Features
 Issue 57 Is Here... With New Web Features
This quarter we're thrilled to unveil special web features tied to each issue of the print journal. We hope they'll amplify your reading experience and give you a context for approaching the material you find in Image. This time around, we're featuring two pieces online. The first is an essay by Pulitzer-prize winning poet Franz Wright, one of the most profound pieces of writing we've come across in a while, but also one of the clearest and most readable. In it, he meditates on the experience of reading the language of the gospels, and how it changed him. We don't mind being bossy about it: you've got to read this. We've also included an introduction from the editors about why we love it, and a follow-up that Wright wrote after we went to press. The issue also includes a weird and wonderful short story by Pinckney Benedict. Its world--the animals, plants, and military history--is naturalistic down to its bones, but at the end, the story makes a surprising shift toward the supernatural, like an M. Night Shyamalan movie that all happens in your head. We talked to Benedict about how and why the story got written in an interview that's not available in the print magazine. But to read the story itself, you'll have to subscribe. In the future, our hope is to keep using and refining these web features to help enhance our readers' experience of the print journal. We welcome your feedback. As usual, the issue is packed with great material in a range of genres. In the visual arts, we feature the massive, elegant steel sculptures of superstar Richard Serra, as well as the playful and endearing works of Oliver Barratt. Also: Paula Huston's memoir of her dash across Kazakhstan, and the people and history she encountered there; an interview with novelist Ron Hansen; Paul Rawlins' story about a young Mormon missionary running for his life in a South African township; poems about parents and children; Jessica Murphy's review of Annie Dillard's novel of marriage, The Maytrees; and more.
Click here for more on issue 57.
Also see Franz Wright's essay and Pinckney Benedicts interview.
 Derek Webb: The Ringing Bell
Drawing sonic inspiration from the sixties, Derek Webb's fourth solo release, The Ringing Bell, is well-crafted, politically-charged, and notably highlights his transition from the acoustic Mockingbird (2005, reviewed in ImageUpdate #93) to a more electric sound. In the words of one critic, Webb seems to be channeling his inner Beatle, with a healthy dash of Wilco and electric-era Dylan thrown in for good measure. Slotted at #27 on Paste Magazines Top 100 Albums of 2007, The Ringing Bell evidences Webb's continuing growth as a lyricist and musician. Recently married, Webb and his wife--musician Sandra McCracken--moved from Houston to Nashville to start recording songs for The Ringing Bell. Although it clocks in at only thirty minutes, the 10-track album covers a good deal of ground: faith, politics, current events, and love. The blues-based "A Savior on Capitol Hill" doesn't name any names, but pulls no punches in its lament for contemporary politics. "I for an I" explores the differences between loving an enemy and resorting to violence. Not one for unreflective criticism, Webb also takes what might be called finger-pointing songs and aims them at himself. On "I Dont Want to Fight," Webb concludes: "So I'm walking away from this / before I hurt someone / cause I"m facing enemies / on both sides of the gun." And though a majority of the songs on the album deal with mankind's aversion to peace or offering forgiveness and unconditional love, it also contains a whimsical love song or two. On "I Wanna Marry You All Over Again," for example, Webb muses: "Let's go back to the start / take it back sugar then gimme your heart / don't you know baby I would do it all over again." The Ringing Bell, released by INO Records, can be ordered with a black, white, and red graphic novel. The 96-page limited edition work features the complete lyrics, as well as artwork inspired by the record. Webb will be touring in the States throughout the spring and summer.
For more, click here.
 River Grace by Makoto Fujimura
Makoto Fujimura, a highly-regarded New York visual artist and founder of International Arts Movement, has just published a slim book, River Grace, which is based on an essay Image proudly published in its Tenth Anniversary Issue (#22). The story Fujimura tells in the essay is multi-layered and dense with resonances: among other things, it is about the ancient tradition of Nihonga painting, his struggle to balance the competing claims of art and family life, the nature of vocation, his conversion to Christianity, the poetry of William Blake, and the relationship between art and faith. At the center of the essay, and gracing the cover of the book, is his masterful painting, Twin Rivers of Tamagawa. The painting itself ties all of the essay's strands together. The images of trees, rivers, and bridges represent Fujimuras spiritual journey toward Christian faith. Bridges unite things that are separated; the flowing river is a metaphor of our journey through life. Gold and silver, applied in thin sheets according to the method of Nihonga, struggle for supremacy. As Fujimura notes, silver is the symbol of death, and a reminder of the betrayal of Judas, whereas gold is the color of heaven. The gold at the top of the painting represents the New Jerusalem. Fujimura makes a powerful argument for art by citing the passage in the Gospels when Mary anoints the head of Christ with expensive perfume. He sees this as a warrant for art: something apparently luxurious and useless which somehow becomes an essential gesture of our humanity. The only earthly possession Christ wore on the Cross was the very aroma of the perfume Mary poured upon him. Rather than reading the essay in Image, we strongly recommend that you get this book for the extras it offers, including several other color art reproductions and an appendix on Nihonga painting. There's even a special limited edition of the book available in a hand-crafted box made in Japan. All proceeds from the volume go to benefit IAM.
Go to the site for River Grace here.
 Eyes to See, edited by Bret Lott
If short stories tend to be overshadowed by longer fiction in your reading life, pick up Eyes to See, a new collection of stories selected by Bret Lott, and prepare to fall in love with the short story form again--or for the first time. Lott says in his introduction to the book that he always wanted to be a short story writer, never dreaming he would be known primarily as a novelist. There is something about a short story, he writes, "something beautiful and moving about holding in one's hand a narrative, gem-like and perfect, that could be read in one sitting, opening its world before my very eyes and revealing its secrets in a small pocket of time that allowed me to go somewhere else and know something new." And by gathering this collection of ten stories from across centuries and continents, Lott makes a case for the form simply by offering up a buffet-like sampling of stories, a feast full of variety and surprise. It is surprising, for instance, to be reminded what a story can do in just twenty pages. Between Larry Woiwode's "Silent Passengers" and Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find," a story can break our hearts and mend them, make us see our lives afresh or open an entirely new world before us. Some of the stories are parable-like tales that flesh out moral principles, (Tolstoy's "What Men Live By"), and some put a playful twist on traditional Christian ethics (G.K. Chesterton's "The Blue Cross"). On the other side of the spectrum, some stories will make you question the things you thought you believed--Andre Dubus does this in his painful, complicated, and beautiful "A Father's Story" and Shusako Endo in his gentle and forgiving rendering of a cowardly Christian in "The Final Martyr." Lott has chosen classics as well as contemporary works, all by masters of the form--other authors represented are Dostoevsky, Helen Norris, Anthony Trollope, and Henry Van Dyke. Eyes to See is evidence that literature can imaginatively challenge and inspire, as the subtitle suggests, without becoming didactic, and even beyond that, can become a means of experiencing grace--all in the time it would take to drink a cup of coffee.
Click here to buy the book.
Gallery Watch
Tim Lowly Exhibition: rise up children, sing a glorious future
Koplin Del Rio in Los Angeles is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Chicago artist Tim Lowly. Rise up children, sing a glorious future, a collection of new paintings and drawings, will run during April and May. The portraits and landscapes in this collection have a sense of mystery about them that is not muted by their commitment to realism. Take, for example, "Factory / Flame" a painting of a factory shrouded in a thick fog with a flame off to the side that slowly and unrelentingly draws the eye. Also included in the exhibit is a remarkable piece, "Culture of Adoration," which portrays a drawing class gathered around a model on a table--the model is Lowly's severely disabled daughter, and the gazes of the artists are united on her. Tim Lowly is the Director of Exhibitions, instructor, and artist-in-residence at North Park University in Chicago. He has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and in South Korea. His work can also be seen in collections of the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at UCLA. Rise up children, sing a glorious future will be on display through May 24 at the Koplin Del Rio gallery.
For more information, click here.
Message Board
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Doubt, A Parable at Seattles Taproot Theatre
Doubt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by John Patrick Shanley that explores the ambiguity of truth and perception, plays at the Taproot Theatre Company through April 26. A drama that revolves around the question of a priest's relationship with a young boy in the post-Vatican II 1960s, Doubt received four Tony Awards after it debuted on Broadway in 2005, and gets a deft, subtle treatment in this new production. The Seattle Times says: "Ambiguity is the catalyst for Shanley's potent drama, and Taproot's well-chosen cast makes the most of their challenge: Every performance maintains the degree of credibility that is necessary to keep the audience guessing; director Scott Nolte deftly avoids any imbalance that would sway the audience one way or the other, and our expectations are constantly and effectively thwarted." Taproot Theatre exists to create theatre that explores the beauty and questions of life while providing hope to our search for meaning. For more information and for tickets, click here.
Call for Artists!
We have a number of visual art slots open for the seventh annual "His Gifts and Presence" New England Arts Festival, June 28, 2008 at Windham High School Performing Arts Center in Windham, Maine. Limited host housing is offered for out of state members (we do this on a first come first serve basis and also based on availability). We also offer discounted hotel if you prefer. We are accepting performance art submissions, but understand performance submissions will be added to our waiting list at this point. We are still accepting visual art submissions. Go to our homepage to download a submission brochure.
Romania Tour: Painted Monasteries and Mysterious Transylvania
Join the Museum of Biblical Art on its inaugural tour to Romania where the architectural and historical sites are as varied and unique as its culture. This is a country waiting to be discovered and this tour, lead by Ena Heller, Executive Director of MOBIA, will introduce you to its romance, history, myth, and beauty in a way that no other trip could. Tour dates: September 26, 2008 to October 6, 2008. For more information, click here.
ImageNews – The Scoop on Our Programs
 Fifth Annual Denise Levertov Award with Thomas Lynch
Public Reading and Lecture
April 22, 2008, 8 p.m.
Thomas Lynch, author of The Undertaking and recipient of the American Book Award, will receive the fifth annual Denise Levertov Award and give a reading at St. James Cathedral Hall on Tuesday, April 22, at 8:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception. Co-sponsored by the SPU English Department and the MFA in Creative Writing, and in partnership this year with St. James Cathedral, the Levertov Award is presented annually in the spring to an artist or creative writer whose work exemplifies a serious and sustained engagement with the Judeo-Christian tradition. Past recipients include poets Madeline DeFrees and Franz Wright, nonfiction writer Kathleen Norris, and fiction writer Bret Lott. Lynch is the author of The Undertaking, reflections on mortality inspired by his day job as the director of the Lynch & Sons funeral home in Milford, Michigan, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the American Book Award. He has also published several collections of poetry and, most recently, Booking Passage: We Irish and Americans, a memoir of his near-annual pilgrimages to West Clare, Ireland. The Denise Levertov Award is named for one of the twentieth century's greatest poets. Levertov, who spent her last years in Seattle, embraced the landscape and culture of the Pacific Northwest. Her identity as a Christian believer—a pilgrim whose faith was inextricably entwined with doubt—became another important facet of her work, particularly in her later poetry.
For directions to Seattle’s St. James Cathedral and parking information, click here.
Contemplation and Action in the Writing Life:
A Forum with Jessie Van Eerden
April 24, 2008, 9:30 a.m. at Seattle Pacific University
Please join Image for a Faith Learning Forum with Jessie Van Eerden, Milton Center Fellow, on April 24, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. In The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard writes that "everything comes alive when contradictions accumulate." What happens when we, as writers, hold our contradictions in our laps, with hospitality, and try to learn from them? What happens when we are honest about the tension we feel writing a short story at the desk when we could be spending those hours cooking meals in a soup kitchen, protesting an unjust war, building houses for refugees, or otherwise engaging in activities that seem to bring about a tangible outcome in the world? One thing that can happen is a good, honest dialogue about how these contradictions can enliven our work as creative writers and artists. Van Eerden is currently in residence at SPU as the 2007-08 Milton Center postgraduate fellow. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa and spent two years in Washington D.C. living in intentional community with Mennonite Voluntary Service. Her essays have appeared in Best American Spiritual Writing, geez, Riverteeth, and elsewhere.
This event is free and open to public, and 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 2008 Florence Seminar
On September 14 -21, 2008, Image will gather a small group of inquirers in Florence, Italy, to explore what has been called “the first Renaissance,” a remarkable moment in the cultural history of the West. Together we will investigate the ways in which three great late-medieval figures—Dante Alighieri, Giotto, and Saint Francis of Assisi—renewed the culture of Europe and left a legacy of Christian Humanism that continues to nourish and inspire. And we will ask how their vision of art and faith can speak to the work of cultural transformation in our time. The seminar includes visits to the great churches and museums of Florence, lectures by some of the world’s leading authorities on the Renaissance, a field trip to Assisi where we will encounter the living spirit of St. Francis, wonderful meals, and time to enjoy each others’ company. If you’re interested, visit the Florence Seminar page, download the Florence Brochure PDF for more info, or contact Julie Mullins here.
Subscribe to Image in Print and Get More Art, Fiction, Poetry, Essays, Interviews, and Every Good Thing
If you like reading about great new art and writing inspired by faith in ImageUpdate, and you’re ready to get down to reading and seeing the stuff itself, it’s time to subscribe to Image. Each quarter our editors comb the world of art and letters to bring you our favorite new work—work that respects transcendent mystery as well as the gritty truth of the material world that bears the divine imprint. A one-year subscription gets you four beautifully produced issues delivered right to your door. Ninety percent of the journal’s content is not available on our website, but only through what we call “the sacrament of print.” Click here to get the magazine Terry Tempest Williams calls “evocative and inspiring” and Bret Lott calls “the most meaningful literary journal being produced today.”
ImageUpdate
Publisher: Gregory Wolfe
Managing Editor: Beth Bevis
Layout: David Rither
Contributors: Beth Bevis, Mary Kenagy, Matt Malyon, Julie Mullins and Greg Wolfe
ImageUpdate is the biweekly e-mail newsletter from Image, a quarterly print journal that explores the relationship between Judeo-Christian faith and art through contemporary fiction, poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture, film, music, and dance. Each issue also features interviews, memoirs, essays, and reviews.
ImageUpdate brings you news about books, CDs, organizations, websites, conferences, exhibitions, and tours—all of which inhabit the intersection between faith and imagination. ImageUpdate will also notify you whenever a new issue of Image is printed, an Image event is upcoming, or new content is posted to our website.
Copyright © 2008 Center for Religious Humanism. All rights reserved.
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