FORUM

Buying your art supplies online is easy and the options are seemingly limitless. But whenever possible I like to shop in town and support local retailers. There’s something about stepping into a wonderland of paints and inks and brushes, along with fine papers and canvasses, specialty journals and hundreds of pen nibs. I love to sense the endless possibilities and talk with a real live person who understands art and knows what it takes to create it. So, my fellow artists and calligraphers, what’s your favorite local retailer for art supplies where you live?

"God is in my work, almost everywhere, in every painting." Anneke Kaai God is Anneke Kaai's primary source of inspiration. She also seeks to bridge the gap between the Church and the arts. In the past the two were more closely related, and visual images were used to teach illiterate members the Bible stories. In our current highly visual culture, art can again point to abstract, spiritual realities. Art can start a dialogue, it also moves people and can communicate comfort and encouragement, or it can strengthen our relationship with God and Christ. In this video , Kaai discusses the connection between faith and art.

“We, today, have a language to celebrate waywardness, but we do not have a cultural language to bring people back home.” Makoto Fujimura Makoto Fujimura is a significant voice in connecting faith and art. “The idea of forging a new kind of art, about hope, healing, redemption, refuge, while maintaining visual sophistication and intellectual integrity is a growing movement, one which finds Makoto Fujimura’s work at the vanguard.” (Robert Kushner) Examples of this can be seen in his commissioned artwork of the four Gospels created for a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 1611. Here is a video of Fujimura discussing faith & art.