Makers & Mystics

Makers & Mystics episodes:

• 04.18.2024

  S13 E08: Come And Save Me with Danielson and Chris White

  Film director Chris White and songwriter Daniel Smith of The Danielson Family have crafted an 8-minute short film/music video titled "Come and Save Me," a poignant exploration of acceptance and community as a cure to the loneliness epidemic of our...

  
• 04.09.2024

  S13 E07: Mastery & The Flow State with composer Christen Lien

  Christen Lien is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates an innovative brand of musical storytelling. She disrupts the classical genre by integrating innovative technology and collaborating with artists and musicians from many mediums. Christen has performed for a diverse network of...

  
• 03.13.2024

  S13 E06: Creativity And Community Live at Square Halo Conference

  I recently traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where I participated in the 2024 Square Halo Conference: Return To Narnia: Creativity, Collaboration and Community. As part of the event, I hosted a live podcast recording on the topic of creativity and community. ...

  
• 03.05.2024

  S13 E05: Why Community Matters with Stephen Roach

  This week's episode is a collaboration with the Be. Make. Do. Podcast! We are flipping the mic around for this one and inviting fellow podcaster, Lisa Smith to ask MM host, Stephen Roach a few questions about the importance of...

  
• 02.27.2024

  S13 E04: The Art of Lament with Amanda Held Opelt

  Amanda Held Opelt is an author, speaker, and songwriter. She writes about faith, grief, and creativity, and believes in the power of community, ritual, shared worship, and storytelling to heal even our deepest wounds. In today’s episode Amanda discusses the...

  
• 02.20.2024

  REPLAY: An Ethos of Healing with Elephant Heart

  As we prepare for The Breath & The Clay creative arts gathering, I’m going to be highlighting several of the speakers and performers who’ll be joining us at the event.  For today’s episode I reached into the archives and pulled...

  
• 02.13.2024

  S13 E03: The Social Instinct with Christa Hardin

  Relationships form the heartbeat of community life. The way we interact, the way we understand one another and hold space for the differences between us determines the quality and depth of our societies. Our guest today is relationship expert and...

  
• 02.06.2024

  S13 E02: The Vocabulary of Encounter with Kaleb Moten

  Kaleb Moten is a singer, songwriter, composer, music producer, and musician, dedicated to revealing beauty and meaning, and liberating other artists to do the same. Kaleb has released four studio albums to date and is currently producing two more. In...

  
• 01.30.2024

  S13 E01: An Introduction to Community and Culture with Stephen Roach

  This cultural moment may be one of history’s most interesting times to find home among a community of likeminded people with whom we identify. On the one hand we are more connected than we ever have been (thank you internet)...

  
• 01.16.2024

  S13 Trailer: Community and Culture Introduction

  Community is a vital component to our mental, emotional and spiritual health as well as a formative influence on our creative work. Throughout history, artists have gathered together with other artists for mutual support, inspiration and the sharing of ideas. Despite...

  
• 01.04.2024

  Art Submissions to BC24 are now open!

  Each year as part of our annual creative arts gathering, The Breath and The Clay hosts an interactive art gallery for artists of all backgrounds and mediums. We believe that your art contains the ability to change lives, inspire generations...

  
• 12.19.2023

  S12 Finale: Detachment and Desire with Stephen Roach

  In this season finale episode, podcast host, Stephen Roach shares how desire informs our sense of self and how the practice of detachment can help us navigate the journey from a false self to embracing our true identity as the...

  
• 12.12.2023

  S12 E15: Returning To Eden with Heather Hamilton

  One of the core markers of a person’s identity are the beliefs they hold to be true. A person’s faith becomes a fixed point from which they view and understand the world. But what happens when those beliefs are shaken?...

  
• 12.05.2023

  S12 E14: Our Virtual Reflection with Sam Rad

  Ours is a fast-paced digital world where technology has become such a personalized part of our daily lives, it’s hard to imagine who we are without it. Social media, augmented reality, and AI-driven personalization each contribute to the formation of...

  
• 11.21.2023

  S12 E13: Healing Our Provisional Personalities with Jay Stringer

  How we show up in the world often takes on a wide variety of expressions. Our public and private lives reflect the many roles we play in society and the varying facets of personality traits we form to cope with...

  
• 11.14.2023

  S12 Bonus: Artist's Roundtable: Live at Loom

  This Artist’s roundtable discussion was recorded live at Loom creative arts event in Spruce Pines, NC. The conversation centers on the importance of building creative community, the embodiment of the creative process and what it means to be an artist...

  
• 11.08.2023

  S12 Bonus: Abundance & Scarcity: Live at The Guild

  This year I’ve had the opportunity to participate in several creative arts gatherings including Loom, Hope Words writer’s conference and here recently, the Guild in Raleigh NC. The talk I gave at the Guild is a call to take a...

  
• 10.31.2023

  S12 E12: Remixing The Grand Narrative with Tara Isabella Burton

  At one time, religious identity and the Christian narrative formed the social imaginary of our western world. To be a part of a local church or to identify with some aspect of the values of traditional faith was an assumed...

  
• 10.24.2023

  Artist Profile Series 38: Hugo Ball featuring Jonathan Anderson

  Hugo Ball was a German sound poet, theatrical performer and mystic. He and his partner Emmy Hennings were the original catalysts of the infamous Dadaist art movement which they started in Zurich, Switzerland around 1916. What may be surprising...

  
• 10.18.2023

  The Breath & the Clay 2024: Let There Be

  What do we make of the world we have been given? How do we bring order from chaos, beauty from ashes and flourishing from what is formless and void? Echoing the words first spoken by the Great Artist in...

  
• 10.10.2023

  S12 E11: Tell Me The Dream Again with Tasha Jun

  Tasha Jun is a Korean American melancholy dreamer, wife, and mom, who grew up in a multicultural and biracial home. She’s spent her life navigating the space between worlds: American and Korean, faith and doubt, family devotion and fierce independence....

  
• 10.03.2023

  S12 E10: The Adjacent Possible with Joshua Heath Scott

  After accidentally fixing a broken guitar pedal in 2007, Joshua Heath Scott’s natural curiosity pulled him into the rabbit hole of electrical engineering and circuit design-- from this experience, his company, JHS Pedals was born.  Today, JHS pedals has become one of...

  
• 09.26.2023

  S12 E09: Heritage and Innovation with Qais Essar

  Qais Essar is a contemporary Afghan composer, instrumentalist, and producer who channels his melodic designs through the rabab, a 2,500 year old instrument from Afghanistan. He has toured extensively, sharing his new genre of music nationally and internationally. He has...

  
• 09.19.2023

  S12 E08: Chasing Rabbits with S.D. Smith

  In today’s episode we’re going to hear from a young adult fiction writer whose creative work is fueled by the inspiration of family and who gains tremendous creative energy both from his children and by writing for children. Our guest is...

  
• 09.13.2023

  S12 E07: Landscape of The Body with David Taylor

  Today on the podcast, we are continuing our discussion of art and identity by taking a look at the vital role of our relationship to our bodies. Why is it important that we honor and understand our bodies? Why is...

  
• 09.05.2023

  S12 E06: Confronting The Empty Page with Andy Squyres

  Andy Squyres is a singer-songwriter born and raised in the mountains of Northern California but after moving east in the late 1990’s, he’s spent the last few decades carving songs out of the foothills of his North Carolina home. Andy is...

  
• 08.29.2023

  S12 E05: Finding Your Place with Esau McCaulley

  When we think of identity, we often point to our distinguishing characteristics and individual preferences. But what about our sense of place? How does place impact the people we become and the art we make?  In today’s episode, award-winning author and...

  
• 08.23.2023

  S12 E04: From Self, With Love | Lowland Hum

  Lowland Hum is the musical work of husband and wife duo Daniel and Lauren Goans of Charlottesville, Virginia. Their indie-folk sound is characterized by winsome haronies, poetic songwriting and raw, authentic craftsmanship. The band has spent the past eleven years...

  
• 08.16.2023

  S12 E03: Artist's Roundtable: Roots and Branches

  Artistic expression and the creative process profoundly shape our sense of self, culture, and belonging. In our first roundtable of season 12, author Rachel Kang, visual artist Corey Frey and podcast host Stephen Roach to explore the transformative relationship between...

  
• 08.08.2023

  S12 E02: A Social Imaginary with Karen Swallow Prior

  What role does the imagination play in shaping the identity of a culture?  Our collective imagination provides metaphors, stories and symbols that bind people groups together and create a common understanding of the world.  But what happens when those metaphors no longer...

  
• 08.01.2023

  S12 E01: The Glorious Dark with Victory

  Victory Boyd is a Grammy award winning singer/songwriter from Detroit Michigan. She is one of nine siblings who got her start singing in the Boys & Girls Choir of Detroit, founded by her father, John Boyd. Victory made her first...

  
• 07.25.2023

  S12 Trailer: Art & Identity

  Like our art, our sense of identity is never static. It is ever changing, ever evolving, ever growing and ever becoming.  Our identity is composed of the heritage we are given, the relationships we foster, the places we live, our...

  
• 07.18.2023

  S11 Summary: Custodians of Wonder

  In this short summary, Makers & Mystics host, Stephen Roach shares his closing thoughts on our Season 11 theme of Art and The Urge for Transcendence. "Wonder is the poetry of God." he says. And as devoted artists of faith,...

  
• 06.30.2023

  July Book Club! The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

  It's time for the July Makers & Mystics Summer Book Club to begin! And we couldn't be more thrilled about the book we will be reading together. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. Starting Wednesday night, July 5th, at 8 pm Eastern time, we will spend...

  
• 06.13.2023

  S11 Bonus: Artist's Roundtable P2: Ordinary & Existential

  In this concluding segment of our artist's roundtable on the Ordinary and Existential, Strahan, Josh, Ashley and Stephen explore the similarities and contrast between the glory of transfiguration and the humility of washing of the disciples feet. Though different in...

  
• 06.06.2023

  S11 E15: Artist's Roundtable P1: Ordinary & Existential

  What does transcendence look like for a “post-psychedelic” artist and seeker? How does the notion of transcendence differ for the Jesus follower? Is there a difference between “manufactured” transcendence and one brought about by genuine spiritual encounter? ...

  
• 05.30.2023

  S11 E14: Sacred Strides with Justin McRoberts

  The pace of our modern culture doesn’t always accommodate the need for balance between work and rest. We praise the hustle and scorn the burnout the hustle produces and yet we rarely make room for reflection and rejuvenation. My...

  
• 05.25.2023

  Artist Profile Series 37: L. Frank Baum

  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum, has been heralded as “The Great American Fairy Tale.” Generations of both young and old alike have been fascinated by this whimsical tale since the early 1900’s. When...

  
• 05.16.2023

  S11 E13: Building Bridges with Katherine Paterson

  There is a relationship between grief and transcendence that may not be immediately recognizable. But it’s one often expressed within art and in particular, children’s literature. Whether it’s Lewis’s wardrobe to Narnia, Dorothy’s house transported by cyclone to Oz...

  
• 05.09.2023

  S11 E12: The Personal and Universal with Aisha Badru

  Aisha Badru is a singer/songwriter based in New York.  The magic of her music lies in distilling an often-tangled human experience into simple truths, quieting the inner cacophony of emotions to pave a path toward healing.   To date, her soulful music...

  
• 05.02.2023

  REPLAY: Kimbra on Performance and Transcendence

  Kimbra, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Known for mixing pop with R&B, jazz and rock musical elements, her accolades include four ARIA Music Awards, two Grammy Awards and seven New Zealand Music Awards. In this REPLAY episode, Kimbra...

  
• 04.25.2023

  S11 E11: The Curation of Desire with Luke Burgis

  Luke Burgis is an author , creative thinker and entrepreneur. He has founded and led multiple companies. He's currently Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Director of Programs at the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship at the Catholic University of America, where he also...

  
• 04.18.2023

  S11 E10: In The Moment with Julianna Barwick

  Julianna Barwick is a Los Angeles based composer, vocalist, and producer who makes deep, reflective compositions rooted in the human voice.  Over the years she has made six critically acclaimed records as well as contributed her sound to the world of...

  
• 04.11.2023

  REPLAY: Jeremy Begbie on Transcendence In The Arts

  Jeremy Begbie is a Scottish theologian, author and musician. We interviewed Jeremy in Season 5 of the podcast on his book Redeeming Transcendence In The Arts.. In this bonus REPLAY episode, we are revisiting a segment from this conversation which...

  
• 04.04.2023

  S11 E09: A Fundamental Antagonism with Peter Rollins

  Peter Rollins is an author, philosopher, storyteller, producer and public speaker. Peter gained his higher education from Queens University, Belfast where he earned degrees (with distinction) in Scholastic Philosophy (BA Hons), Political Theory and Social Criticism (MA) and Post-Structural thought...

  
• 03.28.2023

  S11 E08: A Golden Thread with Bruce Herman

  Bruce Herman is a contemporary artist, writer, and speaker. His art has been shown in more than 150 exhibitions — nationally in many US cities, including New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston — and internationally in England,...

  
• 03.21.2023

  S11 E07: Redeeming Vision with Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt

  Dr. Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt is Assistant Professor of Art and Art History at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Her research and writing consider representations of race and gender in 19th and 20th century art and visual culture, but she...

  
• 03.14.2023

  S11 E06: Haunted By Eden with Father Christopher Foley

  Father Christopher Foley is the priest at Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Kernersville, NC where he has been serving for 17 years. Fr. Christopher is a convert to the Orthodox faith from an Evangelical background. While studying missiology and art...

  
• 03.07.2023

  S11 E05: Love & Unknowing with Brie Stoner

  Brie Stoner is a bilingual indie rock musician and songwriter, creative thinker and podcaster. She co-hosted Richard Rohr’s “Another Name for Every Thing” podcast before launching her own podcast titled “Unknowing”, which explores the unexpected path of creative possibility with...

  
• 02.28.2023

  S11 E04: Dangerous with Hip-Hop Artist KB

  Kevin "KB" Burgess is a Dove-Award winning rapper, speaker and podcaster with four full-length albums to his name. In this episode, KB talks to me about the importance of staying rooted in truth as an antidote to living the status...