Archives For artists

Asking your creative team a few key questions may just be what they need to inspire greater personal fulfillment and more meaningful work. If you want to build leadership, inspire your team to greatness, and create healthy working relationships, you need to ask great questions.

In my conversations with artists and creatives, if there is one familiar theme I hear, it is this: “I am so focused on my work, I don’t have time to pursue creative projects I really want to pursue.” Ironic, isn’t it? Creative people not having time to be creative. Whether you work for a church, non-profit organization or company, I have 3 key questions you can ask your creative team that will make a practical difference in their personal and professional development. Use these questions for a one-on-one or team-building conversation. Here they are…

3keyquestionsforyourcreativeteam 3 Key Questions to Ask Your Creative Team

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PinExt 3 Key Questions to Ask Your Creative Team

After two and a half years of working with 21 artists, I’m very happy to announce the official launch of our dynamic new video ebook optimized for the iPad, Kindle & Nook. It’s called Create: Transforming Stories of Art, Life & Faith. Create offers essays, artwork and video from 21 artists. Yes, 21 artistic points of view. My design team and I think it’s a compelling product worth your attention. If you have a love for story, art and a desire to see the arts flourish in the Church for this world, I think you’re really going to enjoy Create. For many years, I had this idea stuck in the back of my head, “How could we help and inspire artists who were struggling in their creative lives by offering hope and perspective through the stories of other artists? As artists, how could all of us better learn to integrate our art, life and faith? What if there was a good book or tool just to nudge us all a bit further down the path?”  So after six REJECTIONS from publishers, I could have easily thrown in the towel and said to myself…

CreateTransformingstoriesofartlifefaith Introducing Create: Transforming Stories of Art, Life & Faith for the iPad, Kindle & Nook

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PinExt Introducing Create: Transforming Stories of Art, Life & Faith for the iPad, Kindle & Nook

Here are the Top 10 Posts from my Art, Life & Faith blog for January 2012. In writing about the arts, creativity, spiritual growth, writing and relationships, my goal is provide you with relevant, practical and inspirational content. I’ve just finished publishing a brand new dynamic video ebook entitled: Sound of A Spine-Poetry and Performance of Nick Macedo. Nick is an amazing spoken word poet and you’ll hear about him more in the coming weeks. I’ll be giving away a free copy to my top 10 February commenters. Post a comment and you just may win! Here are my Top 10 Posts for January 2012…

Top10artlifefaithpostsjanuary2012 Top 10 Art, Life & Faith Posts January 2012
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PinExt Top 10 Art, Life & Faith Posts January 2012

Here are the Top 10 Posts from my Art, Life & Faith blog for December 2011. It’s been one year now since I’ve been writing the Art, Life & Faith blog and I’m so glad I developed this “Home Plate” as my primary place to engage with friends and readers. It originally began as a writing palette to work out ideas, but the greater benefit has been making a whole host of new friends. From Art, Life & Faith, the other sites I connect with people online are Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and YouTube. To help you find relevant content that others are reading on Art, Life & Faith, I created a monthly review of my most popular posts…

MyTop10December2011posts Top 10 Art, Life & Faith Posts December 2011

 

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PinExt Top 10 Art, Life & Faith Posts December 2011

The Help Inspire Me! Help from The HelpDid you know that Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling book “The Help” was rejected 60 times before it was accepted? If you want an amazing, inspirational story about one woman who refused to give up, then read on my friend…

I love inspirational stories like this…courageous people who simply refuse to give up. I speak with many creative people who have wonderful, God-given desires and dreams. They want to create that next book, song, dance, film, painting, studio or business. Yet, for many, that dream begins to fade.

Your work gets rejected. You get discouraged. Frustrated. Hopeless. Feeling like what you’re creating really doesn’t matter. I say, “Stop! Don’t give up! Work hard…stop waiting…fulfill that dream…nothing is impossible for God!”
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PinExt Inspire Me! Help from The Help

Nicholas Delbanco’s new book, Lastingness: The Art of Old Age, profiles “great geniuses in the fields of visual art, literature, and music-Monet, Verdi, O’Keeffe, Yeats, among others – searching for the answers to why some artists’ work diminishes with age, while others’ reaches its peak.” I found this article challenging and thought-provoking.

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