Nov 10 2012

Harry Boone: First Center Yourself

Harry Boone is a pottery artist. A native of Georgia, Harry grew up in the Atlanta area, attended Georgia Tech and served in the Navy. He worked in the building and development industry for 38 years.

Watching a potter work at his wheel while attending a North GA fall festival around 1968 sparked Harry’s fascination with wheel pottery. He started collecting pots that day. In 1985, he took a class and centered his first piece of clay.

“Early in my journey as an artist, I was working full-time in the development and building industry. I came into pottery class ten minutes late and strung tight. I wasn’t able to center the clay on the wheel — a crucial step before you can begin forming a pottery piece. My instructor came up behind me, put her hands on my shoulders and said, ‘Harry, you can’t center the clay until you’re centered within yourself.’ I’ve found that principle of first getting centered relates to everything I do.”

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

Now, Harry spends several days a week either in class or working independently in the studio. He’s particularly interested in firing stoneware pieces in wood, salt and ruku kilns.

He says, “I think the best piece I’ve ever made came out of the kiln a few weeks ago — it’s a little teapot and it is absolutely beautiful. That doesn’t happen every time. Creating with clay is somewhat of a process and it’s filled with a lot of faith.”

Harry can be reached at haboone (@) bellsouth.net.

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

Nov 1 2012

Laura Strickler: Choosing at the Buffet of Spirituality

About 10 years ago, Laura Strickler bought a few beads and a little bit of bead wire, hoping to replicate a key chain she admired at a craft fair. She quickly learned that you only need to know how to do a couple of things — crimping and wire wrapping, to be exact — to make just about anything you want with beads. The very short learning curve, the dazzling assortment of beads out there in the world and the utilitarian nature of the final product kept her going.

Finding an intersection where beading and spirituality meet has been the most gratifying part of Laura’s hobby.

“I think of spirituality as a buffet. When you’re at the buffet, you get to pick and choose. You might like something about one spiritual tradition, and something else about another one. I believe that we all have the creative prerogative to connect with our Higher Power in a way that personally works for us.” ~Laura Strickler

Listen to Laura’s Art as Worship interview on Empower.

She says, “The most exciting thing for me about this art of beading was discovering the spiritual aspect that I could bring to it. The word ‘bead’ comes from the Old English noun ‘bede,’ which means a prayer. Just a bead itself is a prayer. It’s just the perfect tangible anchor for any spiritual practice.”

There is a prayer bead configuration for almost every religion and spiritual tradition. Laura’s signature prayer beads include traditional Catholic rosaries and chaplets, Hindu and Buddhist Malas, Christian prayer beads, and a variety of non-denominational prayer and meditation beads.

Laura goes on to say, “Prayer beads are a wonderful way to pause. To be reminded to stop, take a breath and to get centered.”

Laura lives in Atlanta and indulges her creative passions as an antidote to her “real” job in corporate communications at The Coca-Cola Company. Laura has owned her own business, Design & Copy, Inc., for 16 years, providing writing, editing and marketing communications services to a broad range of clients. You can contact her by email at lstrickler (@) mac.com.

Since this interview originally aired, Laura left her job at Coca-Cola and started Pink Elephant Merchantile offering a line of elegant, versatile necklaces.

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

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.

Sep 28 2012

Bernie Kida: Vulnerability is the Birthplace of Creativity

Bernie Kida graduated with a Master’s Degree from the University of California San Francisco in 1987. He launched his career in medical illustration with the first edition of the Atlas of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery authored by Raymond T. Morrissy, M.D.

“Allowing yourself to be vulnerable is letting other people see your struggles. When that happens, someone will come along and help you with that struggle or say, ‘I’m going through the same thing.’ It allows you to connect with others. That willingness to be open and vulnerable is the birthplace of creativity.”  ~Bernie Kida

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

Bernie was the primary medical illustrator for Scottish Rite Children’s Medical Center for twelve years where he became a well-respected, award-winning illustrator. He has been praised for his attention to detail and graphic realism that allowed him to produce over a dozen successive surgical atlases.  He was certified in 1991 by the Association of Medical Illustrators and has been recognized with awards in projection media and Illustrated Textbook categories. He has also been featured in The Healing Arts, The Best American Artists Look at Medicine Today in 1995.

He says, “I had the privilege of being an observer during an operation years ago. Everything in the human body is alive — it’s shimmering, pulsing and vibrant. The colors. The layers. Everything comes to life. The human body is incredible and miraculous.”

Kida now works out of his home studio where he has more flexibility and a far shorter commute. He enjoys the challenges that each new assignment brings and the resulting relationships that develop while working with art directors, editors and publishers, physicians, surgeons and other allied health professionals.

Find out more about Bernie at www.bkidamedart.com or “like” his Facebook page.

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

Sep 20 2012

Laura Biering: A Life of Creativity is a Spirited Life

Laura Biering, Owner and President of True Voices, is a certified Authentic Life and Leadership Coach. A 12-year veteran of the coaching profession, she has been around the block, as they say, when it comes to careers.  Before coming to coaching, she was (among other things) an opera singer and actress, a legal recruiter and a bank teller, a life drawing model (yes, that’s done nude) and a giant pickle. In addition, she is an Ordained Interfaith Minister and an Artist’s Way Evangelist.

Since finding her own True Voice, she has been working with individuals, partners and teams to create lives that are both deeply meaningful and downright fun. In other words, she helps others create realities that rock!

“I am created by a Creator, I am creative and I am supposed to create. A life of creativity is a spirited life. As we go about that in our own unique way, it makes us authentic.”  ~Laura Biering

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

Laura is the author of The RiskADay Journal:  28 Days to Being You Out Loud with Courage, Creativity and Confidence.  She is currently working on several writing projects, including a book of essays with the working title, Good Girl Gone Gay:  Some Not So Random Thoughts on Authenticity and Life.

She says, “If I am open to the Mystery, then the Mystery will appear in any creative endeavor. Things are created that I didn’t sit down and say, ‘Now I am going to create this.’ It’s always bigger, broader, wider, deeper or more than whatever outline I’ve had in my mind. That’s Divinity — that’s something different than I, myself, could produce.”

In addition to her experience, skills and training, Laura brings compassion, commitment, creativity, and humor to all that she does. She is passionate about Authentic Learning, Loving, Living and Leading, and enjoys retreating on her SE Georgia farm with her partner and their two, adorable, four-legged children, Dogberry and Little Bit.

Laura says, “It’s a cycle. As I create, I’m lead spiritually. And I’m lead spiritually to create. As long as I allow my own authenticity and accept my own expression as the gift that comes through me, they’ll never be separate.”

Find out more about Laura at www.truevoices.com.

Take at least one intentional risk every single day and then reap the rewards. Purchase The RiskADay Journal  and take the 28-day challenge.

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

Sep 13 2012

Tom Bird: Books Change the Energy Level of the Planet

Led by a vision, the answer to a prayer, 24 year old Tom Bird put into play what he saw that night 31 years ago, and the results were miraculous, instantaneous. Within six weeks, Tom sold his very first book to the third largest publisher in the world for an amount equivalent to three times his salary at the time as a publicist for the big league’s Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I see my writing as a calling. I believe there is divine timing with books. I’m part of that Divine timing, but I’m not necessarily in control of the Divine timing. Books are born and released at the time when they’re meant to be born and released. They help enlighten and change the energy level of the planet.”  ~Tom Bird

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

Tom has written twenty-three books and led tens of thousands to live their literary and personal writing dreams through over 4,200 lectures at the top colleges and universities in the country and by conducting hundreds of retreats.

He says, “All great writing comes from the same place. It’s from a spiritual connection to the Divine energy that we already are.”

Tom says he was meant to write and teach. He offers his Write Your Publishable Book in a Weekend Retreat at a variety of different locales nationally about a dozen times a year.

Sedona Writing Retreat

He comments, “If you have a book inside of you, by all means, pursue your writing. Pursue it aggressively, pursue it faithfully, pursue it out of desperation, but pursue it. Writing is a combination of a release of your message and the opportunity to step into your own Divinity — to get into alignment with your connection to Spirit and do what you’re meant to do in this world.”

Find out more about Tom, his books and retreats at www.tombird.com. Check out his freebies page for the audio and book he mentions in the interview.

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

Sep 6 2012

Whitney Freya: Tapped Into a Different Level of Consciousness

Artist and teacher Whitney Freya believes that the key to our (r)evolution lies within our creative mind and it’s only when we embrace and amplify our creative power that we can truly align with our Higher Self, which is INFINITELY creative.

“My paintings help me encourage others to paint and create. I create videos or snap step-by-step pictures and show people the process — giving them permission to create without being perfect or being this great artist. The act of creating art takes you to a different level of consciousness and the more that you do it, the more tapped in you get.” ~Whitney Freya

Creative Goddess

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

At CreativelyFit.com Whitney inspires her online clients around the world to embrace their role as the ARTIST in the ART that is their life. She takes them on a JOURNEY within, where painting and doodling become meditation and an opportunity for the mind to expand, for the ego and the to-do list to melt away, and for a new personal confidence connected to Spirit to emerge.

Whitney has two published books on creativity, including The Artist Within, A Guide to Becoming Creatively Fit (endorsed by Dan Pink and Michael Gelb). Her unique application of art making & personal empowerment has garnered national attention on CBS News, Martha Stewart Radio, & HGTV. She has presented at The Esalen Institute, the American Creativity Association, the Creative Education Foundation, & the South Africa Creativity Conference.

She says, “Before there was a written language there was art. Early man made art to connect to spirit and we are rediscovering that now.”

Her creative & spiritual JOURNEY began in 1996 when she opened an art center with NO art training. As she became Creatively Fit, along with her clients, she also found her spirituality awakening on new levels. In 2012 she launched The SPIRIT Project 2012 and The Journey Retreats that unifies her two favorite pursuits: CREATIVITY & SPIRITUALITY.

Find out more about Whitney, her books, programs and retreats at www.CreativelyFit.com or www.WhitneyFreya.com.

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