The Maker's Space

A beautiful reflection on pursuing beauty and how it is an act of worship.  Check out her post on beauty on http://www.stephanierische. com/beauty-as-an-act-of- worship/

Our inner artist is a child and needs to be able to play.  Our artist brain is our inventor, our child.  It sees things and says "Wow!  I like that color, that pattern, that verse...."  Our logic brain is our Censor.  It says, "That's not right.  I can't do that.   It's too hard."   We battle to let the child come out by the Censor, an internal and eternal critic who resides in our left brain and keeps up a constant stream of subversive remarks that are often disguised as the truth.  But remember that your Censor's negative opinions are not truth.  It takes practice to let go of the negativity and allow yourself to play and fail.  With gentle, deliberate effort, shadow artists must nurture their artist child.  Creativity is play, but for shadow artists, learning to allow themselves to play is hard work. #1. " To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."  Joseph Chilton Pearce Try something unsafe an...

My friend Tanya found herself in New York City for the day and decided to go to MOMA, the museum of modern art.  She is also in the process of going through her children's art  keepsakes and wondered why some of these paintings looked as if her children had done them when they were in preschool.  "Someone needs to explain to me why my kids aren't famous?"  She was standing next to a stranger looking at this last painting of OOF.  He said, "Note the perfect shape of the O.  Its perfectly round."  Tanya responded, "The F's proportions are perpendicular to the O.  As a result, the word OOF seems to come alive!" Then they both started laughing.  Another gentleman turned around and gave both of them a disapproving glance.  LOL @ MOMA

LENT                               This was a puzzle that we gave multiple artists to paint their interpretation of                                           their brokenness.  When they all came together, it formed the cross. There are wonderful websites to check out for creative images to ponder during LENT. One is  http://www.covchurch.org/news/ 2014/03/05/online-lenten-art- series-questions-god-asks/ These are artists interpretations of questions. Another is a creative take on the Easter tree: http://www.theeastertree.com The Glen Ellyn Covenant Evangelical Church's SOUTH ALCOVE GALLERY is featuring Serbian artist Dragan Milosavljevic.  Dragan is classically trained from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University in Belgrade, is married to a Bosnian/Slovakian woman and the...

"Personally, I think bad weather leads to better art.  You don't want to go outside, so you stay inside and work.  When I lived in Cleveland, I got a lot of work done in the brutal months of winter.  Down here in Texas, I get all my work done in the wicked hot summers.  (The Cleveland winter and the Texas summer last about the same length of time--half the year.)"   Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

Introduction to Poetry by Diane Brown The Maker's Space community art group at Glen Ellyn Evangelical Covenant Church Feb.18, 2014 Introduction to Poetry Last Tuesday   Diane Brown opened with Genesis 3:23-24, the banishment of man from the Garden of Eden.  She said, "The rest of human history is flavored by that tragedy, that lost happiness, and the poet's purpose is to probe the wound, press on the bruise, sometimes even open the old scar.  He attempts to find a remedy; sometimes he doesn't.  All he is required to do is to remind us that the pain is there, that it is real.  And our job is to respond, ‘Yes, it is.’  It is a lie to say otherwise."   It was an inspiring evening that too many of you missed.  So, Diane has agreed to do a repeat  Intro to Poetry.   Mark your calendars for  April 15  and bring a theme, an idea and any of your own works of poetry.  This is an important skill to try because it touches us in ver...

The Division of Arts and Communication at Wheaton College presents an Aesthetics Lecture by painter Chris Anderson at  7 p.m. Thursday, February 20 . The annual lecture is titled "Beauty in the Ordinary Places: The Concept of Home in an Artist's Theology of the Cross." For over a decade, the art of New York painter Chris Anderson has addressed the theme of American culture, focusing on traditions in the contemporary home and neighborhood. She has received numerous awards and honors for her work. This event will also feature the poetry of Brett Foster of Wheaton's English faculty and live music by Lee Joiner and Howie Whitaker of the Wheaton College Conservatory faculty. Sponsored by the Division of Arts and Communication at Wheaton College, this free event takes place in Coray Gymnasium, located at 421 Chase Street in Wheaton. For more information, call the Conservatory of Music at 630.752.5099 .