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Simone Weil was a French philosopher, mystic and political activist. She was born February 3rd, 1909 in Paris, France and died On August 24th, 1943. In her short, thirty four years of life, Simone Weil worked in factories, trained with anarchists for the Spanish Civil war, taught philosophy, ministered to the poor, served as a military nurse and wrote prolifically about her social philosophy and thoughts on God.
After her death, posthumous publications of her writings catapulted her to a status of one of the great religious philosophers of the 20th century. Spiritual seekers, countercultural thinkers, Christians and atheists alike were each moved by her revolutionary ideas and the way she embodied her convictions through radical activism.
Her spiritual life was marked by three significant mystical encounters which turned this unlikely convert into a devoted, albeit, reluctant follower of Jesus.
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In this third and final segment of The Artist Round Table on Mental Health, Stephen, John Mark and Vesper talk about neo-monasticism, the worship of youth culture, art as a means of therapy, and making sense of the darker parts of our existence with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
Questions discussed in this episode include:
What is true success?
What is true connection?
Should we share every work of art we make?
What if the Poet who has been healed?
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In this segment of our 3 part conversation on mental health and the artist, my discussion with singer/songwriter John Mark McMillan and author/illustrator Vesper Stamper takes us to topics of art and identity, genius and madness and the dangers of isolation.
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What does Kanye West, Thomas Edison and Psychologist Adam Grant have to do with Social Media, Depression, Suicide and the Pursuit of Calling?
These are all discussed in this round table discussion on Mental Health and the Artist with John Mark McMillan, Vesper Stamper and Stephen Roach.
This discussion begins with the question, "Can you separate the art from the artist.... and should you?"
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Dr. Holly Oxhandler is an author, social worker, researcher and a fellow podcaster. She hosts the show CXMH: A Podcast on Faith and Mental Health.
With a background in spiritually integrated mental health, Holly teaches a seven step process called the Namaste Theory which is aimed at helping us learn how to slow down and reconnect with the stillness within ourselves.
In this episode we discuss chronic burnout, compassion fatigue and Holly’s latest book, The Soul Of The Helper: Seven Stages To Seeing The Sacred Within Yourself So You Can See It In Others.
Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment on Research As Creative Process.
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Dr. Dan Allender is the best selling author of numerous books including The Wounded Heart, The Healing Path, To Be Told, and God Loves Sex. Most recently, he co-authored Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Our True Calling with Cathy Loerzel.
Having spent thirty years pioneering a unique therapy centered around inner transformation, Dan has seen healing occur in countless individuals by connecting the story of the gospel to people’s universal heart wounds. As a cofounder of both the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and the Allender Center, Dan has trained therapists, pastors, artists, and leaders to more effectively serve in the context of the 21st century.
In this episode, Stephen Roach returns to the podcast for this timely episode about creativity, the troubled nature of the artist and Dan’s latest book, Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Our True Calling.
Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Dan on Sabbath, delight and why confronting our own past suffering is important to the creative process.
Gabrielle Grace is a singer-songwriter committed to telling stories. She believes that authenticity is one of the most important qualities when it comes to music.
Gabrielle was born & raised in a small town in southeast Texas before moving to Nashville TN. Her indie/pop-folk/acoustic sound developed as she made her way into the scene, playing show after show and growing as a touring musician.
In this episode, Gabrielle joins Porchlight facilitator, Justus Stout and concert host, Cary Brege for a conversation on house shows, community building through shared beauty and the transcendent power of intimate musical settings.
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In this episode, our friend and fellow arts advocate Justus Stout interviews songwriter Carly Taich and introduces Porchlight Art + Hospitality Network.
Carly Taich is a storyteller with the ability to lasso the darkest parts of the soul and deliver them with a smile. Her lyrics, often framed by swooning violins and barbershop harmonies, take us to another era, or dimension, where forgiveness is free and honesty, commonplace. There is a storybook mysticism to all Taich produces with one foot planted firmly in this reality. The paradox between the two worlds leaves listeners wondering if she is inviting them into a dream, or attempting to wake them up.
A multi-award winning songwriter, Taich has become a known name in her hometown of Asheville, NC and beyond. Her most recent EP It Tends to Glow, featured by NPR and American Songwriter, explores the many lenses through which one experiences Love. Blurt Magazine named her previous record, Reverie, “a start-to-finish, no-filler/all-killer gem—a veritable calling card to greatness if enough ears find it.”
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In this episode, Makers & Mystics Collective facilitator Corey Frey guest-hosts this episode to give us a glimpse into the life and work of the eccentric poet, Emily Dickinson.
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John Hendrix is a New York Times Bestselling illustrator and author of many children's books, including Shooting at the Stars, Drawing is Magic, John Brown: His Fight for Freedom, Miracle Man: The Story of Jesus, The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler. His illustrations have appeared on book jackets, newspapers and magazines all over the country. John is a Professor of Art, teaching illustration at the Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University in St. Louis. He is Chair of the MFA in Illustration and Visual Culture, teaching with fellow professor D.B. Dowd.
In this final episode of the Summer ‘21 Series, guest-host Vesper Stamper talks with John about the creative process behind his work, the importance of authenticity and creating from a posture of sincerity.
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Silicone Boone is an Ex-Amish artist from the hills of Kentucky. With minimal exposure to contemporary music throughout his childhood and teen years, his songwriting and music are refreshingly original. In 2019 he released “The Reaches,” a space opera of sorts, a concept album spanning big bang to universal death – a project he thinks of as a “love song to humanity.”
In this episode, guest-host John Mark McMillan talks with Silicone Boone about growing up Amish, the influence of Carl Sagan’s optimistic view of the future, the importance of murder ballads to American music and the deeper motivations behind his music.
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Vanessa Brantley Newton was born during the Civil Rights movement and attended school in Newark, New Jersey. She was part of a diverse, tight-knit community and learned the importance of acceptance and empowerment at early age.
As an illustrator, Vanessa includes children of all ethnic backgrounds in her stories and artwork. She wants all children to see their unique experiences reflected in the books they read, so they can feel the same sense of empowerment and recognition she experienced as a young reader.
Vanessa celebrates self-love and acceptance of all cultures through her work, and hopes to inspire young readers to find their own voices.
In this episode, guest-host Vesper Stamper talks with Vanessa about her background as an illustrator as well as topics such as synesthesia, prayer and the significance of our names.
Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Vanessa on diversity and race in our current cultural climate. Visit http://www.patreon.com/makersandmystics to learn more.
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Have you ever wondered what distinguishes art from non-art? What are the distinctions and who gets to decide? What makes something a work of art? Is it the result of a conscious act? Does it require skill and originality?
What about memes and propaganda? Can these be considered works of art as well? These are some of the questions we discuss on today’s show.
This episode is Part Two of our round table discussions with author/illustrator Vesper Stamper, visual artist and designer Brandon Willett and guest host, singer/songwriter, John Mark McMillan.
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Does commerce feed or take away from your artwork? Does getting paid to do it validate your work? How do you make the leap from hobby to vocation in your work and more importantly, should you?
These are among the questions our Summer Series round table guests songwriter, John Mark McMillan, author/illustrator, Vesper Stamper & visual artist Brandon Willett discuss in this episode.
Patrons of the podcast can enjoy additional, patron-only content.
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Jason “Jay” King is the founder and owner of World Citizen Media and a twenty-year veteran of the music industry. He manages Los Angeles based duo JOHNNYSWIM, Propaganda, and Pop writer/artist TRELLA. World Citizen’s core mission is to help BUILD, LAUNCH, and ACCELERATE meaningful projects, with strong foundations, that contribute good back into the world.
Jay’s background includes working with renowned artists including Platinum selling hip-hop group GRITS, 4th Avenue Jones, Hillsong United, Grammy award winner Israel Houghton, All Sons & Daughters, Fonzworth Bentley, Daniel Bashta, John Mark McMillan, Rhett Walker Band, and more. He has also worked along side brands such as Tumi Luggage, Macy’s, Fiat, General Motors, Southwest Airlines, St. Jude, and more in order to bring campaigns for his clients to life.
He held the title of VP of A&R positions for both Gotee Records (Universal Music Group) and Integrity Music (Sony BMG) before establishing World Citizen Media.
In this bonus episode, guest-host, JOHN MARK MCMILLAN, interviews Jay King about the role of artist management and navigating the “business” of art making.
Welcome to the Makers & Mystics Summer Series of artist interviews and bonus episodes! This episode features guest-host Vesper Stamper in conversation with calligrapher, David Chang.
David Chang is an NYC based artist merging the traditions of Western calligraphy and Eastern philosophy that is shaped by immediacy of his urban environment. Chang’s art is a sustained exploration into the significance and meaning of words and texts as embodied through physical gestures. Centuries-old eastern techniques in calligraphy find new form in the western alphabet as the artist shapes his own hermeneutics of the hand. The artist's brushwork, vacillating between traditional scripts and contemporary abstraction, issues statements of personal, cultural, and spiritual awareness, while it also retains an autonomous formal beauty full of urgency and grace.
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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.
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We may not care to be famous or even desire to make art as a full time vocation, but we each carry a need for our work to matter. We want to know that what means something to us may also mean something to others or that what we give our time, attention and resources to may serve to beautify or to better the lives of those around us.
In this episode, I discuss what it means to make a significant contribution through our creative work. I invite the listener to reframe the narratives we believe about ourselves and our art.
What if our art isn’t about us? What if we learned to care less about what we have to lose and more about what we have to give?
In my work as a creative coach, I’ve encountered many artists who trip over concerns about self-promotion or what others may think about their intentions. But what if rather than being concerned over self-promotion or of having selfish motivations, we were more concerned over the loss of not offering the world our creative gifts?
This episode explores these concerns and offers a new way of seeing our relationship to our art.
ORDER STEPHEN’S NEW BOOK: NAMING THE ANIMALS
Photo Credit: Enowen Photography
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Temi Coker is a Multidisciplinary artist based in Dallas, Texas. He creates visually compelling artwork for campaigns, products, activations & more.
Temi’s use of vibrant colors and textures come from his upbringing in Nigeria as well as his love for the colors, patterns and storytelling of the African Diaspora. He has worked with clients such as: Adobe, HBO, Apple, and Facebook.
In today’s episode, Temi and I discuss color as a means of storytelling along with themes such as the business side of art-making, how to avoid burnout and the challenges of overcoming people pleasing to follow a sense of calling.
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J.F. Martel is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has directed a number of French and English documentaries for Canadian television as well as created several dramatic short films. His writing has appeared on Reality Sandwich, The Finch, Metapsychosis, and in anthologies published by Tarcher-Penguin, North Atlantic Books, and Intellect Books.
His book Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice was published in 2015 by Evolver Editions;
The back cover tells us the book is an essential reading for visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, dancers, filmmakers, poets, anyone who has ever been deeply moved by a work of art.
I’ve read the book and I have to agree, J.F.’s ideas about art as an inborn human phenomenon that precedes the formation of culture resonates with own thoughts on creativity as an inherent part of our spiritual and human experience.
In this episode, I speak with J.F. about many of the concepts in his book including his thoughts on viewing the universe primarily as an aesthetic universe.
I’m excited to announce that J.F. will be one of our keynote presenters for this year’s The Breath & The Clay virtual experience taking place March 17-21, 2021. You can find out more about The Breath & The Clay and our theme of Re-enchantment at http://www.thebreathandtheclay.com/theme21
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Amy-Jill Levine (“AJ”) is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt. Her books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus and Short Stories by Jesus; four children’s books (with Sandy Sasso); The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III); and The Jewish Annotated New Testament (co-edited with Marc Brettler).
In 2020 she published The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (with Marc Brettler); and Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven.
She is the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute. AJ describes herself as an unorthodox member of an Orthodox synagogue and a Yankee Jewish feminist who teaches New Testament in a Christian divinity school in the Buckle of the Bible Belt.
In this episode, I talk with AJ about how we interpret Jesus’s parables and why having a clear contextual understanding of Jesus’s stories is important both spiritually and creatively.
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Well friends. We made it to the end of this unforgettable and unrequited year. Its fascinating now to look back at the catalog of discussions we had and see the unintended red thread weaving its way through the pathless maze of 2020. In fact, the cliché “Hindsight is 2020” becomes this moment’s most truthful refrain.
In this episode, I share highlights from some of my favorite conversations from the year. Highlights include my interviews with Kimbra, Elephant Heart, Padraig O’ Tuama, John Eldredge and others.
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