I was so blessed to create live spirit-inspired art in worship for the New Baptist Covenant Summit on September 15!!
One of the main themes of the New Baptist Covenant is ART- this is my whole theology. ART to NBC stands for action, reconciliation and transformation. To me art is a way to capture feeling, ideas and emotions. Art is an act of prophetic imagining. Art is resistance. Art is worship.
The worship at New Baptist Covenant was nothing short of a miraculous occurrence of the in-breaking of hope. Being so close to the powerful prophetic preached word of Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon was heartening. Park Avenue Worship Team was inspiring and the sermon was enlivening. Dr. Blackmon spoke to the pain of the world and the experience of seeing resilience, resistance, persistence and finally miraculous hope in the face of the police brutality and aftermath in Ferguson.
It was an experience that will keep my cup full for the continued struggle for equity and against the oppressive system that privileges white bodies over people of color. This inequality will not stand and our struggle will be renewed with the hope and prophetic word of those in the struggle- like Traci Blackmon.
The piece truly came together with the spirit. I am a folk artist, but despite having no formal training the flow of the spirit guides the colors at the foundation. The content of the mixed media collage pieces are not planned before the service and these images come together in this piece to represent: community, sojourn, jesus in the world, the question of “How long?” the peace of the spirit, the fire of passion and our location in the here and now.