Shonette Reed
Writer
I spent the second half of my elementary school education in an after school program. With two working parents, it was important to them that my brothers and I were afforded experiences that were beneficial to us. So, I read. I read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and A Light in the Attic and Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. These were all books that enabled me to try writing in the fourth grade. Books that offered me the chance to see how these writers viewed other people and the happenings of life.
As a Christian, writing has allowed space for me to explore and sit with my emotions; it has allowed me to navigate the tough parts of my own story. And through that, I am able to hold the stories of others with more care. It is a constant meeting with God for me.
Marc Phun
Photographer
The awakening of new life meets me when I intercede through art; whether a song of thanksgiving or a poem of deep sorrow. Music and literature allow peace to resound through my imperfect veins.
One of the first songs I wrote was called 'Hold On', and it spoke to the joy of clinging to Jesus. I remember singing this once, too exhausted for tears to flow, finding reconciliation in my stillness and finding chains loosened in myself. We surely are free, our Creator says so.
Joey Samante
Photographer
Art and beauty—I receive most of it where I live in Oahu, Hawaii. The power of the waves. The sun kissing the ocean every night. The vibrant blue sky and cotton candy clouds. How the wind cues the trees when to dance and that inviting smell of morning dew. As the salt air gently presses against my skin, while nature sings an ancient song, I take a pause to think “what a masterpiece”.
On my sabbath, I go off the grid to spend quality time with Jesus. These are the days where I’m most influenced and spiritually inspired to create and live. Psalm 27:4 says “I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord”. What God displays is beautiful, but its more than that, He is Beauty and his art is his love for the world and me. A beauty so great, it causes me to come back to see it again and again. All the days of my life.
Eric Benjamin Ham
Photographer
Terrence Malick’s film “The Tree of Life” has been one of the most influential works of art for me and my spiritual journey. The film is epic, and delicate, as it takes the viewer from the beginning of time to the end of time. It explores the complexities of grief, family, and faith, all-the-while maintaining a message of grace and forgiveness.
Through its visual style, direction, and narrative, film has greatly informed the way that I create, perceive the world, relate to God. After countless viewings, I believe it to be a masterpiece.
Daniel Bultedaob
Photographer
I’ve taken photos for a long time, but I’ve always desired a greater purpose for them. How can I channel the creative desire into something of meaning? While on outreach in Papua New Guinea, Jesus gave me an answer.
“Pursue me above all, and I’ll do the rest.”
What unfolded over the following years was a journey of learning that my creativity needed to come from the overflow of my relationship with Him. I am called to love Him with all I am first and foremost, and from that place, He would flow into and through all the other aspects of my life. My art would have an impact not because of my effort or talent, but through His presence in it.
Grace Weimer
Photographer
I vividly remember first time I experienced art not just as a means of expression, but as one of communication. The creative process took on another dimension for me, one with parallel windows in which inspiration came and went with a whisper. The feeling was one of sitting outside of time, with words shimmering into every sense and images burning so brilliantly in my mind blinking couldn't shake it. The moment is in my life a cairn, which upon leaving I knew God differently, and left humbled. Art is incredibly transcendent, and remains to me one of the most human practices we are able to engage.
Elle Suko
Photographer
One of my favorite things about art is how it has the potential to build a bridge between the human mind and God. I see Him in the colors of the sky after sunset, in the thoughts strewn together by a poet, in the unified melody of an orchestra, and in small, every day occurrences.
The divine notions communicated through photography, music, films, and literature pull on something deep in my heart that causes me to kneel before the Creator. Experiencing His beauty through the humble creations of human artists brings to life for me the words declared by King Solomon: “the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Psalm 72:19)
Charis Wong
Photographer
I recently graduated from University of Toronto's Voice Performance Program, and for a time was considering continuing into a Masters in the same field. During that time I thought a lot about the nature of art and music, namely the question, “is it necessary?” I felt that the career path I had chosen didn’t have the same weight as other professions—a doctor saves lives, a singer can only sing. In fear, I questioned whether God could use my small offering for His purpose.
It was not until a dear friend of mine pointed to scripture that I remembered God’s love for his people manifests itself partly in the good gifts He gives, and none of these gifts are without purpose. why, apart from a God who is beautiful and who loves beauty, would He command the making of ornate and intricate designs of pomegranates and flowers to decorate His temple? Our God rejoices over us with loud singing, and we respond with worship in song—He delights in our singing, our designing, our painting. Our desire for beauty is God-given, not to gratify ourselves, but to drive us to look at His perfection, and glorify Him. His image is the most beautiful, the most desirable, the most satisfying.
Strahan Coleman
Folk Psalmist
Art, and music in particular, has always been a thin place for me. One particularly holy moment was an evening during a holiday with friends over 10 years ago. I was playing and singing with others when I began to see colours and shapes coming out of me. I felt taken over, which is something that I’ve only felt a few times in that way in my life since, and I suddenly began to hear words being spoken to me that I would repeat in melody. It was totally spontaneous, beautiful and honestly quite overwhelming. That experience left a mystical imprint on my understanding of song and has shaped a lot of both my work and spirituality since.
Morgan Kelly
Photographer
For me, the biggest draw as a creator is that God is the ultimate Creator. Being made in His image and likeness means that we bare His traits, and so following in the Lord’s creative path for me is truly what makes me feel most aligned with His heart, when I get to share in the same creative likeness. As for artistic inspiration, two street photographers that I’ve been constantly intrigued by are Vivian Maier & Joe Greer in the way they capture people & moments in the most raw & pure sense.
Walter Cabal
Writer
I have a medical condition called Dysthymia, the subsequent depression can leave me existentially helpless and blind from day today. It’s in the silky, beautiful dissonance of ‘never having’ found in Wong Kar Wai’s films where I accepted what falls through the holes in our hands; from the sandpaper textures in Stray From The Path‘s screaming songs that I learned that anger’s fire still emits light when we feel the need to throw tables at injustice, and it’s from the incredibly quiet and alone poems of poet Mary Oliver that I learned that prayer and poetry are made of the same spirit; guided by the same helper.