The Friday Arts Project in Rock Hill, South Carolina is having a show called "Red & Green" (Tonight) Saturday, December 5th. I submitted a digital painting to the gallery- It's the beginning of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem. It's red and green! (Those happen to be two of my favorite colors, if you didn't know that. And not just because I love Christmas.)
The coffee shop is called Cupps. Their beliefs are Coffee, Culture, Conversation. I agree.
Opening night. Remember the painting on the bottom left in my Maya room? There it is, in it's glorious original colors on the back wall! (It's a collaboration from Brandon Oxendine and meeee)
The guitar playing barista! Someone remind me what his name is.. He was a super cool fella.
I can't exactly find the words to say about the Ex Morte Vita opening. I can tell you that a hundred something people from around the Charlotte/Rock Hill area came.. I could say that everything got done in time and worked out, even when there were multiple times when I thought we were stuck. I could say that I learned (again) how important communication is.. and I could say that overall, the show was a success and big questions are being asked on both sides, just a little bit more loudly.
I don't think that any of those sentences can completely sum up everything I feel about the process of learning and working and staying up late together... and missing mulitple nights of sleep having fun and working in the halls together to get our pieces done in time.
A friend said,
"This week I feel like I've finally realized why God directed me to Winthrop."
and those couple of words completely sum up the gratitude in my heart for what happened these past three weeks. If this person is the only one who feels this way, (and I have a sneaky suspicion there might be a few more) then every second of every experience was more than worth it.
Credits to Kari Heywood, she's pretty much amazing.. also a great narrator/video editor/singer/song writer/ funny person. What can I say, she's a woman of many talents!
When I look back at the time I've spent here in New York City, it feels like a big blur. I want to be able to remember every day of being here.. all of the ups and downs...
I guess it's kind of like in painting.. It's important to be able to step back and figure out where you're at all together, what has changed, and what there is that still can be changed.
Spiritually, I've learned a lot about some of the characteristics of God. I should have though, right? I mean, the gallery was supposed to answer the question "What is the image of God?". But as we discovered here, there is no way to pinpoint who God is in His entirety.. with a couple of paintings and a few well written stories and poems.
Something I really like about the gallery... is that in every piece of art, the artist has their own individual perspective about who God is. Meaning- God has shown himself to all of us in different ways... and those glimpses, though they are from one unchanging Creator, are different, allowing us to create personally and intimately as worship and praise.
2x2
a collaborative art exhibition
July 5, 2007
5:00-8:00
Private Opening
At 5:00 we opened the NYCAMS doors for the Tribeca 2007 Collaborative show. The theme, "2x2" said on many levels what we were doing with the gallery. Two is the smallest number of people needed to collaborate. Also, the theme explained the format of most of the art in the gallery as a square, or 'two-by-two.' (get it?)
This was the first exhibition I've ever gotten to be a part of.... it was so exciting! And, by it being a show in New York City, one which accomplished artists, professors, and the public flocked to see, I feel so much more encouraged as an artist. (yes, an artist! I just called myself that!)
It was an eye-opening experience in the sense that I feel like the goals I have set for myself and for my art are actually attainable and that I really do have the potential to make a difference in the culture I live in. The whole process of creating art with a Christian worldview is exciting, challenging, scary, and humbling. Going into this summer project and continuing through the whole first week of being in New York, I was absolutely terrified. I was very aware that I was the very youngest person in the group and that my portfolio and skill level were definitely not up to par yet in the technical aspects. In my mind, this equated out to me that I was too little and inexperienced to be able to affect anything or make art that was of any value.
God blew that out of the water. And what I love the most about the changes that happened in my art and in my mind and with my friends is that is that I can't take any credit! God used me, in spite of my flaws and naivety and inexperience ... and He showed me that He is amazing, and that He is the one who gives life. God has the power to do absolutely anything... He could easily just zap the world all at once and solve every problem that ever existed, but he chooses to use us (!) to help make change!
My friend Hannah describes it this way: Picture yourself as a kid hanging out with your dad in the garage, and you're hammering nails into boards of wood. Your dad is hammering the nails so easily... one or two hits and the nail is in all the way embedded in the wood. Then he hands you a rubber hammer... the real hammer is too heavy for you to hold at your young age...
And he lets you help him hammer. He could have easily and effortlessly hammered every single nail in, but he is letting you help because he loves you and wants you to have a part in it. He wants you to be able to say that you got to help with this one... or that one over there....
I kind of feel like that's what God has been doing for me by letting me come to Tribeca... and by putting me where he has at Winthrop... or by letting me meet people here who I can hopefully continue to be friends with for a long time.
