Through A Screen Darkly by Jeffrey Overstreet
In his writing on film, Jeffrey Overstreet has used the mighty megaphone of Christianity Today to challenge its readers to take a more mature, holistic approach to film. He’s constantly moving outside of the borders of what church and culture deem to be ironclad, eternal categories (sacred vs. profane, high culture vs. popular culture)—and he has a knack for bringing people along with him. That’s because his film criticism doesn’t count swear words or anatomical parts; rather, it speaks of beauty, paradox, and what it means to be human. In Through a Screen Darkly, Overstreet invites readers on a full-length journey, out of the enclave of Christian subculture that limits viewers to straight-to-DVD releases and other “safe” fare, into a rich feast of films, from Wings of Desire to The Motorcycle Diaries, that transform by looking deep and long where some hesitate to look at all. Giving new meaning to the phrase “Viewer Discretion Advised,” Through a Screen Darkly is a lesson in deliberate attentiveness. Savoring the quality of the light in a scene, the way the frame clings to a face, facing the beauty and ravages of human relationships without flinching, opens up space for encounters with truths that startle and heal, even redeem. Overstreet forges the way, telling about his own on-screen encounters with wonder from childhood on, and exquisitely rendering moments from favorite (and less favorite) films, demonstrating scene by scene how to cultivate a receptivity for something more glorious and urgent than a film’s mere entertainment value. At its finest, film points us toward the eternal, “not through argument, but through visual poetry—images worth a hundred thousand words or, better, worth a long and reverent silence.” Even more reason to stop talking at the movies.

For more on the book, and to read some of Jeffrey Overstreet’s film reviews, click here.

Stained Glass Artist Sarah Hall
By the age of nine, Sarah Hall already possessed a sense of vocation. “My father was on our church building committee,” she says, “and I remember staring at the stained glass windows while I waited for the meetings to end. I was entranced. I knew then what I was going to do—I was going to make windows.” Following her call entailed traveling outside North America to find schooling specific to her needs. Hall enrolled in the Architectural Glass Program at Swansea College of Art, Wales, U.K., and graduated with her Diploma in Architectural Glass from the City and Guilds of London Institute. After apprenticing with Glass Master, Lawrence Lee, Hall spent a year in Jerusalem studying gold-leaf and techniques from the Middle East. While in Jerusalem, she had the opportunity to attend religious services of many different faiths, an experience, she says, “in which I came to know myself as a Christian.” Hall’s art includes both abstract and figurative works, many of which are among the largest stained glass projects in North America: the 3000-square-foot window wall at St. Andrew Church, the 33 monumental windows based on the Doctors of the Church for St. Catharine of Siena in Columbus, Ohio, and—her current project—the True North: Lux Nova Wind Tower at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. The 40-foot-high tower includes the first stained glass installation in North America to utilize photovoltaic cells, an energy source that generates electricity without emitting greenhouse gases. The photovoltaic array, embedded between two panes of glass, is composed of thin silicon and metal cells that convert sunlight into electricity. The energy collected will be used to illuminate the park at night with a changing color program inspired by the music of composer/violinist, Oliver Schroer. Containing 144 square feet of photovoltaic art glass, the installation also incorporates the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. Winner of numerous awards for her work, Hall was recently elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, an honor bestowed on only five other Canadian glass artists. In addition to her work as a glass artist, Hall has authored numerous articles, as well as The Color of Light: Commissioning Stained Glass for a Church, published by the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1999; it is the first book of its kind in the field. Hall currently maintains studios in both Toronto and Germany.

Visit Sarah Hall’s website: http://www.sarahhallstudio.com/.

Grünewald Guild: Register Now for the Summer Program
In past issues of ImageUpdate we’ve mentioned the Grünewald Guild, a retreat center for art-making in the gorgeous Cascade Mountains east of Seattle. To be precise, we said that the Guild is “nestled between acres of ponderosa pine and the Wenatchee River.” Now is the time to check out their extensive summer program, broken into various weeklong courses. As the Guild puts it, their mission is to “awaken the creative spirit through art, faith, and community.” The Guild community gathers and connects people from around the country and the globe, from the hopeful to the accomplished, artists and theologians in everyday clothes who delight in unique talents and a common mission to share their creative spirit with a world seeking nourishment. Summer Program course offerings cover a wide variety of media: textiles, glass, clay, paint, ink, wood, stone, journal, and music. Each week begins Monday with supper followed by orientation & introductions of faculty and students. Tuesdays through Saturdays include Matins (an ecumenical morning meditation), three meals shared together, studio classes, and Vespers (sharing & prayer). Classes are three hours, with a two-hour break for lunch. Evenings are a time for faculty art presentations, conversations, a video or a lively art discussion. During the Sunday morning ecumenical worship participants present their created offerings from the week-long journey. A festive Sunday brunch concludes the week.

For more information and/or registration, contact the Guild at (509) 763-3693 or office@artfaith.com. Or visit the Grunewald Guild website at http://www.artfaith.com/.

“The Writing Life: A Second Look at Writing as Vocation”
March 1, 2007, 9:30 a.m. at Seattle Pacific University
Please join us for a Christian Faith Exploration Forum with Jessica Murphy, Milton Center Fellow, on March 1, 2007. In the twists and turns of what has comprised Jessica Murphy’s “career path,” there have been two consistent longings: to write and to deepen her faith. Neither pays the bills, and both, at various times, have been seriously challenged, but she has managed to eke out a living while keeping a creative and spiritual fire alive. She will argue that being a writer, if not a good way to make a living, is indeed a good way to live. Murphy is currently in residence at Seattle Pacific University as the 2006-07 Milton Center postgraduate fellow. The Milton Center, based at Image journal, exists to nurture writers of Christian commitment and literary excellence. In addition to the fellowship, the Center also sponsors a weekly writer’s workshop. Jessica Murphy holds an MFA in fiction from Emerson College. Her fiction has been published in Memorious, her nonfiction has appeared in Poets & Writers Magazine and The New York Sun, and she regularly interviews authors for The Atlantic Online. This event takes place in Demaray Hall 150 on the campus of Seattle Pacific University, and is free and open to the public. For more information, call 206.281.2988.

For directions to Seattle Pacific University, click here. For a map of Seattle Pacific University's campus, click here.

The Burning Word by Judith M. Kunst
When Judith Kunst attended Image's Glen Workshop some years ago, she experienced a life-changing conversation with the poet Scott Cairns. "You are reading the Hebrew Bible," he said to her, "but are you reading it with Hebrew eyes?" This question propelled Kunst into an exploration into the Jewish practice of Midrash, an ancient way of reading the Bible that blew her evangelical mind-but which she eventually came to see as an indispensable way to approach the living Word of God. Midrash engages with scripture by entering into an intense conversation with it, imaginatively contemplating what is not said-the gaps in seemingly dull lists or genealogies, for example, or the questions that arise when reading biblical stories. In these places, the practice of Midrash encourages us to imagine what might have happened, to digest the story and creatively "run with it." Midrash teaches us to value questions and difficult passages of scripture as opportunities to become intimate with God's Word. In entering into conversation with others about the difficult parts of the text, we creatively engage the hard questions rather than avoid them. The Burning Word acknowledges how threatening this can feel: for many Christians, there's a clear line between the "truth" in the Bible and the "fiction" of imaginative storytelling. Kunst understands those tensions-coming from an evangelical background, she feels them herself. But her book emphasizes a balance between "chutzpah and reverence" when dealing with holy scriptures, an approach that sums up the essence of Midrash--"the true fear of God coupled with the courage to thrust oneself imaginatively into the flame of Torah's burning bush."The Burning Word is not a comprehensive introduction to the complexities of Midrash; rather, it tries to capture the flavor of how Jesus read the Bible, and to relate Kunst's personal encounter with anecdotes and practical suggestions.

To buy the book, click here.

Story of a Girl Correction
Oops: In the last issue of ImageUpdate, a typo in our blurb on Sara Zarr’s new novel created an entire new plot. The sentence should have read, “Deanna Lambert is the girl everyone in school thinks they know: when she was thirteen, her dad caught her having sex in a car with a high school boy.” Not: “her dad was caught….” Sorry, Sara!

For more information on Story of a Girl, visit Sara’s website.

Pamela Nelson’s Six Pak Exhibit
“By building mosaics with my grandmother’s buttons, by designing stained glass windows, by designing tile patterns, I’ve embraced geometric and organic abstraction,” says Pamela Nelson, whose artwork combines bits of paper, mirror, and other mixed media in color-coordinated geometric patterns. The result is the feel of something handmade, shaped by pattern but geometrically imperfect, possessing what Nelson calls an “awkward geometry.” The exhibit is called Six Pak and is on display through April 8th at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas.

For more information, visit AMSET’s website.

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Washington Arts Group Convocation
The Washington Arts Group will host its 2007 conference: “Jumping Out of the Self-Referential Box: Certainties and Adventures in the Arts for the 21st Century” at National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., May 18-19. This international convocation will explore the model of the Holy Trinity in light of questions post-modernism raises for the arts, engaging Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox ancient and emerging traditions with these questions and with each other. Speakers will include Jeremy Begbie, Stratford Caldecott, John Franke, Tom Howard, Tony Jones, Louis Markos, Frederica Matthewes-Green, Eric Metaxas, and Joseph Pearce. A monumental exhibit of artists Ed Knippers, Peter and Joyce Majendie, Scott Sullivan, Karen Swenholt, and others will accompany the conference and will be on display at National Presbyterian Church May 13 through May 19. In addition, musicians in a variety of disciplines will present a concert and dramatic reading Friday evening, May 18. Both the exhibit and the concert are open to the public. More details and online registration are available at www.washingtonartsgroup.org.

Stations of the Cross: A Meditation
Ancient meets future in Park Avenue Christian Church's "Stations of the Cross," a compelling collaboration between poetry, painting, & dance, and a powerful perspective on the Passion of Jesus. The stations will be evoked by Jack Anderson's provocative cycle of poems, The Way of the Cross, and paintings by James Teschner. Nadine Helstroffer and Caryn Heilman will dance to music by renowned composer Nana Simopoulos. This unique production will be presented in the church’s sanctuary on Friday, March 23, 2007 at 7:00 PM. The church is located in Manhattan on the corner of Park Avenue and 85th Street (1010 Park Avenue). Admission is free. For more information, call (212) 288-3246 or visit the website at www.parkavenuechristian.com /.

Life and Passion of Christ
Thirty-three diverse works of art make up the traveling exhibit the Life and Passion of Christ, on display at John Knox Presbyterian Church. These pieces span five centuries and nine countries, yet each offers fresh insights, addressing the challenge of the artist to “make visible the invisible”—in this case, the incarnation. Featured artists include Sadao Watanabe, Georges Rouault, Marc Chagall, Vuera Hloznikova, Sandra Bowden and Ed Knippers. The exhibit will be on display from February 21 through April 8, 2007. For more information call Brian Moss at (206) 241-1606. John Knox Presbyterian Church is located at 109 SW Normandy Rd., Seattle, WA 98166.

Abstract Realities: Robin Haines Merrill: The Upper Room Art Gallery in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, presents artist and social justice advocate Robin Haines Merrill’s exhibit, Abstract Realities through April 30.

The God Committee at Taproot Theatre: Showing at Taproot Theatre in Seattle, playwright Mark St. Germain’s The God Committee, is riveting hospital drama—but not exactly the kind you’d watch on prime time television.

Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai
Several icons have traveled from Egypt for a special exhibition at the Getty museum in Los Angeles through March 4, 2007.

The Milton Center Postgraduate Fellowship Deadline: March 15
The Milton Center postgraduate fellowship brings emerging writers of Christian commitment to Image, where their primary goal is to complete their first book-length manuscript in fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. During their time at the Center, fellows will have a rich experience of literary and spiritual community; they will interact with the editorial staff of Image and the English department at Seattle Pacific University, participate in the Friday writer's workshop, and enjoy the lively literary scene in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

For more information and to download an application, click here.

Register Now for the 2007 Glen Workshop!
"God of the Desert: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through the Prism of Art"
July 29 - August 5, 2007

The Glen Workshop is an illuminating conference on the arts and religion, where participants practice and strengthen their craft and vision in community. This weeklong event combines the best elements of a workshop, an arts festival, and a symposium. By exploring this year's theme, "God of the Desert: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through the Prism of Art," participants will share a common ground for discussion during the week. This year's faculty includes illustrator Barry Moser, playwright Mark St. Germain, poets Scott Cairns and Daniel Tobin, musicians Linford Detweiler and Karin Berquist of Over the Rhine, fiction writer Moira Crone, calligrapher Timothy Botts, ceramics artist Ginger Geyer, and spiritual writer Ann McCutchan. A seminar class, "Peoples of the Book," will be led by Rodger Kamenetz. Afternoons and evenings at the Glen feature faculty readings, lectures, and presentations. Guest speakers Jamal Rahman, George Dardess, Rodger Kamenetz, and Scott Cairns will explore the relationships among the three Abrahamic traditions and the role art and story play in each during selected evening sessions. Each evening concludes with an ecumenical worship service that incorporates the arts. This year's musician-in-residence, Pierce Pettis, will be giving a concert as well as playing during worship throughout the week. Please note that class sizes are limited: don't wait too long to register!

To register for the Glen Workshop, or to find out more information, click here

A brochure will be printed and mailed in early February. If you are on the Image subscriber list, you'll automatically receive a brochure. If you'd like to have one mailed to you, send us an e-mail by clicking here.