Archive for April, 2010

Sojourn Photographers Unite!

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3525472837_ec8b2d1fb9Sunday, May 9th is mothers day.  Before and after Sojourn services, we’re going to honor the moms in our midst by making portraits of them with their families.  We’ll then mail each mom a print. We did this last year too.  Check out last year’s mothers day pictures here.

To do this, we need a number of photographers.  You’ll be responsible for the shooting and then Michael Winters will be responsible for getting the images edited and to the moms.  It would be good too if you could bring along an assistant to help you keep track of the names and addresses.

Email mwinters@sojournchurch.com if you’d be willing to take one or more of these time slots.

Mothers Day Photography – Sunday, May 9th

Midtown
8:30-9:15 (2) Buck Buchanon with Amy
10:15-11:30 (2) Buck Buchanon with Amy
12:30-1:15 (2) Courtney Crain with Kristin Miller
4:30-5:15 (2)
6:15-7:15 (2)

East
9:15-10:00 Ginny Hobbs, Cody Chaplin
11:15-12:00 Ginny Hobbs, Cody Chaplin

Every Church in Fayette County

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Tonight in Lexington Travis Shaffer will have the closing reception for his exhibit “Every Church in Fayette County.”   Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet him at the gallery and talk to him about the show.  The exhibit marks the final project of his masters degree at UofK.

By searching the phone book and google maps, Travis found every church building in Fayette County (surrounding Lexington) and then went and made a photograph of the exterior.  Over 200 prints are displayed in grids.  A painted map with pins marks the locations of each church building and each individual print shows the GPS coordinates of where the church is located.

As part of the closing reception tonight at Land of Tomorrow Gallery a performance element will be added to the exhibit when Travis will hand out ‘giving envelopes’ much like you might find in a church.  For whatever amount a visitor would like to pay, they can exchange the ‘offering’ for a print, and take a piece from the exhibit home with them.  Travis explained to me that he hopes this clever financial exchange will provide insight into the reasons that art institutions are constantly in need of money while many churches thrive.  By offering a pay-what-you-want option for art buying he’s able to open the purchase of art to a much larger audience and hopes that his own artmaking might become sustainable in this way.  He also hopes to open up the Every Church project to other cities where he can imagine making it a collaboration with other photographers, not making all the pictures himself.

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The outside of the gallery.  Travis added the steeple.

Breaking it Down: Prayer & Wisdom

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Sunday, April 25.  1:45 – 3:45 p.m.

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This Sunday we’ll be having a Sojourn Visual Arts Vision Lunch.  You definitely want to come to that, but even if you can’t make that, maybe you can come help us break down the Prayer & Wisdom exhibit.  It’s been nice having it up, but the time has come to say goodbye.  We’ll need to get everything off the walls and off the floor, and there’s A LOT of stuff on the walls and on the floor.

Just show up Sunday around 1:45 if you’re coming just for gallery break down, but if you want to come to the Visual Arts Vision Lunch that starts at 12:45, RSVP by emailing michael@the930.org.

Congratulations to Alan Vales

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Family Curse: Desire by Alan Vales

Sojourn artist Alan Vales just found out that 3 of his assemblage artworks will be included in the new CIVA traveling exhibit Curse or Calling? At Work in God’s World.

The exhibit opens in August at Evangel University and then will go on to travel around the country for up to three years. I’m sure we’ll get together a whole crew to go attend the exhibit opening. I’ll post the invite here when it gets closer. This is a big deal and we definitely want to celebrate with Alan. Alan hopes to one day make a living with his art, so this is a strong step in that direction.

About CIVA

CIVA stands for Christians In The Visual Arts and is the largest organization of its kind. Their mission is to explore and nurture the relationship between the VISUAL ARTS and the CHRISTIAN FAITH, a pretty great mission if you ask me. And they’ve been around since 1979 so they’ve got a track record. They put together exhibits, workshops, and conferences. They publish books and a quarterly magazine called Seen which recently has focused on really interesting contemporary work.  In the fall CIVA Seen I’ll be answering some questions about what a gallery director/curator looks for from artists.  Generally, CIVA does whatever they can to support Christian artists and churches, so I’d recommend becoming a member and getting involved.

Art and Social Transformation

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Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo.

This video describes a great example of how artist Jason Eppink used artistic creativity make real, physical social transformation happen.

Sojourn Visual Arts Vision Lunch

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Sunday, April 25.
12:45 – 1:45 p.m.
in the Listening Room

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This is sort of like a Vision Catalyst meeting for our specific ministry area.
And this is both for first-timers who want to get involved and those of you who have been a part of Sojourn Visual Arts for a good while.

We’ll discuss where we see Sojourn Visual Arts and the 930 going over the next ten years, or at least the next three years.
What will the 930 be like after Sojourn acquires St. Vincent’s? How will Sojourn Visual Arts capitalize on the recent success of the Prayer & Wisdom exhibit? What exciting projects are happening throughout the rest of this year? We’ll tell you at this get together.

And if you have project ideas or a desire to see Sojourn Visual Arts grow in a certain way, bring your ideas. This will be a great opportunity for dreaming and praying for a wonderful future for Sojourn’s artistic ministries.

Then, stick around if you can to help take down the Prayer & Wisdom exhibit.

So we know how much pizza to order, write michael@the930.org and let us know you’re coming.

Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son

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The Return of The Prodigal Son by Rembrandt

This month’s devotional cover image depicts Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son as recorded in Luke 15. Rembrandt has chosen the moment of embrace as the image to paint. The son who had wondered away foolishly now returns, and the father embraces him without reservation. The older brother, who has always been ‘’the good son’’, watches coldly from afar.

Who do you identify with in this image?

In Henri Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal Son, the author asks this same question of himself. Throughout sequential decades as he reencountered this painting and Luke 15, he found that he could identify himself with each of the three main characters – the wandering son, the pious older son, and at the time of writing he was hoping to become more like the loving father.

Tonight's First Friday Gallery Hop

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perm photog update F.indd

The above image is a photo my wife, Mickie Winters, made for a photo exhibit by Louisville photographers that was shown in Perm, Russia last year. The prints are now back from Russia and will be shown tonight during the first friday gallery hop downtown at Magnolia Photo Booth Company’s storefront. The shop is located at 714 E Market, right in the middle of the action.

If you haven’t been to the first friday gallery hop before, it’s quite fun. It’s a good social atmosphere for just walking around and checking out some art and getting some dinner. Check out firstfridaytrolleyhop.com to see what’s included.