Faith in the Arts

Whereas Christian artists are often known for playing it safe in the arts, today’s guest, classical composer, Anselm Mcdonnell bucks this trend.

His work is experimental and avant garde and that is where the conversation goes in today’s episode. What is avant garde art, why does it matter and why should Christians practise in this area?

To get an intro to Anselm’s work, listen to his piece ‘Cross Purposes’ - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjg0L1McnYk⁠

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website ⁠www.faithinthearts.show⁠

References

Hutchmoot - Hutchmoot is a gathering of Christian artists and creatives that happens once a year in Derbyshire. We highly recommend it! ⁠https://www.hutchmootuk.com⁠

Olivier Messiaen - French composer, organist and ornithologist!

How can artists bring the sacred to the streets and what happens when they do?

Our hosts are joined by Jason Leith, a Los Angeles based artist and the leader of Saddleback Visual Arts, to explore his work and the intersection between the humble and the holy, the seen and the hidden, the base and the transcendent and whether there will be a Starbucks on the renewed creation!

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected]. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show 

Referenced resources and artists: 

https://sacredstreets.org

Vessels project - https://sacredstreets.org/projects/vessels/

Lord of Spirits podcast - https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/lordofspirits

Saddleback Visual Arts - https://saddlebackvisualarts.com

AI is reshaping our world and its impact is being felt very keenly in the arts.

Programs like Dali, Chat GPT and Sora have all been moving into the mainstream over the last year or so. Are they exciting tools to sharpen are artistry or do they signal the demise of the human artist? George Aytoun, head of design at Mccann Birmingham, joins the conversation to talk us through this revolution in the arts and the threats and opportunities that come with it.

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected]. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show

Referenced resources and artists:

Pablo Picasso, Norman Rockwell, JMW Turner

Travels in hyper-reality by Umberto Eco

'The Symbolic World' podcast (Jonathan Pageau)

Genesis 4:17-22

Last time we talked about Ally’s artistry and this time we’re shining the spotlight on another one of our hosts: Marlita!

We are focusing on her latest dance piece ‘We Need To Talk’ and bashing around such weight themes as communication, embodiment and art as language, at times using collections of letters that may or may not be actual words. Prepare for much phenomenological viscerality!

To get the most out of the episode (and also because it’s brilliant) you’d do well to watch the piece yourself beforehand. You can find it here: https://demo.marlitahill.com/we-need-to-talk/

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If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected].

If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through the link on our website www.faithinthearts.show 

We’ve talked about some great artists this season but this one is special as it’s one of our own Faith In The Arts team. Today, we look at Ally’s own art, focusing on the first major monograph of his career, Quodlibet and the paintings All the Postcards sent to my studio (2014) and Above and Below, Bowglass.

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected]. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show

Referenced resources and artists:

Quodlibet by Alistair Gordon (monograph, 2023)

https://www.anomie-publishing.com/alastair-gordon-quodlibet/

All the Postcards to my Studio by Alastair Gordon (2014)

The Feet of Those by Alastair Gordon (solo exhibition, 2014)

Planes by Alastair Gordon (2014)

Thirty Feathers and one mouse by Alastair Gordon (2019)

Above and Below, Bowglass (2023)

Alastairjohngordon.com

We loved focusing on the Book of Revelation in the last episode so we decided to keep talking about it while throwing one of the greatest British artists of all time into the mix: William Blake.

Join us on a whistlestop tour of William Blake’s illustrations on the book of Revelation, focusing on the paintings The Ancient of Days, The Whore of Babylon and The Four and Twenty Elders casting their Crowns before the Throne.

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected]. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show 

Referenced resources and artists:

The Ancient of Days (1827) - William Blake

The Whore of Babylon (1809) - William Blake

The Four and Twenty Elders casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne (1803-05) - William Blake

Songs of Innocence and of Experience - William Blake

Compare 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1

The four horsemen of the apocalypse- Revelation 6:1-8 (Zechariah 1:8-10)

Today, we’re looking at by far the most popular piece of art in the series so far. It features in a literary anthology that is by far the best selling book in history. It’s the book of Revelation by John! There will be beasts. There will be dragons. There will be absolutely no controversial opinions shared of any sort… (well, two out of three of those statements are true!)

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected]. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show

Referenced resources and artists:

On Fairy Tales- JRR Tolkien (essay) (available free online- google it!)

After a mid season break, the FITA team are back, discussing the work of painter Peter Howson.

Peter’s visceral, unflinching work sparks a discussion about artistic portrayals of good and evil, how becoming a Christian affects an artist’s work and the wildness inside.

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected]. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show

Referenced resources and artists:

Peter Howson paintings- Prophecy, Swarm, Barrier Sunset, The Heroic Dosser and the album cover of ‘Throwing Copper’ by Live Dante’s inferno

We had the privilege of hosting a main session at Hutchmoot 2023 and here it is! Marlita, Ally and Jonny are joined by Andrew Peterson and Mark Meynell to talk about artistic community and give a bit of an introduction to their own artistic groups- Rabbit Room, Morphē Arts, Kingdom Artist Initiative and Sputnik Faith & Arts. This episode also features a live version of the song ‘Shine Your Light On Me’ by Andrew Peterson.

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected] . If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show

References and artists

Pablo Picasso

Frida Kahlo

Vincent Van Gogh

Lucien Freud

Beyoncé

David Caspar Friedrich- Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Bryan Eno

JRR Tolkien- The Fellowship of the Ring

Soulquarians (Inc the Roots, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu and J Dilla)

Paul Gauguin

J M W Turner

Tony Wilson (the Hacienda, Factory Records)

The Good Life Café (health food store that became known as a centre of an alternative hiphop scene in LA in the 1990s)

L’Abri (www.labri.org)

When you think of Christian art, what’s your first thought? Horror movies! Of course it is. Today, the team delve into the genre of horror through a conversation around Scott Derrickson’s 2013 scarefest ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose.’ 

If you’d like to join the conversation, please email us at [email protected]. If you’d like to help us continue to make more episodes like this, you can donate to us directly through our website www.faithinthearts.show 

Recommended resources and artists:

The Exorcism of Emily Rose Chicago Film Critics Association listed the film at #86 in their Top 100 Scariest Films Ever Made (2006)

The Screwtape Letter by CS Lewis

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

The Wolf of Wall Street (Dir. Martin Scorcese)

Judges 19

Revelation 14:20- blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

Hieronymus Bosch

Psalm 88