leadership of New City Arts Initiative, IAM's affiliate group in Charlottesville, VA. This Friday, she will open a solo exhibition in Charlottesville that was inspired, in part, by this essay by Nicholas Wolterstorff about the value of craft. Here is a bit of what Maureen says about her show (via her Artist's Statement):
"These banners explore a common language to name both the sacred and the profane. Rather than keeping our faults in the dark while esteeming our achievements, these praises and defeats acknowledge the co-existence of glory and mistake—to identify each as true. By abandoning the exclusive use of proclamation for celebration, these flags describe the character of both the sanctuary and the cul-de-sac, considering a way to lessen the margin between the church and daily life.
The garage's covering is the most bold and merciful layer. The knitting gracefully covers and triumphantly states its claim over both the exaltations and the faults of the space—or neighbor, community association, local church body, relatives, school board, self. “His banner over me is Love.”
In light of Advent, these banners find their roots in the redemption story. Though Israel abandoned the proclamations given by God to identify as His people, He still remembered His covenant and mercifully provided an everlasting covering—the Messiah. Woven through promised and fulfilled salvation, His ornament covers both the rebellion and performance of His people. This One will be our peace (Micah 5:5)."
IAM is proud to be connected with NCAI. If you're in or passing through Charlottesville in the next few weeks, be sure to connect with the vibrant arts community there.
IAM Global Blog
The IAM Global blog discusses news and updates for the entire International Arts Movement.