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.