Stenographic Figure

Hey, Friends!

These past two days have been a whirlwind!

Yesterday was pretty awesome. I spent a portion of the morning sitting in Central Park just having some time with the Lord. I've been reading this book about Charles Schulz (the creator of Peanuts) struggling as a Christian artist. He was a very strong Christian and wanted to put his faith into his comics. The book examines how he was able to do that while still appealing to everyone who opens a newspaper regardless of their faith. Its been an enjoyable read since it is so applicable to project :)

After that, the group headed on over to the International Art Movement (IAM) building to hear a Japanese Christian artist talk about his story. He was incredible! He said some pretty cool things about what it meant for him to be a Christian artist and how he is able to glorify God in his artwork. His talk was good to hear. We spent some more time listening to what the staff researched about different forms of art. They spoke about a lot of things I was unfamiliar with...hearing about more kinds of artwork is always a good thing.

We went to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) after that. You all know how much I love looking at art, so you all should know how stinkin' excited I was. The whole museum was INCREDIBLE! I got to see some of the works I've been drooling over in my art history books! Seeing them in person is so insane...seriously, looking at a picture of them doesn't do them any justice. We spent awhile in there...I wish we could go back. The only disappointment was that Starry Night was on tour :(

Some people headed on out to a concert, but a small group of us just went out to dinner and headed back to project housing. We spent a couple of hours in the sketchy basement (Seriously, the basement is sketchtastic) talking and playing mafia. I had such a good time! The bonding going on between all of us has been incredible. The group is pretty comfortable, and we all get along so well. It helps that we're a small group too...19 students and 12 staff.

Today wasn't as busy, but it was still a really good day. We were in the studio from 9am until a little after 9pm. I have never spent so much time in a studio in my life, but it was much needed. Its no secret that I have been struggling with not being in a college art program. I spent all of highschool in the art studio, and I really felt like I was missing out not being in a college studio. These past two years I pretty much thought it would be hopeless to pursue anything with my art since my skills wouldn't be as refined as I would like them to be. However, being on this trip has made me realize that that's pretty silly. You don't have to be in a college program in order to pursue your own art. We spent the morning doing activities to warm us up for the afternoon. After the activities, we spent hours just planning and planning what the focus of our art exhibition would be. It was so fun just making plans in my little sketchbook for a couple hours. We spent the last hour in the studio sharing what we came up with and seeing where we could go from there. Seriously, being back in the studio felt so good.

I really feel like this trip is going to help ease the struggles that all of the Christian artists on this trip are dealing with. Its really hard trying to combine your faith and your art in a way that won't instantly turn off people who are not Christians. We want to be able to glorify God through our work, but also appeal to people. If we fill our work with Christian lingo and symbols, then some of the meaning could be lost for those who don't understand. Its the same thing with sharing your faith: if you talk to people in terms they don't understand, then you have lost your audience.

We talked about something a couple days ago that really stuck with me. A lot of us feel like we can really connect with nature since its something so beautiful that God made, which is awesome! I sure felt that way about Vail. God's creations out there were so breathtaking. However, all of us here have the opportunity to be with millions of God's masterpieces - people! How awesome is that?! We're surrounded by so many people who God just loves so so much. Its really cool to think about it that way, and it makes me really happy to have the chance to reach out to all of them.

Other than that, not much else has been going on. Just hanging out with the people here and thinking of things to do for our exhibition. Tomorrow we get to meet our mentors who are established Christian artists living and working in the city. They'll go over our work that we brought with us and get to know us a little better. I'll be working with a Christian illustrator!! I'm so excited!!

Oh...and a very Happy Half Birthday to Natalie!!