S8 E15: Moving Through Space with My Brightest Diamond

Shara Nova is a classically trained vocalist and self-taught multi-instrumentalist. She records dazzling, shapeshifting music under the moniker My Brightest Diamond.

Her music resists the conventions of genre, blending elements of rock, art pop, and chamber music into a sound totally her own.

Over the span of her career, Shara has released multiple ground breaking albums, as well as composed a baroque chamber opera titled, "You Us We All.” She has recorded as a guest vocalist with notable artists such as David Byrne, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, and many others. Her extensive collaborations with visual artists include contributions to the works of Matthew Ritchie, Matthew Barney and more recently, performance artist and vocalist Helga Davis on a collaborative film project titled Ocean Body.

In today’s episode, I talk with Shara about her background as an artist and some of the motivations informing her work.

If you are a patron of the podcast you can enjoy an additional episode segment with Shara on her experience as a working artist navigating our current cultural landscape.

Visit patreon.com/makersandmystics or see the show notes of this episode to sign up as a patron today.

S7 E03: Ritual Making & Performance Art with Heather Stringer

Heather Stringer is a therapist, artist, and ritual maker. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Seattle, WA and a Fellow with the Allender Center. She completed her M.A. in Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology and the Externship Program at The Allender Center. Heather has a practice of creating narrative informed trauma therapy as well as creating rituals for people marking a significant event in their life.

Heather believes that when we are intentional about engaging the particularities of our bodies, memories, and stories, an opening for healing and change are possible.

In this episode, Stephen Roach talks with Heather about her niche of combining ritual making with performance art in ways that foster healing and inspire a more creative approach to everyday life.

Artist Profile Series 26: Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson was a celebrity personality and pioneering religious figure active during the 1920’s and 30’s. She is perhaps most remembered for her larger than life theatrical presentations of the gospel and for establishing one of the world’s first recognized mega churches. At the height of her fame, Aimee’s services filled 5300 seats three times every Sunday. She appointed two massive choirs and a fifty-piece orchestra to perform musical compositions and sacred operas which she composed. In her services, Aimee preached what she called “illustrated sermons,” accompanied by elaborate set designs and costumes created by Hollywood designers and performed by professional actors.

S4 E13: The Nero Monologues with Sarah Toth

Sarah Toth is a performer and writer who uses singing, spoken word, and improvisation within opera to courageously tell stories of truth, vision, and possibility. Through collaborations in music-based theater, Sarah seeks to bring healing, inspire dreams, and empower people to walk boldly forward in their own personal story.

In this episode Stephen talks with Sarah about her opera The Nero Monologues and her involvement in creating new and experimental music-based theater.

S3 E10: Welcome Home: Re-storying The Narratives We Live By with Joel McKerrow

Joel McKerrow is one of Australia's leading internationally touring performance poets. He is the Artist Ambassador for 'TEAR Australia' and co-founder of community arts organization, 'The Centre for Poetics and Justice.'
Joel is a TEDx speaker and performer and frontman poet of 'Joel McKerrow & the Mysterious Few.'

This conversation was conducted in Joel's hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Stephen and Joel discuss his poetry, social justice and reframing the way we understand our lives through creativity and writing for others.

Acting, Justice, performance art, poetryStephen RoachFebruary 21, 2018Joel McKerrow, John O'Donahue, John Cleese

S3 E5: The Inverted Kingdom with Actress Anna McGahan

In this episode, Actress Anna McGahan shares about the rigors of the acting world, her faith in Jesus and the challenges of being a Christ follower in the entertainment industry.

S2 E14: The Art of Noise: On Performance Art & The Gospel

The Clang Quartet is an improvisational percussion/performance-art show, based metaphorically on the life of Jesus Christ. In this episode, Stephen talks with Clang Quartet founder, Scotty Irving about performance art as a vehicle of the gospel. The two discuss the need for resilience and tenacity in presenting uncommon or abstract forms of art. Scotty tells about his electrified crutch and the meaning behind the sound collages of his "harsh noise" genre of art.