Inside the Spin-Mosaic Studio

There are many ways to turn to faith in time of uncertainty. There are many ways to pray when prayer is needed. Prayer is needed today. Prayer is needed __________. You fill in your blank. I will fill in mine.

Today, I am praying for N'gando, Kenya, and our friends Brad and Camie Matlack. Brad stood with my husband, Tim, in our wedding. Today, we stand with them in prayer.

So many of us stateside, are choosing to stay home to abide by the quarantine and help protect our vulnerable. This is an act of caution. But, is it an act of courage? Faith? Brad and Camie have chosen to remain in Kenya to continue serving men, women and children of their village fully aware when the borders were closing. They ask for prayer, not praise, with intent to carry out their faith by serving in faith.

This is not a contemplation of uneasiness, but a testimony of promise. 

Where did my Art begin? 15 years ago, before my work ever graced the wall of a gallery, or rose 22 feet above a lobby elevator, tears first dripped into my hot pan of hamburger while cooking on the stove.

Has your heart ever come across a story of sadness where there is a real struggle to recover from the truth? My mind had been swimming circles of contemplation for days after hearing stories of child slaver in various countries of Africa. Unlike a dog stepping in from the rain, my heart couldn't shake it off in a furious few seconds.

We all are standing in a mucky puddle with leaky boots full of just such stories that churn every time we turn on the news.

I am a witness from my bar stool in the studio that Art given over to prayer does more than calm the heart of the artist. My shaking hands bear witness that a brush held in a spirit of prayer becomes still. My knees are witness . I have entered my place of creating with heaviness and walked away with a bounce in my step. But, prayer is not about lifting my brush to make myself feel better.

Prayer is about lifting a burden off the shoulders of others and elevating it into the hands of Jesus. We, here in 2020 are not the 1st to have ever felt this way.

"My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is."

---Lamentations 3:17

15 years ago, with tears dripping into my hot pan of hamburger and my heart spinning over sad stories, I mumbled in God's direction, which was pretty close to the fav vent above my stove, "I can't forget about this. I can't do anything about this far away sadness. What am I supposed to do?"

Somewhere between the sizzling burgers and the whir of the stove fan, a small voice met me there in my kitchen. "Who are You?"

Did I just hear that? I paused my spatula to decide which order to answer, "A mom? A teacher? A wife..."

Silence.

"Who are You?"

"A daughter? A sister? A friend?"

"Who are You?"

There was one last answer. But, it was buried deep and hesitant. Like a child saying a five syllable word for the first time and hoping they get it right, I whispered, "An...artist?"

Envisioned like a stamped imprint of words in my mind's-eye, I saw, "Choose ye this day whom you will serve." (from Joshua 24:15). The passage continues with "...but, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Fast-forward. I work from real photographs. Each photograph is a real person with a very real minute-by-minute life.

Technique involves minimalist abstraction into parts. The tools I keep in my beloved ceramic teapot (my daughter made) contains a friendship of brushes, pens, pencils...tweezers and knives. I call it wheel-spun acrylic mosaic because it doesn't fit in any other category. Let's try not to categorize prayer or limit God, either. Prayer can come in many forms.

By time I am done sketching, painting, cutting, arranging, and adhering each woman's image, I feel like I know her...and her child. This is not just art. This is now my friend. This is what prayer can do. My brush and my blades lift the burdens she carries on her shoulders, in her hands, and in her heart...today.

In the same way,
the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us..."

--Romans 8:26-27

The work above was created with photo permissions of Jim Hocking of Water for Good. N'gando, my brush is coming for YOU. The Spirit will translate my time into prayer. But please know, God is already there.

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ,

any comfort from love,

any participation in the Spirit,

any affection and sympathy,

complete my joy by being of the same mind,

having the same love,

being in full accord and of one mind."

      --Phillippians 2:1-2