artist

Words from Fench Impressionist Claude Monet

Claude Monet at his canvas.

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.”
“I would like to paint the way a bird sings.”
“People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it’s simply necessary to love.”
“I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.”
“No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.”
“Take clear water with grass waving at the bottom. It’s wonderful to look at, but to try to paint it is enough to make one insane.”
“I’ve done what I could as a painter and that seems to me to be sufficient. I don’t want to be compared to the great masters of the past, and my painting is open to criticism; that’s enough.”

“Sufjan Stevens’ 10 Best Spiritual Songs”

by Jesse Carey
Via http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/sufjan-stevens-10-best-spiritual-songs#VkR8tc7hZeEpkeY4.99

Singer-songwriter/sound scientist/lover of long song titles Sufjan Stevens recently released the first track off his upcoming album Carrie & Lowell, due out on March 31. “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” is the indie-folk star at his darkest, with lyrics that reflect on the complexity of faith, forgiveness and sacrifice.

In a lead up to Stevens’ first new album in nearly five years, here’s a look back at some of his best songs of faith, spiritual devotion and worship.

1) “To Be Alone with You” – Seven Swans

From Seven Swans, Stevens’ most overtly spiritual album, “To Be Alone with You” is a haunting ode to sacrifice and devotion with lines like “You gave your body to the lonely / They took your clothes” and “To be alone with me / You went up on a tree”.

2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” – Hark!

Part of his massive Christmas collection, Stevens’ take on the classic hymn builds from a quiet, banjo-strumming request to “Come thou fount of every blessing / tune my heart to sing thy grace” into joyous collective that proclaims, “Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.”

3) “Holy, Holy, Holy” – Peace

Another re-imagining of a church staple, Stevens’ folky “Holy, Holy, Holy” arrangement is a wonderfully tender worship song.

4) “He Woke Me Again” – Seven Swans

One of the dreamy faith narratives from Seven Swans, Stevens swoons “He came, he came to my bedroom / But I was asleep / He woke me up again to say: Halle Halle Halleluiah / Holy Holy is the sound”

5) “Abraham” – Seven Swans

Stevens’ ode to the Biblical forefather, the song recounts the moment an angel spared Isaac’s life from Abraham’s sacrifice in obedience to God.

6) “Casimir Pulaski Day – Illinois

One of the songwriter’s most heartbreaking stories, “Casimir Pulaski Day” is about when prayers for healing aren’t answered, and the complicated faith questions that come in times of tragedy. “We lift our hands and pray over your body, but nothing ever happens,” is as sad a line as you’re likely to hear in contemporary music.

7) “The Transfiguration” – Seven Swans

In “Transfiguration,” Stevens imagines what the disciples witnessed in Matthew 17: “Then there came a word of what he should accomplish on the day / Then Peter spoke, to make of them a tabernacle place / A cloud appeared in glory as an accolade / They fell on the ground / A voice arrived, the voice of God / The face of God covered in a cloud”

8) “Amazing Grace” – Noel

Even though it’s part of his collection of Christmas songs, Stevens’ “Amazing Grace” is a timeless take on faith’s most well-known hymn.

9) “The Seer’s Tower” – Illinois

With its allusions to the Old Testament’s Babel and the book of Revelation, “The Seer’s Tower” is an ominous look at biblical prophecy.

10) “Ah Holy Jesus” – Silver and Gold

Probably his most stripped down hymn, “Ah, Holy Jesus” is a church sing-along, as unpolished and authentic as anything on Silver & Gold.

Photo by Wendy Redfern/Redferns
Via http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/sufjan-stevens-10-best-spiritual-songs#VkR8tc7hZeEpkeY4.99

“The Christian in the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.”

― Francis A. Schaeffer, Art & the Bible

“New Artists Who Are Motivated by Christianity” by Ken Johnson

“There have certainly been great modern fiction writers who have identified themselves as Christians – Flannery O’Connor, for example. But it is hard to think of many great contemporary visual artists who have made Christian faith central to their work. This thought is prompted by a less-than-inspirational exhibition, on view now at the Museum of Biblical Art, of works by 44 artists who explore Christian themes.”

Click Here to Read the Full Article.

Artist Profile: Melanie Carroll

Monday Art Classes

By Maegan Carroll

Art has the ability to play an important role in the life of a child or teen. Art teachers are often a strong influence in the lives of their students. Melanie Carroll is an elementary through high school art teacher who has a heart for encouraging creativity in the children and teens she teaches.

Melanie Carroll has been teaching art for over a decade. Melanie, like most artists, has had an interest in art since a very early age. “The first time I had an art class that really encouraged me was in middle school,” said Melanie. “We didn’t have art classes at our school, so a very sweet lady in the community volunteered to come and teach classes one day a week. I learned a lot from her and will never forget how encouraging she was. I also had a great teacher in high school that encouraged me to pursue an art degree in college.”

Melanie Carroll assisting a student.

Melanie’s desires weren’t always to be a teacher. “I didn’t really know that this [teaching art] is what God had planned for me,” says Melanie, “I did love all my art teachers over the years and I think that may be what has instilled that foundation of teaching in me. They made a big difference in my life, and I hope that I am making a difference in my students life as well”

After college, where she earned an Associate’s Degree in Fine Art, she wanted to pursue a career in advertising, and held a few jobs in that field. However, Melanie states, “Once I started a family, my desires changed and I wanted to stay home with my children instead of pursuing a career. I ended up homeschooling my two children.”

Melanie Carroll’s high school art class.

While taking the role of a homeschool mom, Melanie discovered the need for Art education in the homeschool community. She then started teaching art to homeschool students, and her teaching grew from there.

Melanie’s first position teaching art was a volunteer job at a local “umbrella” private school that her own children attended. Here she was the Art Director, and oversaw other teachers who were also volunteers. Melanie accomplished much as the Art Director for the group. “I encouraged the students to enter competitions and for the first time in the school’s history, our students made it to the national level and competed against other private schools.”

Melanie Carroll and a few of her elementary art students.

After leaving the school, because her own children found interest elsewhere, several of the parents of homeschool students that attended the private school offered to pay Melanie for art lessons for their children. Upon seeing the need for Art education in the homeschool community, Melanie decided to start her own classes. She started out renting space from Arts on the Park Gallery in Lakeland, Fl. When Arts on the Park closed, Melanie found classroom space where she currently teaches at Hobby Lobby.

Melanie believes that creativity is important for everyone. Her desire for teaching and encouraging creativity in children and teens comes from her belief that “God has instilled in us the ability and need to create.”

Melanie Carroll in front of student’s work on display at the Platform Art Kid’s show.

It is obvious that Melanie enjoys what she does. Teaching art classes has impacted her life and also her student’s. Encouragement in art can have such a boost towards a child’s confidence. She says that having the ability to encourage students to be creative is what she loves most about being an art teacher.

“I love to see a student that starts out with no confidence, proudly show off their completed work. I love to see the smile and look on a child’s face when they realize that they can do anything they set their mind to,” says Melanie. “I have so many great memories. Not only watching my students, but also teaching art to my own two children and watching them grow in their abilities as artists. I think the best part of teaching is seeing how all my students will take an assignment and make it their own. I can have a dozen students in one class and everyone will add their own style and each work of art will look a little different. I love when a student finds their own style and embraces that. Encouraging a reluctant student and seeing them grow and become confident is the best feeling, and the reason that I love teaching.”

TED Talks: The Unexpected Math Behind Van Gogh’s Starry Night

Artist Profile: Rachel Stewart

“What Remains” – Mixed Media

By Maegan Carroll

It takes a lot of faith to become an artist; Faith in your work, faith in God, and faith in yourself. As a Christian artist, one of the biggest questions you may ask is, “Why do I have these gifts?” and “How do I relate this to God’s purpose for my life?” These are a few questions that Rachel Stewart, professor of Advanced Illustration at Southeastern University, has answered through her experiences.

Rachel is an accomplished artist and a devoted follower of Christ. Throughout Rachel’s life she has been able to grow and learn through teaching and creating art.

Coming from a very strict Christian upbringing, Rachel was taught by her parents the importance of prayer and scriptural reading. “Every morning before we went out the door to school all three sisters gathered together as my father prayed over our lives,” says Rachel.

When Rachel was thirteen a tragic incident took place that would mark her life for years to come, the passing away of her mother due to breast cancer.

Five years later her father remarried and Rachel received a stepmother that she would grow to love and respect. Rachel says, “Today Mollie, soon to be 104, exemplifies how God wants us to love.”

Rachel fell in love with art, especially drawing, at the Christian high school she attended. There she learned techniques that would help her create works of art. During her senior year Rachel entered an art contest that would change her life.

“In an innocent step of faith,” says Rachel, “I prayed that if I won this contest, this would be a sign that I should be come an artist.”

Rachel won the contest and then applied to Boston University College of Fine Art. Four years later she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Art in sculpture.

After graduation Rachel was offered a job teaching art at an after-school community for at risk children. “While teaching the young kids, I saw how art was an essential part of developing their expression,” says Rachel.

Later, Rachel would move to Jamaica where she would live for twenty years and start a family, marrying a Jamaican man and having a daughter named Naomi.

Edna Manley College of the Visual Arts in Jamaica is where Rachel worked teaching. While there, Rachel completed three wall murals in the capitol of Kingston. She also had her work exhibited in many galleries and won a number of awards, things that she considers to be her largest accomplishments in art.

Rachel says “The twenty years I lived there are the most important years of my life, not only in my development as an artist and person, but also when I came back to know the Lord in a special community of Christian people.”

Another of Rachel’s accomplishments was returning back to the U.S. and earning her Master’s Degree. Later finding her way to Southeastern University where she now teaches Advanced Illustration.

Rachel receives her inspiration from many things, “Social change, lives that have been dramatically transformed, women’s issues, the human figure and how it moves, nature’s creations, identity, culture to name a few. But during the last ten years of my life, I am inspired by spiritual truths that come out of the Word of God, either through story or specific verses or concepts. I am intrigued by ideas of personal restoration, renewal, transformation, and regeneration- things that God works within our lives to bring us back to His redemptive grace and love.”

One of Rachel’s biggest challenges was to understand why she was given a passion and talent for art, and how she could apply this to God’s purpose for her life. During the many years Rachel has spent as an artist God has helped her to answer her questions.

“When I was in Jamaica and heard the teaching from scripture about Bezalel and Oholiab in Exodus 35:30-36, my eyes and heart were open–it was a revelation about who I was in Christ.”

Rachel also found inspiration from Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible. Rachel states, “This inspiring book helped me to pull my fragmented life as an artist and my other life as a Christian into a whole person. I struggled to give this talent to God because for years it had been mine—it was a true awakening to His grace and love.”

Rachel found her purpose in art as a “re-creator.” “I can plant the seed through the title of my works and answer the question a viewer might have about the meaning of art.”

Rachel is a great example of how a Christian artist can use their talents to present their experiences and faith to others.

“Go Back and Return” – Mixed Media

“Have You Seen Us?” – Drawing

“His Hand” – Sculpture

“Maoko” – Sculpture