Monthly Archives: October 2012

Oct 25 2012

Sybil MacBeth: I Get Still By Moving

Sybil MacBeth is a dancer, a doodler, and a former community college mathematics professor. When she moved to Memphis in 2004, author Phyllis Tickle nudged Sybil to write about her prayer frustrations and the visual and active prayer practice she developed as the result of them. She now combines her experience in the mathematics classroom with her lifelong love of prayer to offer workshops that engage differing learning styles. As the author of Praying in Color Drawing a New Path to God, she has lead over 100 workshops and retreats. 

“I use this prayer involving art as a form of meditation to get still. I write the word ‘God’ or ‘Holy Spirit’ on a piece of paper. I start drawing and it invites my body into the prayer. I like to move and I’ve discovered that I get still by moving … even if it’s just moving my hand along the paper. It helps me get still on the inside because the body is no longer a distraction.” ~Sybil MacBeth

Listen to Sybil’s Art as Worship interview on Empower Radio.

Sybil is also the author of Praying in Color Kids’ Edition. Her latest book is a Praying in Black and White: A Hands-On Practice for Men, a collaborative effort with her Episcopal priest husband, Andy MacBeth. Praying in Color has been translated into Korean, Spanish, and Italian.

She encourages others to embrace their creativity by saying, “Sometimes your boundaries are your freedom. Use the boundary as a starting off point. Choose to only draw circles. Or restrict your doodle to circles and lines and see what happens. That way you don’t have this whole big paper staring at you — those restrictions can allow you to be free.”

Sybil uses the arts as a pathway for building community and deepening her relationship with God. She is a life-long dancer. Sybil studied ballet and modern dance and performed with various regional dance groups. She currently dances with an improv dance group.

She commented, “Sometimes you become an expert by being a chronic novice — always willing to learn and willing to continue to grow.”

Sybil’s experience includes:

  • Artist-in-Residence Memphis Theological Seminary 2010-2011.
  • Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach from 1991 to 2004.
  • Graduated from Randolph-Macon College with a B.S. in Mathematics and College of William and Mary with an. M.S. in Mathematics.

She lives in Memphis, TN with her husband, Andy, an Episcopal priest.  Sybil is the mother of two adult sons.

Find out more about Sybil, her books and workshops at www.prayingincolor.com.

Find out more about show host Vanessa Lowry at www.vanessalowrycreative.com.

Oct 18 2012

Alice Ball: Learning from the Beautiful and the Not-So-Beautiful

Alice Ball is an explorer in the art of papermaking — gathering raw materials, sometimes embedding things in the wet paper before it dries and creating small collages.

“One of the commandments of papermaking is ‘thou shalt not love any piece of paper better than another.’ You learn from the beautiful pieces and from the not-so-beautiful ones. That’s not unlike worship for me. Some days worship is really hard. Some days it is a joyous and easy — a totally carefree thing. But it’s always there. It’s not something that has to be one way or another.” ~Alice Ball

Listen to Alice’s Art as Worship interview on Empower Radio.

Paper items are called ephemera — a word related to things like ghosts, mists and spirits that can’t be held onto for long. They remind you that beauty can be fleeting and you must be alert to be moved by it, or simply to enjoy its existence, however short.

Alice says, “My spiritual evolution and my art of papermaking are interactive. When you’re very occupied with doing things with your hands, somehow your Spirit is allowed to fully flower. Making paper has given me an experience of myself as creative. I sometime laugh and enjoy the ridiculousness of what I’m trying to do. It has challenged me to try things that seem rather silly and sometimes turn out surprisingly great. The doing of it has affected my way of being acquainted with myself.”

Alice often gives her art to friends.

You can connect with Alice via email at aliceball (at) gmail.com.

Find out more about show host Vanessa Lowry at www.vanessalowrycreative.com.

Oct 11 2012

Patrick McDonnell: Art Helps Me Lose My Ego

Cartoonist and author Patrick McDonnell is the creator of the award-winning MUTTS comic strip. Syndicated in 1994, MUTTS now appears in over 700 print newspapers worldwide, and has its home on the web at muttscomics.com.

“My art and spirituality inspire each other. Being an artist made me start thinking about spirituality. When I read The Power of Now, it was the artist in me that understood it. Making art is a prayer and meditation — it helps me lose my ego. So art is definitely part of my spiritual process.” ~Patrick McDonnell

Listen to Patrick’s Art as Worship interview on Empower Radio.

Patrick has received numerous awards for his art, including the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year, and international recognition for his promotion of animal protection.  He has over 20 books in print including The New York Times bestsellers The Gift of Nothing, Hug Time, The Monsters’ Monster and 2012 Caldecott Honor book Me … Jane, which is a biography of the childhood of Dr. Jane Goodall.  In 2009, McDonnell collaborated with The Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle to create Guardians of Being.

Earl, a Jack Russell Terrier, was Patrick’s real life inspiration for MUTTS for 19 years. Patrick says, “I always felt if I could capture any of his joy of life in my comic, I was doing my job.”

Regarding the constant pressure of meeting deadlines, Patrick says, “When you do a daily comic strip, having faith is a big part of it. I have faith in the Creator and in the creative powers that something’s going to happen. I’ve always approached art on a faith basis — not to struggle with it, but to let it happen.”

In addition to his artistic commitments of his daily comic strip, books and the upcoming MUTTS movie, Patrick is a member of the national Boards of Directors for The Humane Society of the United States, The Fund for Animals and The Charles M. Schulz Museum.

Find out more about Patrick and MUTTS at www.muttscomics.com.

Find out more about show host Vanessa Lowry at www.vanessalowrycreative.com.

Oct 5 2012

Matt Tommey: Crafting a Creative Life

Matt Tommey is a basketry artist, a musician, author and worship leader. His interest in fine craft and handmade baskets began as a teenager, growing up in southern Georgia. His passion for using natural materials began to center around the creeping southern vine of kudzu while attending Young Harris College in the North Georgia mountains and the University of Georgia.

“A few years ago, my wife and I made a decision to say ‘NO’ to everything that was not creative at its core. That meant turning down jobs and moving from Atlanta to Asheville. It meant crafting a life that sustains what we are called to do, as opposed to running after the frustrations of the day. I’ve crafted my life in a way that makes it easy to be creative — that meant saying ‘no’ to stuff that sucks my time.” ~Matt Tommey

Listen to Matt’s Art as Worship interview on Empower Radio.

Now an Asheville, North Carolina resident, Matt’s handcrafted baskets are a whimsical collaboration of traditional Appalachian forms and wild, rustic, natural materials including natural vines (kudzu, wisteria, grapevine), branches (birch, oak, ash & poplar), long leaf pine needles and poplar bark. His interpretation of rib baskets and other traditional shapes offer a heartfelt nod to his roots in Appalachian basketry while offering a contemporary expression that is all his own.

Matt says, “Coming from a family of musicians and being a musician, I grew up with this idea of performing for God. As I’ve grown in my spirituality and relationship with God, the Lord began to draw me back into the woods. With my basketry, my relationship with God began to change from a position of performance to just being. Connecting with the solitude of the woods helped me to find a place of rest with my creativity. It’s in this place that I know that I’m loved and accepted beyond anything I would ever create. I know that I’m created in the image of God and my job is not to perform for Him, but to create with Him.”

Matt is a leader in the contemporary basketry movement, serving on the Board of Directors of the National Basketry Organization and as an instructor at schools, guilds and conventions around the country.

Through The Worship Studio and his book, Unlocking the Heart of the Artist, Matt encourages others to embrace their creativity. He says, “You are creative. The things that make you weird and unique are the very things that God put inside of you to express His glory on the earth — and for you to have a really good time in life. The abundant life comes when we connect to creativity and the greater spirit of God with our unique expression of creativity.”

Find out more about Matt at www.matttommey.com.

Learn more about show host Vanessa Lowry at www.vanessalowrycreative.com.