Adrienne Chaplin on why art matters

The first time I've encountered Adrienne Chaplin was through "Art and Soul - Signposts for Christians in the Arts by Brand, Hilary, Chaplin, Adrienne (2001)". That book was one of the first were I felt understood as an artist and didn't get the impression that some creative Christians tried to comment on a field they were not part of. The talk underneath contains some good arguments why the church needs the arts. I often find myself quoting some. You might find this talk helpful too. 

Cross painters - Article about Iconography and creativity

"Cross painter" - the term became a joke in our team of artists serving at a Christian teenage conference. While fascinating the opportunity for teenagers to paint, we observed a multitude of hearts, "Jesus-loves-you"s, and crosses. Why do people think this is what they have to do on a Christian conference? I felt that Cole Nesmith shares this pain. Don't miss out on his article:

http://www.colenesmith.com/2011/08/iconography-and-creativity/

peace

This drawing is from my graduation show last year. I want to share it with the comment one of my classmates made about it. After she had looked at the work on paper for some time she stepped back and started to speak about peace with me. This touch me a lot. 

Looking back over my years at the art college, I often wondered how my art should look like;  how my faith should be mirrored in it. Do you know this struggle? I early figured out that I'm neither interested in figurative drawing nor in painting in general. The classic Christian medium was apparently not of my interest. More and more, I began to enjoyed abstract and geometric sculpture and works on paper. So I explored these field over the years. But for church, I kept a separate sketch book filled with figurative drawings. I was convinced that Christians don't understand abstract and therefore I need to train my figurative drawing skills in order to share and encourage. I didn't believe that God could or would like to speak through my studio art work. (Nor that He had put that interest in me with a specific purpose.) God speaks through prophetic pictures: yes! Through abstract: maybe ... but very unlikely. 

These were my thoughts and struggles with finding my own art practice. Though, when my classmate started to speak about peace I had to pause. Without me pushing for the big message, she was able to see what has been on my heart. That year "peace" was one of my big prayer requests and field I explored with God. I got more and more impatient to live without peace. I was aware that this desire had influenced my prayer life and taught me new ways to seek Him. But then, all of a sudden, there He was, in my graduation piece, letting me share in a visual way what I had received from Him: peace beyond my understanding. Again, I was amazed that He sees connections where I don't. And that all the way long, He was guiding me well. 

Does speaking in tongues have an influence on my art making?

The longer I walk with Christ the more I'm challenged to seek Him in all I do. I especially love it to be on this journey with Him in my art making. What I'm pondering about right now is how speaking in tongues is linked to my art practice. This came when a friend challenged me this summer to pray regularly in tongues and see if things will change. She told me about a friend who did the challenge for some months and had quiet some special encounters in that time. It might be linked to speaking in tongues or not. Who knows. But I was up for it. I like games. And challenges. So I started to have a set time during my quiet time in the mornings to pray in tongues. I didn't grew up with the Holy Spirit and therefore didn't expect a lot from it. Some weeks before, I had started to make a drawing while my quiet time in order to give God the space to speak to and through me. Usually, unlikely my abstract art practice, I ended up drawing figurative pictures and sometimes handed the results to people afterwards. I kept this time of drawing during the speaking in tongues challenge. And my drawings turned abstract. This was weird to me. I always though God wanted to communicate! Clearly! In a way, I realized that I've never believed that God was able to speak through my abstract and geometric drawings and installations. In my head, God only spoke with figurative paintings. When speaking in tongues I had to let go of understanding. Of controlling. And letting God move me.  To be more lead by Him and less by my own ideas was new. And still, I don't know if both is link. But anyways, I want to keep both up: speaking in tongues; letting my soul tell God what is really important. And allowing God to take over in my art making.
I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Please comment.