Along with a Christmas hope for each of you to experience the peace of Christ this season, I thought I might take a couple of minutes to share what I have been up to.
I know many of you who follow my work do not hold to my faith, but I so appreciate that you like the way I express my take on beauty or have such a passion to see people succeed in their art, so I would ask that you might chalk this blog entry up as an explanation of why you haven't heard from me in a while and when I am going to start painting again.
It started with faith the size of a mustard seed. Some ARE aware that I have been preoccupied lately with an organization called "Faith Arts" -- Let me tell you about it in case it's all news to you. As a young adult in the 1980s (yes, those dreamy eighties) -- after reading philosopher and arts-loving theologian, Francis Schaeffer, I imagined to one day start a group where artists of the Christian faith could gather to find support, be encouraged to share their art, develop their skills, and find meaningful connections between their personal faith in Jesus Christ and their art of choice.
Twenty-five years later, I enjoyed hashing out my ideas with church leadership in St. Catharines and was thrilled to see the first regularly meeting Christian arts group sprout up there. However, preferring to open the idea up to the whole region, friend and artist, Josh Tiessen and I grew a new core group of artists called IN The Arts & Christian Thought (inTACT) from several area churches over the next 4 years, eventually adding a virtual component (aka no boundaries).
Today, in its fifth year, with a rebrand and a solid vision team behind me, Faith Arts was launched with over 100 members) -- including visual and performing artists, actors, writers, musicians, and other makers -- coming from as far as London and Toronto, Ontario, a few individuals from Alberta and the US, with room to expand. It has certainly been a team effort and I look forward to seeing continued creative personal applications of art to faith within our various churches and communities.
#dreamcometrue. Now that it is more established, it frees me up a bit.
. . . And this brings me to my NEXT announcement. Shaking in my boots a bit, I am officially committing to launching a private exhibit with TOTALLY NEW or never before exhibited work by moi. So unless something unforeseen happens, I will announce a time and place for for it. Will it be Spring? Summer? Fall? I have no idea yet, so follow my FB page or Instagram and get ready to watch me create fresh pieces to collect for my show. You can cheer me on with loves or even shares - FYI. So wish me the best and pray for me as I seek to express the beauty I see in nature -- perhaps I will capture something for your wall one day. RESPOND now with ideas for my new art...animals? herbs? other?
Sincerely,
Lorenda
You can snoop around here too. . .