Creating, expressing, making – they all have a spiritual component.
Makoto Fujimura, artist and author of “Art+Faith: A Theology of Making,” once said that what he does in the studio as an artist is as much theological work as it is aesthetic work. While pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer and praise.
But even if an artist didn’t approach a work through the lens of spiritual discipline, we can view art with eyes to see what God would have us see in the present day. Artists, whether faith-based or not, help us see what we wouldn’t normally.
We serve the Creator God who made us creative. So, it is with that perspective that we approach art.
At Engage South KC, a church that works regularly at the intersections of faith and art, spiritual disciplines often take them to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art campus.
There, they prayer walk through art. Over Memorial Day weekend, they enjoyed a walk through the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, stopping at 10 sculptures to ponder them through the lens of 1 Thessalonians 1:3.
We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 THESSALONIANS 1:3
At each sculpture, they shared if it caused them to think about living by faith, laboring in love or enduring with hope. And how? Then, they broke out watercolors and paper to create their own paintings on the lawn of The Nelson.
You can take your own prayer walk at The Nelson by downloading it here.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
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