Lacey Sturm is a Grammy-nominated queen of hard rock who secured a place in rock history as the first solo woman to top the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart with her debut album Life Screams. With a career spanning songs like “All Around Me,” “I’m So Sick,” “Again,” “Impossible,” “State of Me'' and most recently “Awaken Love,”

Lacey Sturm has proven herself as one of the most powerful and enduring voices in hard rock. She is also a sought-after speaker and author, penning the autobiographical books The Reason, The Mystery and The Return. Also a dedicated wife and mother, Lacey tours with her family, supported on stage by her guitarist husband Josh Sturm. You can connect with Lacey at www.laceysturm.com

In this episode, Lacey shares openly about walking through devastating experiences early in life and the role music played in helping her find healing. She shares about her life now and how changing seasons bring out unexpected encounters with beauty and hope.

*Also, just a heads up, our talk today includes sensitive subject matter, including mental health, abuse, and domestic violence.

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S13 E10: Comedy and Context with Andi Marie Tillman

Andi Marie Tillman is an Appalachian comedian and self-proclaimed “recovering Pentecostal.” Her roots in performance began at the early age of 8, when she sang in churches across the Southeast. It was here Andi gathered much of the inspiration for what would later become her well-known cast of original characters. Andi has acted in numerous shorts, feature films, commercials, and music videos including the recent video doc we covered here on the podcast, Come and Save Me by Danielson. But it was Andi’s series of TikTok sketches that elevated her platform and struck a chord with folks both native and new to Appalachian culture.

In this episode, Andi shares about the roots of her acting, her winding journey through Appalachian spirituality and the healing power of comedy.

S13 E09: To Mend The World with Charlie Peacock and Andi Ashworth

What does it mean to be a culture maker in a world of hurt and wondrous possibility? And what does it mean to mend the world, to bring healing and hospitality through our art and the details of our everyday lives?

Today’s episode features multi-Grammy winner Charlie Peacock and his wife and author, Andi Ashworth. Charlie and Andi have recently published a wonderful book together titled, Why Everything That Doesn't Matter, Matters So Much: The Way of Love in a World of Hurt The book draws from their 50 years of marriage and lifelong experience working with artists in community.

In this conversation, Charlie and Andi share from their book on what it means to mend the world through honest, meaningful relationships and a hopeful imagination.

Patrons of the podcast can hear additional interview segments with Charlie and Andi on the power of writing letters and keeping a consistent practice of journaling.

Visit patreon.com/makersandmystics to gain access.

S13 E04: The Art of Lament with Amanda Held Opelt

Amanda Held Opelt is an author, speaker, and songwriter. She writes about faith, grief, and creativity, and believes in the power of community, ritual, shared worship, and storytelling to heal even our deepest wounds.

In today’s episode Amanda discusses the art of lament and how deep-rooted communal practices of shared grief can help us heal and grow through the difficult experiences of our lives.

Drawing from her book Holy Unhappiness: God, Grief and the Myth of the Blessed Life, Amanda shares her journey of grappling with experiences of disillusionment when life with God didn’t feel the way she expected it to feel.

*In just a few weeks, you can join Amanda live at The Breath and the Clay creative arts gathering where she will be conducting a workshop called “Let There Be Grief: Rituals and Remembrances As a Path to Healing.”

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Art As Healing, Author, authors, Community, Culture, Grief, The Breath and the ClayStephen RoachFebruary 27, 2024amandaheldopelt, grief, lament

S13 E03: The Social Instinct with Christa Hardin

Relationships form the heartbeat of community life. The way we interact, the way we understand one another and hold space for the differences between us determines the quality and depth of our societies.

Our guest today is relationship expert and author Christa Hardin. Christa is host of the popular Enneagram and Marriage podcast. She has been working with and researching marriage for two decades, providing hope for couples who are struggling to find their light, love, and mission together in any season of relationship.

In this conversation, Christa unpacks some of the ways she has helped couples foster a deeper understanding of one another through utilizing the Enneagram and her years of research and practice. She shares about our social instinct and how we can move toward finding common ground with those who may see life a bit differently than ourselves. Christa offers ways to cultivate health in our most intimate relationships and how these same dynamics can translate to a larger, cultural level.

Join us at The Breath and The Clay

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S13 E01: An Introduction to Community and Culture with Stephen Roach

This cultural moment may be one of history’s most interesting times to find home among a community of likeminded people with whom we identify. On the one hand we are more connected than we ever have been (thank you internet) and yet at the same time, people feel more disconnected than ever before. Isolation and loneliness have become an epidemic. So much so, in May of 2023, the surgeon general put out a statement calling isolation and loneliness a public health crisis.

In this introductory episode, podcast host Stephen Roach sets the stage for this season’s conversations and discusses how the artist can respond to the need for community and become an agent of healing for our culture.

Build community with us at The Breath and The Clay March 22-24 in Winston Salem, NC

Art As Healing, Community, CultureStephen RoachJanuary 30, 2024Season 13, Stephen Roach, Community, Culture

S11 E12: The Personal and Universal with Aisha Badru

Aisha Badru is a singer/songwriter based in New York. The magic of her music lies in distilling an often-tangled human experience into simple truths, quieting the inner cacophony of emotions to pave a path toward healing.

To date, her soulful music boasts over 135 million streams, critical praise from the likes of NPR Music, Okayplayer, and is featured in commercial work for brands such as Volkswagen.

In this episode, Aisha discusses how the personal stories of heartbreak and healing often found in her lyrics move beyond individual experience and lend themselves to a broader even universal connection with listeners.

S10 E08: Exit The Cave with Blaine Hogan

Blaine hogan is a writer, film and creative director and actor. He is the former creative director for Willow Creek Community Church and is currently a full-time filmmaker living in Atlanta, Georgia.

His recent memoir titled Exit The Cave: Embracing A Life of Courage, Creativity and Radical Imagination is a brutally honest recounting of his struggle with addiction and the unexpected gift of hitting rock bottom.

In this episode, Blaine and I talk about his background as an actor, the relationship between creativity and his journey of recovery and the ongoing process of finding wholeness.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy additional interview segments at http://www.patreon.com/makersandmystics

Acting, Art As Healing, Author, Honesty, restoration, WholenessStephen RoachNovember 8, 2022Blaine Hogan, Filmmaker, Author, Restoration, recovery, addiction

S10 E07: Resiliency and The Arts with Michael Hayes

Michael Hayes is the founder and director of Umoja Health, Wellness, and Justice Collective. He is a visionary agent of change who has found powerful ways to infuse the art of storytelling and the science of resilience into opportunities for healing and recovery.

He is the author of the HOPE module (Healing Our Past/Personal Experiences,) a Certified Peer Support Specialist, a Wellness Recovery Action Plan facilitator and a Reconnect for Resilience Skills Educator.

Michael is also the founder of the Urban Arts Institute and continues to provide opportunities for healing and growth in the arts.

In this episode Michael and I discuss resiliency and the role of the arts in healing from past traumas as well as our collaborative work with the Institution of Regenerative Design and Innovation’s Seed Project.

Submissions to the Bright Wings Poetry Contest are now open until November 25th. Winner receives a cash prize plus publication in Ekstasis magazine and opportunity to read the winning poem on an episode of Makers and Mystics.

S10 E04: The Art of Receiving with Strahan

Strahan is a writer, award-winning folk musician and spiritual director from Aotearoa, New Zealand. He founded Commoners Communion in 2017 to explore what it means to become a deeply prayerful people in our times. Since then, he has written three prayer books offering poetic prayers, contemplations and reflections to help readers deepen their communion with God.

Today, Strahan runs spiritual retreats, Online Prayer Schools and is currently working on his first non-fiction book titled, 'Beholding: Deepening Our Experience in God' which invites the reader to give up consumer Christianity for a more beautiful life of seeing and being seen by God. (‘Beholding’ releases early 2023 with David C Cook publishing.)

In this episode, Stephen talks with Strahan about contemplative practice, abiding in the space between and finding opportunities for beauty throughout prolonged seasons of suffering.

*Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional conversation with Strahan on the relationship between the contemplative and the charismatic.

S10E01: What's Your Story? with Cathy Loerzel

Cathy Loerzel is the Co-Founder of The Allender Center at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and co-author of Redeeming Heartache: How Past Suffering Reveals Your True Calling with Dan Allender. She has spent the last 15 years developing a popular new coaching and therapeutic approach called Story Work that moves people through their past stories of heartache to heal and discover healthier ways of being in the world.

In this season opening episode, Stephen talks with Cathy about what it means to listen to your story and how artists and creatives can move toward a much healthier mode of living and creating in the world.

S9 E16: Restoring The Heart of The Artist (Season Finale)

In this season finale episode, Stephen Roach shares on how the past two years have impacted artists personally, socially and creatively. Drawing from his own journey of faith and art, Stephen tells how spiritual practice, community and imagination have played a significant role in re-integrating fragmented parts of himself into a deeper, lasting wholeness.

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S9 BONUS: Creativity & Bipolar Disorder with Dani Parks

In this bonus episode, I speak with one of today’s favorite mental health advocates, Dani Parks. Dani is a public speaker, author, minister and mentor of young adult girls.

In our conversation, she shares her story about her struggles with depression, suicide attempts, and the mental suffering she endured for over ten years due to the incorrect treatment of her bipolar disorder.

S9 E12: How Art Shapes Empathy with Mary McCampbell

In this episode, I talk with Author and Professor ,Mary McCampbell about her book, Imagining Our Neighbors As Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy. In our conversation, we discuss how narrative art serves as an invitation to awaken and expand our capacity for empathy.

Buy Mary’s Book

Support The Podcast! Your generosity enables this work to continue.

Featured music by: Jessamyn Day

Interlude music by: Luke Vandergriff

Art As Healing, Author, Faith and Art, LiteratureStephen RoachJune 28, 2022Mary McCampbell, author, Author

S9 E10: Roundtable 2: Part One with Scott Erickson and Heather Stringer

In this Round Table Discussion, I talk with visual artist and performance speaker, Scott Erickson along with trauma therapist, ritual-maker and NYC-based artist, Heather Stringer. In this round table, we talk candidly about disorientation and the process of re-orienting after two years of social and personal upheaval.

S9 E08: Reset and Rebirth with William Day

William Day is an American painter known for his large-scale compositions of colorful shapes and energetic marks. Day can often be found in his Boulder, Colorado studio working on multiple pieces at the same time. His process leads him to create paintings in series, each focusing on different nuances of the human experience. His works are comprised of textures and complex layers demonstrating his interaction with a canvas. These series of paintings all nod to certain periods of Day’s life that bring years of intensity, joy, spirituality, conflict, and resolution to the canvas.

In this episode, Stephen talks with Will about his latest series titled Breakout which explores themes of reset and rebirth. This discussion includes topics such as: The impact of isolation, How to handle negative critique and living beyond fear.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy additional interview segments with Will at patreon.com/makersandmystics

S9 E05: Round Table Part Three: Mental Health and The Artist

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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S9 E01: The Already and Not Yet with Dan Allender

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.

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S8 E09: Armature and Astonishment with Sarah Hempel Irani

Sarah Hempel Irani has been sculpting expressive figures in clay and stone for nearly twenty years. Originally from Michigan, she moved to Maryland to apprentice with Jay Hall Carpenter, former Artist-in-Residence at the Washington National Cathedral.

Sarah has contributed sculptures to national shows and received several notable awards, including the Maryland Arts Council Individual Artist Award in 2009.

Currently Sarah is sculpting a seven-and-a-half-foot statue of renowned fashion designer, Claire McCardell, to be cast in bronze and installed in McCardell's hometown of Frederick, Maryland.

In this episode, Stephen talks with Sarah about her creative process as a sculptor, how technique and spontaneity work together and how practices such as centering prayer leads to unexpected astonishment in her art making.

This episode features song interludes from Songs of Water’s three song EP titled Bright Mystery.

**Virtual and a limited number of live tickets are available to The Breath and The Clay 2021 taking place March 19-21 in Winston Salem NC. You can find this link in our show notes and on our official website at http://www.makersandmystics.com.

Art As Healing, Creative Process, Faith and Art, Grief, muralist, sculpture, sculptorStephen RoachDecember 11, 2020sculpture, sculptor, armature

S8 E07: Unearth The Flowers with Thea Matthews

Thea Matthews is a San Francisco born poet, orator and activist whose work centers on the complexities of humanity, grief, and resiliency. In this episode, Stephen Roach to talks with Thea about her debut poetry collection published by Red Light Lit titled, Unearth [The Flowers] and about her journey of finding healing and resiliency through poetry.

Thea's empowering poems provide a path to healing and illustrate how survivors can find a safe place within themselves to reclaim their own identity and sexuality.

Her book has been described as an electrifying letter to family, country, and self, Unearth [The Flowers] is relentless in its journey through stages of grief and healing while celebrating life.

S8 E02: Pádraig Ó Tuama

Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet and theologian whose work centers around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. His poetry and prose has been published widely across Ireland, the US and the UK. For Ó Tuama, religion, conflict, power and poetry all circle around language, that original sacrament. In the context of public theology, he takes the received form of biblical texts and explores the civic and artistic dynamics of language, narrative and impact in these stories.

Pádraig is a voice for LGBT inclusion and for the value of arts in public life. He presents Poetry Unbound with On Being Studios, a podcast that explores a single poem in each episode.

In this episode, Padraig and I share a conversation on his background as a poet, theologian and how the arts and language play a central role in reconciliation and conflict resolution.

Padraig’s work in language and conflict resolution is a vital contribution to finding a way forward through our current cultural moment.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy the full, unedited interview at: http://www.patreon.com/makersandmystics

S7 E15: An Ethos of Healing with Elephant Heart

Elephant Heart is the husband and wife musical collaborative of Jason and Victoria Evigan. Jason Evigan is an award-winning producer and songwriter responsible for some of today’s biggest hits from artists such as Maroon 5, Madonna, Ellie Goulding, and Rufus Du Sol. Victoria Evigan is a musician, visual artist, set designer and stylist known for using make up, hair, environments, and fashion to create contemporary expressions of the Elephant Heart ethos. Victoria is also the principal operator of Picture This, Elephant Heart’s not for profit organization.

Patrons of the podcast can listen to additional interview segments with Jason and Victoria about Picture This, making their own instruments and Jason’s work as a music producer.

In this season finale episode, Stephen talks with Jason and Victoria from their home studio in Los Angeles, California about the spiritual dynamics and creative processes within their music.

Bonus Episode: Spoken Word Artist La'Tasha Strother

This bonus Episode features a live performance and interview with spoken word artist La’Tasha Strother. La’Tasha threads her relationship with God throughout her life and work and creates poignant imagery about her life experiences. The poem performed in this episode is titled Love Is Not Blind and was performed live at our Art As Healing Podcast in Charlottesville Virginia.

S7 E09: Art As Healing Live At The Farmhouse

This episode is our second release from the Makers and Mystics LIVE series. This conversation comes to you from Charlottesville, VA and highlights excerpts from our discussion on Art As Healing. You’ll hear from a diverse panel of voices including Farm House community founder, Lauren Stonestreet, Philosopher, Bernard Hankins, Pastor and songwriter, Brendan Jamieson, Neuroscientist and Jazz musician, Nadine Michel and Doctor of Osteopathy, Dr. David MacDonald.

In light of recent events, I felt this conversation on Art As Healing was timely and offers creative insights on navigating through difficult times and how art contributes to Healing for individuals and to society.

I’ve said often that the artist is an architect of hope and a voice of reconciliation for a divided world. I think you’ll find the perspectives in this conversation to be helpful in finding our way forward and understanding the vital role of art as an agent of healing.

*If you’re a patron of the podcast you have access to the full conversation which includes a spoken word performance by poet Latasha Strother and Nadine Michel’s story of traveling to Haiti, the country her parents immigrated from.