Art Contemplation Exercise

Can 40 women really all be in the same room, sitting right next to each other, working on individual projects without saying a word?  Well, on our Women's Retreat earlier this month we answered that question with a resounding "Heck yeah!" during our Art Contemplation Project.  I know, it sounds too new agey to be for real, right?  However, I totally LOVED it and was able to interact with God's word in a new way through this project.

I was first introduced to the idea of using art as a means of contemplation during my debriefing when I returned from China (the last time).  It's part of the debrief process at MTW and while some people roll their eyes or scoff or deny any little itty bitty artistic talent, I absolutely loved my project.  Working through art (and I promise I'm not super artsy), I was able to give a voice to the combination of bleak despair and soul-deep hope I experienced during my last term in China.  The project revealed to my truths I didn't even remember I knew. So when I found out we were doing a project on the retreat, I was pretty excited.  

We started by meditating on our theme passage for awhile.  The leader of this exercise read the passage through three times and each time asked us to think about different things as she read.  While she read all of Isaiah 61, I chose to focus on verses 1-3:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord    for the display of his splendor.

Here's my final piece of art and below is the process of what I went through and what it means to me.

I started out by writing across the canvas all of my favorite phrases from the verses.  There are such rich promises in this text, and I wanted those to be the foundation from which I would build.  Good news to the poor.  Freedom for prisoners.  A crown of beauty. A spirit of joy.  A garment of praise.  The year of the LORD's favor.  Oaks of righteousness.  May these promises from God undergird my very life!

Next I painted over all of that in white.  I didn't mean for the words to show through quite as much as they did, but the paint dried a lot thinner than I thought it would. Oh well, it's not going to hurt to look at those words more frequently!

I wanted my art to show the transition from a life of despair, mourning, and desolation that we have without Christ to an eternal of life of joy, praise, and beauty that we have with Christ.  I had limited tools to work with, but I used the straw and black beans to represent poverty and hardship.  And then the burlap represents sackcloth which was an ancient garment of mourning.  I was going for more of a tattered look, but we had awesome scissors that cut through it so cleanly.  

Then the sackcloth turns into a dress of rich, plush velvet - a true garment of praise.  The leaves represent a branch of the Oaks of Righteousness that we are destined to become before the nations.  And the crown of beauty is waiting to adorn us in heaven.  

I love having this in my house now.  Currently, it's residing in the kitchen and it's a continual encouragement to me each time my eyes land on it.  The garment of praise reminds me to speak praises to God for His goodness while packing my lunch or sorting mail (or dealing with the compost bin which now totally revolts me-I'm pretty sure I did something wrong).  Reading those promises are such a sweet assurance from the Lord!

What about you?  Have you ever done a project like this?  How did it turn out?

And just in case you think you're not creative, here's an excerpt from my devotion last night (from Mosaic Bible which I totally love).  This is part of a longer article by Mark Miller:

Wherever there is a divide, God's creativity in us leads us to build a bridge.  Wherever there is doubt, God's creativity in us stirs our imagination produces faith.  Wherever there is despair, God's creativity in us pictures and produces hope.  Wherever there is injustice, God's creativity in us finds a way to show his love. 

Check out my previous post about a song I was introduced to at the retreat that challenged my perspective on hope.