Creatives carve out space for artists in the Church
WeMakeStuff Volume 02 explores the intersect between faith and art
VANCOUVER, BC—Two years ago a group of talented Vancouverites who share a passion for creative excellence banded together to publish a book featuring 100 Christian artists.
“Vancouver is a highly creative, independent, and free thinking city. It’s also a city with a tumultuous relationship with the idea of the Church and still suffers from caricatures of the Christian faith,” says WeMakeStuff (www.wemakestuff.ca) digital editor Craig Ketchum.
“Vancouver needs to see Christians exploring honestly the tough issues of life without being sanctimonious, intellectually arrogant, or exclusive of other perspectives.”
This is what the group at WeMakeStuff is trying to do—explore the space where art and faith intersect. It’s a “no-man’s land that has been given up for dead by so many for so long,” says Ketchum.
The first volume of WeMakeStuff was published in 2012 following an overwhelmingly successful crowd-funding campaign. The project raised $43,000, exceeding its initial goal of $35,000. A second volume has now launched, featuring clothing designers, actors, musicians, illustrators, and photographers, to inspire the wider audience to exercise their creative muscles.
WeMakeStuff founder David Vandas says the original idea for the book was to help encourage artists who believe in Christ yet have never felt truly comfortable in the church. “Some feel the conviction to engage but have shut down because their talents haven’t been affirmed by the Church,” he says.
Ketchum argues that these creatives are the ones most needed by the Church. “Just look at the lyrics of worship music, or the type of art created by Christians throughout the ages. They represent the sum total of attitudes and beliefs about God from that point in cultural history,” he says. “What we create matters to God and to the world.”
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