Art & Faith Conversations

Phillip Attmore has been dancing, singing and acting since age 3. He has shared the stage and screen with the likes of Hugh Jackman, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Sir Richard Harris, Leslie Uggams, Ben Vereen, Bette Midler, Savion Glover, Gregory Hines and many more.  He is a three-time Astaire Award  winner, ACCA Award  winner, Playbill "Breakout Performance" Award   winner and NAACP Theatre Awar...

Shawn Smucker is an author who hails from Lancaster, PA. He began his writing career with ghost writing and co-writing for others. His first book he co-wrote was for his aunt, to tell her story of founding Auntie Anne's soft pretzels. Eventually he felt encouraged to write his own novels as well and he released the first one, The Day the Angels Fell  in 2014. A couple of books came after that and...

Carmelita Greco is a designer of her own line of clothing and also founder of Luz Art gallery in the L.A. area. Luz Art is a fine art gallery described as exploring the connections between culture, contemporary thought and divinity. Carmelita had a desire to create a space that could be an advocate for sacred art and dialogue. Through unique exhibitions and gatherings, Luz is able to be that for i...

Anthony Vasquez tells about the years he spent in India where he co-facilitated an International Artist Residency and worked with the organization Art for Change. Through his experiences he discovered his passion for mentoring other artists in being culture makers. Anthony talks about the daily rhythms of tea and community building through creating art alongside the marginalized and the humility i...

Kristen Cochran is a visual artist based in Dallas. She experiments with materials she describes as antiheroic such as old work garments that have been formed to reflect the work of its owner's daily life. Kristen talks about her creative process, her versatile use of materials such as clay, copper, bread and garments and exploring the concept of work. http://kristencochran.com  

Greg Holmes is a pastor in the Dallas area. He began his studies in the arts as a painter but decided to choose seminary instead. Not until recently did Greg return to painting and to discover just how valuable it was to have in his life. He continues his work as a pastor but now makes working on his art a daily discipline which he says makes him a better pastor and a better human. Greg shares his...

Wayne Adams is a Brooklyn-based artist who received his B.F.A. from Calvin College and M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis. Adams has exhibited throughout the Midwest, New York and Vienna, Austria. Wayne has served as the Board Chair of CIVA for the last several years and I talk with him about what the CIVA community has meant to him. Wayne is a studio artist who explores biblical theme...

Micah Behr received his Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin in 2014. He resides and works in Madison, WI as a professional viola player and collaborative pianist. Micah has experiences playing chamber music and in orchestras, but recently has  found himself frequently composing music for the local church. He serves as the artist in residence and worship director at Geneva Ca...

Leslie Iwai is an installation artist from Middleton, WI. She approaches her work with two questions: How Is It? and What Is It? She shares with us about her creative process and the surprising way she discovered that she was called to be an artist. Leslie has several installations that have been on display in various venues. To preview her work visit: https://www.leslieiwai.com

Ned Bustard is a graphic designer, children's book illustrator, author and printmaker. Some of his works include It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, The Chronicles of Narnia Comprehension Guide  and  Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups. With his hand in so many projects, I talk with him specifically about his creative process and the balance between commissions vs. personal projects...

Eva Ting is the coordinator for the W83 Ministry Center of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. Her background is in art administration and she is passionate about creating spaces for art that allows different communities to intersect and interact. She talks about the impact that sharing the space of the W83 center has on the surrounding neighborhoods. In creating space for art that allows people...

Live discussion with author and advocate, Belinda Bauman and visual artist, Natalie Salminen Rude, on the partnership of entering empathy through works of art. Belinda founded One Million Thumbprints(OMT) which exists to end violence against women and girls in conflict zones. She recently released her book, Brave Souls-Experiencing the Audacious Power of Empathy,  to tell the stories of the women...

Kutter Callaway joins me to discuss his book,  The Aesthetics of Atheism,  co-authored by Barry Taylor. We explore the questions raised in the book about the radical idea that what if Christianity needs atheism. Kutter explains how the aesthetic dimension of the absence of God or religion in popular culture, actually provides deeper theological insight and points to the core of Christianity. We di...

Musician Strahan Coleman, joined me from New Zealand to talk about his recent project Prayer & Vulnerability . The album is a collection of songs reflecting on a dark time he experienced with his health and resulted in depression and anxiety setting in. The songs are paired with a collection of poems he wrote as prayers when he'd lost the ability to even sing and he learned of God's deep love and...

This live podcast episode was recorded at Studio Haiku in Duluth, MN. My guest, Natalie Salminen Rude, is a visual artist who specializes in encaustic style painting and has also been practicing the art of haiku for several years. We talk in depth about the invitational nature of haiku that can lead us into conversations with our Creator. Natalie shares with us how it has informed and influenced h...

Improv comedy performer, Dave Ebert talks about his path to his purpose of making people laugh. He shares about his past battles with depression and suicidal thoughts and God's still small voice telling him to live one more day. Dave chose to live one more day and climbed out of that darkness by finding a new purpose in spreading joy and making people laugh. He founded HAHA Men Sketch Comedy and I...

Chris Soal is a visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He graduated from the university there in 2017 and won the PPC Imgainarium award in 2018. He is known for creating large bodies of work out of ordinary objects such as toothpicks and bottle caps. With his sculptures of found objects, Chris finds that it challenges the viewer's perception of the ordinary materials and leads them to...

Justin Wells is a documentary filmmaker and a camera technician. He studied philosophy at California State Long Beach, theology and art and Fuller Seminary and received his MFA at the Art Center College of Design. Throughout the course of his interdisciplinary studies, he discovered the power of documentary film in revealing deeper truths about our humanity and spirituality. He compiled his discov...

Lectio Divina and observing the beginning of Lent with my guest, Summer Gross. Summer is an Anglican priest, a spiritual director and an inner healing minster. She describes her spiritual training and the desire for mystery that fueled her. We talk about the importance of creating space for silence and slow scripture reading in order to allow room for God to speak. In observance of Ash Wednesday,...

Robia Scott, leading actor in the upcoming film, Unplanned,  joins me. We talk about her return to acting with this intense role after leaving the entertainment industry several years ago. Unplanned is about the true story of former Planned Parenthood worker, Abby Johnson, who experienced a life transformation after witness an abortion procedure in an exam room one day. Robia and I discuss the pow...

Singer/Songwriter, Joy Ike, shares her story about the turning point in her adult life when she felt the urgency to pursue music and songwriting. Born of Nigerian descent, her childhood musical influences included gatherings in her home of other African immigrant families who would join in playing and singing diverse rhythms and songs together. She believes this contributed to her eclectic styles...

I'm joined by Alisha Siemens and Adam Goldstein, Minnesota founders of the global company, Shema. They started Shema to be an apparel brand and company that addresses and alleviates poverty and human trafficking. Hear their inspiring story behind the vision and calling they received to provide restoration and sustainable employment through sewing co-ops to women being rescued out of human traffick...

Renew the Arts is a nonprofit organization that is passionate about liberating creativity in Christian artists. President and CEO, Justus Stout, joins me to tell us about how Renew the Arts is influencing cultural transformation by enabling artists to create lasting art for the common good. Hear what fueled Justus to go from politics to instead dedicating his life to supporting and enabling artist...

Songwriter/Musician, John Mark McMillan, talks about his first ever Christmas album, Smile in the Mystery . We talk about the story  behind the album title and also behind the songs. We also talk about how God surprised John Mark with a fresh perspective on the wonder of Christmas when he was writing the song,  Baby Son.  Smile in the Mystery  is full of nostalgia and timeless sounds but at the sa...

My guest, Tim Briggs, is a pastor in North Carolina who decided to gather other songwriters and musicians to help him record a collection of songs that he had on his heart. He felt his own limitations as a musician would hinder his dreams of bringing these songs to life but he and the artists worked together as a collective to create what has become the album, Folk Hymnal. I talk with Tim about wh...