Makers & Mystics

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 to learn is that Hugo Ball was a Catholic and his bizarre forms of art were deeply informed by his theology. Joining me for this episode is visual artist, writer and art critic Jonathan Anderson. Jonathan writes about Hugo in his book, Modern Art & the Life of A Culture.

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 the Genesis narrative, we, too, have been invited to bring forth, to give birth, to call life into being. At this year‘s The Breath & the Clay creative arts gathering, we are extending this invitation to you. Come. Participate in the unfolding of your creative inheritance. As artists and creators, we are called upon to be the architects of hope for our generation and for the generations to come. Lend your voice to the transformation, and liberate the creative spark. Let there be. Each year since 2014, The Breath and the Clay has gathered in Winston Salem, North Carolina for a 3-day experience curated to inspire, challenge and transform your creative and spiritual journey. The event consists of live performances, keynote talks, an immersive art gallery and instructional workshops. Whether you are a working artist, a curious observer, a newfound experimentalist or a lifelong explorer, this interactive environment will liberate the creative spark within you and set you on a course of creative discovery.

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. As a Korean American, she wandered between seemingly opposing worlds, struggling to find a voice to speak and a firm place for her feet to land. In today’s episode, as we continue our exploration of art and identity, Tasha talks with me about her journey from self-rejection to self-acceptance and how writing her memoir Tell Me The Dream Again served as a means of integrating the multi-faceted parts of her identity. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy a deeper dive into this topic with Tasha on our Patreon.

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 the most influential pedal companies in the world, preferred by recording artists such as Beck, John Mayer, Madison Cunningham and many others. Josh’s YouTube series, The JHS Show, has garnered millions of views from audiences spanning the globe and often expands into documentaries on musical technology, invention and music history.  Aside from his guitar-related work, Josh is an accomplished published photographer who focuses on photographic essays of Midwestern America.  Much like his pedal company, Josh tells us he accidentally fell in love with photography, riding his bicycle throughout Kansas farmlands and documenting what he saw. In today’s episode, recorded live at the Loom creative arts event, Josh talks about the curiosity that drives his creative work as well as ‘the adjacent possible,’ a term describing creative and innovative possibilities that grow as they are explored.  Following our theme of art and identity, Josh shares about finding reflections of ourselves in others and in the way we see the world around us. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Josh at patreon.com/makersandmystics

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 contributed original music to feature film and television also, composing for 2021’s Oscar-nominated film, Three Songs for Benazir. In 2017, Qais was recruited by director Nora Twomey to compose an original song for her Oscar-nominated film, The Breadwinner (produced by Angelina Jolie). He earned a Canadian Screen Award for “Best Original Song” for his piece, The Crown Sleeps. In this episode, Qais shares his deep connections to this ancient instrument and how the rebab has become an extension of his own voice. Following our theme of Art & Identity, this conversation offers a beautiful perspective on how culture, tradition and innovation shape the people we become.

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 S.D. Smith, the author of The Green Ember Series, a bestselling middle-grade adventure saga. The Green Ember has reached hundreds of thousands of readers and spent time as the number one bestselling audiobook in the world on Audible. Smith’s stories are captivating readers across the globe who are hungry for “new stories with an old soul.” Enthusiastic families can’t get enough of these tales. In our conversation, S.D. (Sam) shares why family and community are important to him as a writer. This conversation continues the season 12 theme of Art & Identity, offering a meditation on how family and community shape the people we become and the art we make. We will be talking in greater detail about this relationship between art and family in the Makers and Mystics Creative Collective. If you’d love to go deeper with us in these conversations, I want to invite you to visit Patreon and sign up today. And since this episode features the work of a children’s book writer, it seems appropriate to tell you here that starting the first Wednesday in October, our collective will begin reading through The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

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 having a right relationship to our bodies imperative to the quest of art and knowing our true selves? Joining us for this discussion is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, David O. Taylor. David Taylor has long been a voice and an advocate for the arts within academia and faith contexts. In 2016, he produced a short film on the Psalms with Bono and Eugene Peterson. His previous books include: Open and Unafraid: The Psalms As A Guide to Life, and Glimpses of The New Creation: Worship and The Formative Power of The Arts. In this episode David discusses his latest book, A Body of Praise: The Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship.

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 Heavily influenced by the poetics of Leonard Cohen and the lyrical tradition of artists like Bob Dylan and The National. His passion for words convey a raw and unmatched honesty that bring listeners face to face with overlooked parts of our own humanity and weave together a tapestry of heartbreak and hope. In this episode, Andy and Stephen talk backstage at the Loom creative arts gathering about Andy's creative process, confronting the empty page and what it takes to build a sustainable lifestyle of making music and making a living. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Andy of the making of his latest release Death Defying Joy which you’re hearing throughout this episode. 

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 professor Esau McCaulley talks with me about the impact of place on his life and how growing up in a poverty-stricken Alabama town informs the writing of his upcoming memoir, How Far To The Promised Land. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Professor McCaulley on finding your voice as an artist.

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 touring the nation and sharing stages with artists just as Josh Ritter, Oh Hellos and Penny and Sparrow. Today on the podcast, Daniel and Lauren talk with Stephen Roach about their collaborative process, how changing seasons impact the creative process and our sense of self.

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 between art and identity. Drawing from their own unique journeys with the written word and visual art, we discuss how these forms become powerful conduits for personal and collective narratives. Rachel Kang is an author, poet and founder of The Fallow House online creative community. A mixed woman of African American, Native American (Ramapough Lenape Nation), Irish, and Dutch descent, she is a graduate of Alliance College with a Bachelor of Arts in English with Creative Writing and a minor in Bible. You may recall our previous episode with Rachel on her book, Let There Be Art. Corey Frey s a visual artist, poet and musician. He and his wife Christy are the founders of The Well Collaborative, a community in Frederick Maryland, dedicated to wonder, hospitality and creativity. Corey works as the Exhibitions Manager at The Delaplaine Arts Center in Frederick’s downtown area. He is also the co-hosts of the Makers and Mystics podcast’s creative collective book clubs. Join us as we explore the intricate tapestry of human identity and gain fresh insights into understanding the transformative relationship between art and identity.

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 carry the same meanings? Or even worse, when those stories and metaphors no longer create unity but bring division and harm?  Professor and writer Karen Swallow Prior addresses these concerns in her book The Evangelical Imagination.  She tells us, contemporary American evangelicalism is suffering from an identity crisis - and a lot of bad press.  In this episode, Karen discusses what Charles Taylor called ‘A social imaginary’ and how artists and creatives can respond to the evangelical crisis of identity and bring healing to our cultural fractures. 

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 solo recording on Jay Z’s Roc Nation label and went on to collaborate with Kanye West for his 2019 album Jesus is King. Her most recent album, Glory Hour is an inspirational 18-track collection marking her first gospel album. In this episode, Victory shares about her upbringing in a vibrant musical family, the discipline of spontaneity, along with the deep spiritual roots that inform her work as an artist. Speaking to our season theme of Art & Identity, Victory shares about the journey of finding her identity rooted in inheritance rather than in striving after acceptance.

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 beliefs, interests and experiences. Our sense of identity is reflected back to us through the mirroring lens of what we behold. On one level, you could say identity is a library of memories and desires that form the narrative arc of our lives. But what are roots of identity? What is the soil from which it grows? Is there something deeper that constitutes a pure and unchanging self? One perhaps that has existed from eternity. And who are we apart from these outer layers that clothe the naked soul and form our personalities?  For the maker our creative works are intimately woven into the fabric of our being and for the mystic, the core of our identity is rooted in the unchanging love of God. What then is the relationship between our art and our sense of self? How does our art-making shape our sense of self? Does our well being depend upon the success or public reception of our creations? Does the praise or indifference of an audience determine our self worth?   For the artist of faith, what is the proper way to understand this relationship between our art and our identity? Is our art separate from our core, spiritual identity? Or is our art as an overflow of who we are, budding forth but attached like a flowering stem?  These are among the questions we will be exploring in Season 12 of the podcast.  We’ll be hearing from well-known artists and musicians, theologians, and creative thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines. Be sure to subscribe and follow along to be a part of the conversations. Series Starts Tuesday August 1st Join The Creative Collective

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, it is our invitation to be the "custodians of wonder" re-introducing the world to awe and reverence.