Makers & Mystics

This is Part 2 of our Roundtable discussion on Art & The Urge For Transcendence, featuring cultural theologian, author, and fellow podcaster Paul Anleitner (Deep Talks Podcast,) Chicago pastor, Ted Kim and singer/songwriter John Mark McMillan. Join the Creative Collective Listen to Paul’s Deep Talks Podcast Send us Fan Mail Support the show Sign Up for Our Newsletter! http://eepurl.com/g49Ks1...

This Roundtable discussion on Art & The Urge For Transcendence, features cultural theologian, author, and fellow podcaster Paul Anleitner (Deep Talks Podcast,) Chicago pastor, Ted Kim and singer/songwriter John Mark McMillan.   In this loose discussion, the conversation meanders its way to the subject of longing and survival and how these sometimes competing drives can lead us to the doorway o...

Wynn Everett is an American actor based in Atlanta Georgia. She has acted in films such as Justin Timberlake’s Palmer, HBO’s Doom Patrol, Marvel’s Agent Carter as well as familiar Television shows - Modern Family, The Walking Dead and will appear in the upcoming season of Sweet Magnolia’s. In this episode, Wynn and Stephen discuss the contrast between performing and transforming, discovering trans...

Aundi Kolber   is a licensed professional counselor and author of the critically acclaimed Try Softer . She specializes in trauma- and body-centered therapies and is passionate about the integration of faith and psychology. In this episode Stephen talks with Aundi about her latest book Strong Like Water and how we can move through pain into the expansiveness of our deeper yearnings for transcenden...

In this Season Opening Primer, Makers & Mystics host Stephen Roach sets the stage for the season’s conversations on Art & The Urge For Transcendence. You can download a transcript of this episode here Music provided by Some Were At Sea. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Sign Up for Our Newsletter! http://eepurl.com/g49Ks1 Connect with Makers & Mystics Website: https://makersandmystics....

The human heart is designed to be astonished. We carry within us, an innate yearning for wonder, for awe, for reverence.  This deep-rooted urge to reach beyond ourselves, to be immersed in that which is greater than our own limitation, greater than our own materiality is where the spiritual and the creative impulses overlap. What does it mean to carry within us, such deep longings for something be...

Jeri Jones Sparks is a Tamil Indian-Australian poet and writer living on Wangal Country. She is the winner of the third annual Bright Wings Poetry Contest hosted in partnership with Ekstasis Magazine. She works as the Outreach Pastor at St James Anglican Church in the Inner West of Sydney. In this bonus episode, Jeri shares her winning poem, January Born. Join The Makers & Mystics Creative Col...

Ernest Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish, polar explorer born February 15th 1874 and died on January 5th, 1922. Although Shackleton is arguably neither artist nor mystic, the key events of his life carry both a beautiful tale of artistic level devotion and deep mystical encounter. In this artist profile, host Stephen Roach details a mystical encounter that transpired in Shackleton's life during h...

Asthmatic Kitty recording artist John Ringhofer is the man behind Half-Handed Cloud. His music is a quirky combination of tape manipulation, electronic and folk soundscapes. He has collaborated with artists Sufjan Stevens, Daniel Smith of The Danielson Family and John Van Deusen. In this bonus episode, Stephen Roach talks with John about the creative process of his latest album, Flutterama. Join T...

When we think about restoration, we typically refer to restoring something that once was but no longer is. We mean bringing something back to its original condition that was either altered or strayed from the intended design. But restoration doesn’t necessarily mean going back to something that once was. We can ‘restore the future’ as well. In this season finale episode, Makers and Mystics host, S...

Patronage has long been a vital part of enabling artists to create their work.  I think of historical examples like  Lorenzo de’ Medici who funded artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo. I think of Peggy Guggenheim whose patronage gave us Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.  In this brief bonus episode, I share with you how you can help Makers & Mystics continue our work...

Arthur Aghajanian is a Christian contemplative, essayist, and educator. His work explores visual culture through a spiritual lens. His essays have appeared in a variety of publications, including Ekstasis, Radix, Saint Austin Review, The Curator, and many others. He holds an M.F.A. from Otis College of Art and Design. In this episode, I talk with Arthur about his spiritual background, the nature o...

Juanita Campbell Rasmus is a speaker, writer, spiritual director, and contemplative teacher. She is the co-pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in downtown Houston which she founded with her husband, Rudy in 1992. In this episode, Juanita shares with me how a major depressive episode became the catalyst for personal renewal. Following our season ten theme of restoration for the heart of th...

This episode is Part 2 of the Re-Creation of Meaning Roundtable (The Fire Dragon Edition) featuring John Mark McMillan, Stephen Roach, Vesper Stamper and Brandon Willett. In this part of the discussion, we talk through: - self absorption vs. self awareness - the role of the audience in the artist's creative process. - meekness and confidence - Fire Dragons and Jackalopes - How the intimate re...

What does Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift, Radiohead, Beck, Nick Cave, Miley Cyrus, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko have to do with singer/songwriter, John Mark McMillan , art-instigator, Stephen Roach , author/illustrator, Vesper Stamper & visual artist/designer, Brandon Willett ? You’ll find out in this Artist’s Round Table. My guests and I discuss the “Re-creation of Meaning” a...

Josh Nadeau is a print maker, writer and clothing designer living in Western Canada. His Instagram account, Sword and Pencil, features a library of images and musings about goodness, truth and beauty. His work, both in word and in image, aims to offer solutions to disenchantment and acts as an antidote to Christian culture’s rampant mediocrity. In this episode, Stephen talks with Josh about the ro...

Canadian-born Erika Lemay has become a beautifully disruptive icon in the world of live performance, using her body in ways that defy both gravity and human possibilities. Her journey has taken her from her first ballet class at the age of four to worldwide success and accolades. As the creator of Physical Poetry , Erika believes that ‘Poetry doesn’t have to be expressed with words’. Her TV perfor...

Bette Dickinson is a visual artist, writer, and speaker who invites audiences to connect with God through visual parables of the spiritual journey. Through creative communication, she helps her audience awaken to the beauty of God and His Kingdom and see more clearly the eternal realm in the heart and in the world. Through her work, Dickinson helps her audience connect the inner life of spiritual...

YOUNG OCEANS is a neo-alternative worship project that evolved from a gathering of musicians, re-imagining hymns in a New York City apartment. Untethered from the expectations of a traditional congregational format, these artful re-renderings gave birth to a sound that is at once familiar and refreshingly innovative. The musical ethos of Young Oceans emerged as more a companion to reflective praye...

The Welcome Wagon is a musical duo comprised of married couple, Vito and Monique Aiuto. heir musical style is steeped in sacred song traditions presented with minimalist Alt-Folk sensibilities. Their musical journey began with Asthmatic Kitty Records in 2008 with the debut album, Welcome To The Welcome Wagon produced by Sufjan Stevens. In this bonus, album drop episode, Vito and Monique share with...

Blaine hogan is a writer, film and creative director and actor. He is the former creative director for Willow Creek Community Church and is currently a full-time filmmaker living in Atlanta, Georgia.  His recent memoir titled Exit The Cave: Embracing A Life of Courage, Creativity and Radical Imagination is a brutally honest recounting of his struggle with addiction and the unexpected gift of hitti...

Michael Hayes is the founder and director of Umoja Health, Wellness, and Justice Collective. He is a visionary agent of change who has found powerful ways to infuse the art of storytelling and the science of resilience into opportunities for healing and recovery. He is the author of the HOPE module (Healing Our Past/Personal Experiences,) a Certified Peer Support Specialist, a Wellness Recovery Ac...

Malcolm Guite is an English poet, academic and priest in the Church of England. He is a fellow of Girton College in the University of Cambridge and has published widely in the field of theology and literature.  His research interests include the intersection of religion and the arts and the examination of the works of J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  In this episode Malcolm...

Rachel Marie Kang is a New York native, born and raised just outside New York City. She is an author, poet and founder of The Fallow House online creative community.  Her writing has been featured in Christianity Today, Proverbs 31 Ministries, and (in)courage. A mixed woman of African American, Native American (Ramapough Lenape Nation), Irish, and Dutch descent, she is a graduate of Alliance Colle...

Strahan is a writer, award-winning folk musician and spiritual director from Aotearoa, New Zealand. He founded Commoners Communion in 2017 to explore what it means to become a deeply prayerful people in our times. Since then, he has written three prayer books offering poetic prayers, contemplations and reflections to help readers deepen their communion with God. Today, Strahan runs spiritual retre...