It’s challenging to be an artist. On the one hand, artists are viewed by wider society as special and valuable, gifted individuals who harness the imagination to powerful effect. On the other hand, it’s just hard for most practicing artists to make a living. And then, there’s questions of purpose: What are artists to aim for? Who are they responsible to? What is success, really?

For people of faith who love the arts, these questions are often strongly felt. We intuit that they’re important—that making art with God calls us to seek understanding and wisdom. But the answers we’re given often fall short of what’s needed: either they elevate the artist in ways that are far removed from the actual work of making, or they seem to reduce art to religious messaging.

So, where do the arts fit within God’s good world? What does art-making have to do with God who creates humanity? How is the artist’s vocation transformed by Jesus’s death and resurrection? What about art and the Holy Spirit? And what might all this look like practically?

In this two-day short course, led and facilitated by Donald Goodhall and John Dennison, you will explore these questions. Carefully curated, this generous, retreat-like time will involve teaching and discussion, as well as space to integrate your learning, and worship together. It’s not just for practicing artists, but for everyone who wants to explore how the Christian faith and tradition renews and transforms the arts. We do hope you can join us.

Register at www.venn.org.nz/events-courses/making-sense-of-making/