Monday Mix Tape: support artists, buy art (part 2)


Welcome to Monday Mix Tape, in which I pretend I'm Ira Glass.  You know, I choose a theme and share with you several variations on the theme from the worlds of art, faith and culture.  To keep up the fun little facade of making a weekly mix tape, I label each of these finds as "track 1". "track 2" and so on (and just like the stack of mixtapes you've got hidden in a box in your attic, you never know when you might see some love song from Journey or Lionel Richie show up here). 


This two-parted mixtape is inspired by this statement: 


As we near the season for giving gifts to those we love, I thought I'd practice a little bit of street-marketing for my friends who make and sell art.  Hope you enjoy!  (also, don't be afraid to leave links to your favorite artists' sites via  the comments page).  Don't miss last week's post where I highlighted Shannon Newby, Laurel Rudd, Emily Theresa Wierenga, Erin L. McMahon, Raising Jane and ReMastered.

track 1:  visual art
original oil paintings and prints

World's Smallest Seed
print, 17" x 31" or 10" x 8"
$40 / $25
I haven't met this man in person but have appreciated his work through stories I've heard from David Taylor and from seeing his work in the CIVA exhibit Seeing the Savior that we displayed in my former church.  I've talked about his work here, here and here.


track 2: music

folk, americana, country-soul
albums:  Christmas Hymns, Bright As You, Living In Skin


He's one of my favorite singer-songwriters.  Not just because I've had the privilege to spend time with him, get to know him a little bit, put him up in our guest room.  Not just because he serenaded me and 60 of my closest friends for my 39th birthday.  But because he sings songs like this, this and this.  These would be great albums to purchase for family and friends for Christmas or download for your own enjoyment.  Seriously.  Do it today.




alt-country, folk, pop



I met Miranda at the 2011 Retreat for Ministers to Artists. She actually offered to pick me up from the airport and let me hitch a ride with her for the three-hour trip without ever having met me before. Crazy, right? Also, she's going to have her first baby soon, so buy her music willya?




track 3: film

Jeffrey Travis
filmmaker: Flatland: The Movie (with voice cast including Martin Sheen and Kristen Bell)




This is another man I have not yet, but owe my appreciation to David Taylor.  My family thoroughly enjoyed this half-hour animated film based on Edwin Abbot's classic novel.  May I recommend this as a great gift fort for people of all ages, math nerds, math teachers, parents raising children to love math and people like me who have no clue.




track 4: links

I wish I had time and energy to add more artist friends, their work and their shops to my blog.  Here's a partial bullet list of other links  to explore.  I have personally enjoyed work from all of these artists:

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes about the spiritual formation that comes with being a patron of the arts...happy gift giving!

"The God who impoverished himself is also the God of abundance, and somehow, perhaps at times nonsensically, Christians are called to live out of an ethic not of scarcity but of abundance—an abundance that extends both to the homeless neighbor and to the artist neighbor. . . "  -- Lauren Winner, from her chapter THE ART PATRON: Someone Who Can't Draw a Straight Line Tries to Defend her Art-Buying Habit  in For the Beauty of the Church

Linking: storytellers button blue
Tamara Hill Murphybooks, creators and cultivators, films, hymns, jim janknegt, links, monday mix tape, music, visual art2 Comments