I take for granted the fact that I am surrounded by others. Not just any particular others, but others who happen to be quite great; others who make up the artistic community that I love. All is in harmony when we do as the Lord commands us, spending our thoughts and energies on serving and uplifting them, putting our identity into His hands.
It is times spent alone, however, that the doubts creep in and blur our clear sight. Being an artist requires this time alone. Let me correct myself, everyone requires those times of quiet devotion. These are likely what enemy hates most; the moments packed with the most potential to meet with God. His aim is disruption, using a strange weapon of choice; a rippled mirror, something vague and imperfect. He creeps around quietly waving that mirror, hoping for a moment to snare us by showing us a glimpse of ourselves in it. Oftentimes one look into the twisted reflection captures us and we find ourselves hypnotized. From one angle the warping creates a distorted ideal we find pleasing. The crafty one will then turn that mirror so it contorts our faces into ugly shapes and our darkest fears. In a seemingly generous gesture, the enemy hands over the mirror and we believe the lie.
To forget the truth is a terrible thing, more terrible than any physical hardship or tragedy that could befall us. Forgetting our identity changes the way we see others. Instead of enjoying the intimacy of our brothers and sisters we begin to despise their Christlike beauty because it stands in contrast to our newly discovered ugliness. Cold, slithering envy takes its grip on our love, intent on stealing its life.
But remembering.... Remembering is the warm hands that cup our face, turning our eyes to the face of Christ, our true reflection. His does not change with angle or time or circumstance. If only we could look into that face, memorize it, make it our most enduring thought. We would search it out in the world around us, and behold! we would find it in the faces of those others!
Our Own Art Community
I am always excited at the incredibly varied worlds of discovery that form around artist. There are no two alike.
My own studio filled with wood scraps waiting to be repurposed.
Amelia Key creates musical structures with colorful, synthetic odds and ends.
Chris Brown's natural and built surfaces undergo a process of carefully built wax layers.
Emily Goff's natural world is a reconstructed and re-contextualized version of our own familiar one.
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