S7 E08: Sacred Pathways with Gary Thomas

When it comes to spiritual formation, our individual temperament plays a large role in how we connect to God, one another and the world around us. There is not a one size fits all for how we approach the spiritual life. In fact, the same systems that bring us clarity and definition can also leave us frustrated or feeling confined to search for God in a manner contrary to our natural temperament.

Best-selling author and speaker, Gary Thomas insists that it’s better to discover the path God designed you to take–a path marked by growth and fulfillment, based on your unique temperament. In this conversation, Gary and I discuss his nine Sacred Pathways, where he strips away the frustration of a one-size-fits-all spirituality and guides you toward a style of relating to God that frees you to be you.

For the artist or the creative, understanding our unique make up and how we most easily connect with God enables us to live and create from a deeper authenticity. Instead of fostering a compulsion to imitate or conform to an exterior, homogenized form of faith, discovering the beauty of God’s unique path for our lives opens the way for greater possibility in our creative work.

Artist Profile Series 29: Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was an artist, scientist and inventor. His capacity to metaphorically dream while awake, through the use of his imagination, enabled him to perceive the natural world as a playground for investigation, exploration, discovery and invention. This mentality would lead him to creative innovations in various fields of study including painting, architecture, mathematics, engineering, anatomy, botany, cartography. and much more.

Today, Leonardo da Vinci is historically recognized as a genius, who played an influential role in the Renaissance period through the use of his creativity to impact culture.

This artist profile is guest-hosted by Morgan Ruth Chin-Yee, a creative, art educator, and member of the Breath and the Clay team. Visit her website, MRCY, and follow her on Instagram @morgan.ruth.

Artist Profile SeriesStephen RoachMay 8, 2020Artist Profile Series

S7 E07: The Interior Life of The Artist with Kimbra

Kimbra Lee Johnson is a singer, songwriter, producer + musician from New Zealand, now based in New York City. Her award-winning, debut album Vows was released in 2011. In 2012, she appeared on Gotye’s multi-platinum single, Somebody I Used To Know.

Kimbra’s music pushes the boundaries of genre and style juxtaposing pop sensibilities with influences in Jazz, R & B, and electronic music. Lyrically, Kimbra expresses the deeper longings of the human heart. Her poetic verses draw from personal experience, imaginative religious imagery and reveal a depth of honesty, vulnerability and reflection.

In this episode, I talk with Kimbra about her creative process and the deeper experiences of the artist’s life.

If you are a patron of the podcast you can enjoy an additional interview segment with Kimbra at Patreon.com/makersandmystics

Visit Kimbra’s Patreon

This episode is sponsored by Rogue Blue Media.

S7 E06: The Discipline of Inspiration with Carey Wallace

Carey Wallace is the author of Stories of the Saints, The Blind Contessa’s New Machine, The Ghost in the Glass House, Choose, New Thing, and the forthcoming Discipline of Inspiration. Her work has appeared in Time, the Awl, The New Decameron, and Detroit’s Metro Times. She has spoken to students at Princeton, Yale, Julliard, Pratt, Emory’s Candler School of Theology, and the Festival of Faith and Writing, and taught at The Glen Workshop. She has released a dozen records with her brother as The Wallace Bros., and shown her fine artwork in Detroit and Brooklyn. She is the founder of the Working Artist’s Initiative, which helps emerging artists establish strong creative habits, and the Hillbilly Underground, which draws nationally-recognized filmmakers, writers, fine artists, and musicians to rural Michigan each summer. She lives and works in Brooklyn with her poorly-behaved Appenzeller, Bandit.

In this episode, Stephen talks with Carey LIVE in New York City (recorded October 2019) about the nature, the origins and discipline of inspiration.

S7 E05: Wellness & The Life of The Artist with Cynthia Newland

Cynthia Newland is an artist, educator, speaker and wellness consultant. She is the founder of Alible3 – Nourishing the Body, Soul and Spirit, providing educational resources and equipping tools for holistic health. With her work in the area of wellness, she partners with the Health Made Simple community. Cynthia is the founding Director of Feet Speak Dance, a dance company whose mission aims to use dance to teach, inspire and bring a rich art filled experience to all whom they encounter.

In this episode, Cynthia talks with Stephen about the importance of physical nourishment, nutrition and general health in the life of the artist.

S7 E04: The Artist As Protest Against Despair with Stephen Roach

Social distancing can feel a bit destabilizing. All of our habits and routines and normal ways of functioning are suspended and we have to adopt new daily rhythms, ways of doing life and finding work. For the artist, this can lead to questions about the validity of our work and where art-making and creativity belong in a time of global crisis. But it is vital for our own mental and emotional health that we are formed by a clear narrative and see the true place of art as a needed response.

Making art during times of crisis positions the artist to become a protest against despair. The artist pushes against losing our identity and our humanity in the face of war, disease or whatever opposition stands against living an unimpeded, beautiful life.

In this episode, Stephen shares about the role of perception, the mischief of God, and the need for art in our current climate of isolation and uncertainty.

Art As Healing, EncouragementStephen RoachApril 7, 2020Protest, crisis, corona, art as protest, Stephen Roach

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.

The Breath & the Clay: Communion (Online Gathering)

Join our global community online Friday night March 20th for a time of communion and creative conversations. Click here to sign up.

Live EventsStephen RoachMarch 19, 2020live events, communion

Artist Profile Series 28: Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh was a leading postimpressionist painter of the late nineteenth century, known for his thick, swirling brushstrokes and radical use of color. Before he was an artist, though, he was a pastor to a village of destitute coal miners in Belgium, an experience that shaped him deeply. Vincent was full of compassion and wonder, anguish and hope. “Sorrowful yet always rejoicing” was one of his personal mottoes. His art—whether of sunflowers for his friend Paul Gauguin, a peasant family sitting down for dinner, or a starry sky outside his asylum window—highlights the numinous in the day-to-day.

This artist profile is guest-hosted by Victoria Emily Jones, a writer on Christianity and the arts. Visit her blog, Art & Theology, and follow her on Twitter @artandtheology or Instagram @art_and_theology.

S7 E02: One Percent For Artists with Erik Lokkesmoe

In this episode, Stephen talks with Producer of Marketing and Distribution for Aspiration Entertainment, Erik Lokkesmoe. The two discuss Erik's vision for individuals, families and churches who want to support artists and the arts. Erik's charge to "democratize patronage" and create local communities of patrons is an important idea for our time. “I encourage everyone to listen to this discussion then pass it along to the leaders, patrons and arts advocates in your life.” - Stephen Roach

Music Provided by: The Golden Age

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S7 E01: Peopled With Dreams with John Mark McMillan

In this Season opening episode, Stephen talks with singer-songwriter John Mark McMillan about the creative process behind his new album Peopled With Dreams

S6 E15: A Benevolent Detachment with John Eldredge

John Eldredge is a New York Times bestselling author, a counselor, and a teacher. His latest book, Get Your Life Back, examines the breakneck pace at which we force our souls to exist—a pace that far exceeds God’s original design. In his book, John argues that a constant absorption of others’ worries through social media, paired with our own burdens and stresses, has left people overwhelmed and weary. In this season-finale episode, Stephen talks with John about the simple, yet profound spiritual disciplines that can heal our souls and nourish the creative spirit inside of us.

S6 E14: The Art of Memoir with Cinelle Barnes

Cinelle Barnes is a memoirist, essayist, and educator from Manila, Philippines, and is the author of MONSOON MANSION: A MEMOIR (Little A, 2018) and MALAYA: ESSAYS ON FREEDOM (Little A, 2019), and the editor of a forthcoming anthology of essays about the American South (Hub City Press, 2020).

In this episode, Stephen talks with Cinelle about memoir as an agent of healing and how her process of writing helped navigate the difficulties of childhood trauma.

**Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Cinelle outlining practical steps of memoir writing for any of you writers out there who are interested in learning what it takes to get your story from the pen to the page.

Art As Healing, authors, storytellingStephen RoachFebruary 12, 2020memoir, Women Writers, Cinelle Barnes, Monsoon Mansion, Malaya, writing

Artist Profile Series 27: Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali remains one of the most complex and controversial figures within art history. His artistic mediums range from film-making, design, clothing and jewelry making, writing, even what he called an “erotic cookbook” which featured enticing recipes such as Thousand Year Old Eggs and Toffee with Pine Cones. Over the course of his lifelong career as an artist, he collaborated with other well-known figures such as Alfred Hitchcock, Alice Cooper and Walt Disney.

The common thread linking all of his artistic creations is the surreal and dream-like imagery that bends our perception of reality and presents the world through a lens of absurd, avant-garde and sometimes disturbing distortions. His paintings depict melting clocks, larger than life horses with exaggerated, giraffe-like legs, contorted faces hovering over vast, deserted landscapes, and daisies bursting out of cracked eggs.

Art As Healing: Live in Charlottesville, VA

In 2019, I took the Makers and Mystics podcast on the road and partnered with creative communities around the country. Together, we facilitated conversations on subjects that were close to the heart of each community and featured hand-picked, local performers and influencers from each city.

The production of this series is raw and remains largely unedited much like the conversations themselves. The length of these episodes will extend beyond our usual thirty-minute format and will highlight the work of community leaders as well as panel discussions.

I’m excited to share this series with our larger community via our Patreon page and open the door for everyone to join the discussions.

Our first conversation takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia on the two-year anniversary of the Charlottesville riots. The subject is appropriately titled, art as healing. My guests include community founder, Lauren Stonestreet, Spoken-Word Artist, La'Tasha Strother, Philosopher, Bernard Hankins, Pastor, Brendan Jamison, Neuroscientist and Jazz musician, Nadine Michel and Doctor of Osteopathy, Dr. David McDonald.

This video was produced by: Micah Lindstrom

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW HERE

S6 E13: The Poetic Encounter with Tinasha LaRayé

Tinasha LaRayé is a poet, actress, and filmmaker who has an intense passion to see nations transformed through storytelling. As a spoken word artist, she incorporates her theatrical world of acting to elevate poetry from the page to an encounter. From working with inner city kids, to young women, to budding creatives, she loves empowering individuals to move in their God-given voice, purpose, and power. Tinasha also desires to see the wound of racism healed in the United States and uses her creativity and teachings to equip this generation to walk out healing, justice, and unity. She currently serves as a pastor in Creative Arts at Bethel Church in Redding.

In today’s episode Stephen talks with Tinasha about her work as a poet and actress standing at the intersections of spiritual encounter and social justice. The two also talk about her film, Hope Song which explores the historical experience of Black people in America, and paints a poetic and prophetic vision for racial healing.

WATCH THE FILM

S6 E12: A Walk Through Digital Babylon

David Kinnaman is president of Barna Group, a leading research company based in Atlanta, Georgia. David’s work as a researcher and as a “professional listener” has led him and his team to interview nearly 1.5 million individuals since he began working for Barna in 1995.

In this episode, Stephen is joined by Storybrand consultant and pastor, Luke Humbrecht of Boulder, Colorado. Stephen and Luke talk with David about his latest book, Faith For Exiles and the importance of cultivating healthy habits of attentiveness in a distracted age.

Top 12 Episodes of 2019

2019 has been an incredible year for the Makers and Mystics podcast and for The Breath & the Clay creative community. The conversations and live events we have hosted have been some of the most creative and insightful ones to date.

Take a look at our top 12 podcast episodes of 2019 and reflect back on these brilliant conversations as we prepare to move into 2020.

Our top choices of the year are:

Sleeping At Last: Songs for The Enneagram

Josh Garrels: Chrysaline

Amy Orazio: Quench

Austin Kleon: Keep Going

Jeremy Begbie: Art & the Transcendence of God

Mako Fujumira: Slow Art

Lonnie Holley: The Lost Art of Found Objects

Andrew Peterson: Adorning The Dark

Propaganda: Moving Through The World

Lanecia Rouse Tinsley: Impermanence

Lauren Midgley: Wonder & Light

Jeremy Cowart: Art As Empathy

Thank you so much to our Patrons and friends who made these conversations possible! If you are not currently supporting the podcast, please consider joining our creative collective at this link and help promote these conversations on creativity and the spiritual life.

Stephen RoachDecember 21, 2019Top 12 episodes

S6 Bonus Episode: Sneak Peak Into The Breath and the Clay 2020

In this bonus episode, Stephen highlights several of the presenters for the 2020 The Breath & the Clay creative arts gathering, who have appeared on the podcast. Listen in for conversation segments with Jeremy Cowart, Lanecia Rouse Tinsely, Matthew Perryman Jones and Lauren Midgley. **This episode offers a Christmas gift from us to you, our listeners! Listen in for a discount registration code to The Breath & the Clay creative arts gathering, March 20-22, 2020 in Winston-Salem, NC.

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.

S6 E11: Signposts with Matthew Perryman Jones

Matthew Perryman Jones is performing songwriter by trade, though at heart, he is actually a seeker. With each entry into his discography, his musical and moral compass points toward an artistic horizon he has yet to explore. Sometimes, he turns his gaze to examine his own inner world. Other times, he looks to the inspirations found in the letters Vincent Van Gogh penned to his brother Theo, or in the idea of duende as proffered by Federico García Lorca, and in the poetic verses of Sufi poets Hafiz and Rumi.

In this episode, Stephen Roach talks with Matthew about the inspirations behind his songs, the nuances within his art and the signposts along the way which give meaning and direction to his creative path.

We are thrilled to announce that Matthew Perryman Jones will be performing at the upcoming The Breath & the Clay creative arts gathering in Winston Salem, NC March 20-22, 2020. Ticket links and access to the additional content are in the show notes of this episode and at Makers and Mystics dot com.

S6 E10: Sole to Soul with John Fluevog

John Fluevog is a celebrated Canadian shoe designer known for his witty and unconventional style. Colourful, Art Deco-inspired and inscribed with uplifting messages, his distinctive footwear has graced dance floors and boardrooms alike and are worn by everyone from Alice Cooper to Lady Gaga to nurses, teachers, lawyers, bikers, baristas and someone down your street.

Today, John Fluevog owns 27 stores across North America, Australia and Europe. He lives in Vancouver, sketches new designs every day and he knows he's weird.

In this episode, Stephen travels to Tribeca, New York City to talk with John about his fifty-year legacy of shoemaking and the inspirations behind his work.

creativity, contemplation, Inspiration, shoemaker, designerStephen RoachNovember 28, 2019Fluevog, shoemaker, avant garde, design

Artist Profile Series 25: William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, printmaker and painter born November 28, 1757 in London, England. Today, he is considered one of the most important figures in English poetry and art, although during his lifetime, his work remained largely overlooked. His writings were spiritually and politically lethal and publishers shunned his works for fear of being accused of inciting insurrection.

Contemporary poet and musician, Patti Smith heralded William Blake as the spiritual ancestor of generations of poets. William Blake fueled the creative fires of Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, John Lennon, Bono and Jim Morrison who named the Doors after Blake’s verse, “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.”

S6 E9: On Curiosity and Play with Ashley Mary

Ashley Mary is a Minnesota-based muralist and abstract artist whose paintings tap into concepts of youth and playfulness and curiosity through the use of thick textures, vibrant colors, and organic and familiar shapes.

Her process is influenced heavily by her collage work, patterns, vintage ephemera, and her background in graphic design. Ashley’s work pays attention to the unintentional and leaves space to be surprised.

Her murals and product designs can be seen nationwide in large scale collaborations with brands such as Google, Starbucks, and Anthropologie.

Outside of her work as an artist, Ashley is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Curiosity Studios. A creative learning space for those stuck and blocked.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Ashley on book recommendations for sparking curiosity.