Art in the Image collaborated with the Youth and Children’s Pastor at Brookhaven United Methodist Church, Regina King. Regina and I met each other on our first day of seminary at Candler School of Theology. We were both interning at City of Refuge in the Restoration ATL program. We spent a lot of time together that year and in the years following. I was honored to be able to serve with her in her position as Children and Youth Pastor.
We met up with all of the young people in the front row of this wonderful sanctuary. We were dismissed from the service and proceeded to begin our art making experiment. I make art with young people a lot, but each time is a new experience and today was no exception to this rule.
The truly young ones painted in cool colors on a 4’x 8′ canvas, while the youth had the entire rainbow to choose from. It is more difficult that one might think to maintain abstraction in art making. These young folks did a great job!
Young people and all people today are bombarded by images all the time, which makes a process of creating our own images so important. As Dominique De Menil said, “But nobody is visually naive any longer. We are cluttered with images, and only abstract art can bring us to the threshold of the divine.”
I hope we did discover some of the divine today. Often the work needs a little "cleaning up" after the young folks are done, so there are before and after picture. I try to find a rhythm that matches the work of the young people, yet often consolidates themes of the colors to make it less scattered.