Ben Chung is a freestyle dancer, choreographer and one of the co-founders of the Kinjaz American dance crew in Los Angeles, California. He is a former member of the famous Jabbawockeez male dance troupe and is the winner of the first season of America's Best Dance Crew. In this episode Stephen talks with Ben about his creative process, collaboration and the art of finding flow.
Read MoreTurtledoves is the new musical project of Ashley and Alex McGrath. Exploring the balance between lo-fi electronics and acoustic instruments, the husband/wife duo creates harmonically rich soundscapes consisting of labyrinthine melodies, ambient textures, and layered vocals. Turtledoves exist in the liminal spaces - messengers between seen and unseen - ambassadors to the now from the not quite yet. Residing in Cincinnati, OH, the band recently released their second EP, titled, “Pillars of The Earth. Their first, “The Rest is Yet to Come”, was released in 2018.
In this episode, Stephen talks with Ashley and Alex about their collaborative process as a husband and wife duo.
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Read MoreThis episode is our third release from the Makers and Mystics LIVE series. This conversation comes to you from Denver, Colorado and highlights our panel discussion on Art As Incarnation. You’ll hear from a diverse panel of voices including Master Penman, Jake Weidmann, Graphic Novelist, R. Alan Brooks and Printmaker, Kim Morski.
This live event was hosted by QRZ Denver and The Gallery at FDC. Additional contributing artists include Chadash Contemporary Dance Movement, Composer Matthew Langford and Visual Artist, Jeremy Grant of The Remnants Film Project. Music in this episode is provided by Adam Anglin.
Read MoreThis episode is our second release from the Makers and Mystics LIVE series. This conversation comes to you from Charlottesville, VA and highlights excerpts from our discussion on Art As Healing. You’ll hear from a diverse panel of voices including Farm House community founder, Lauren Stonestreet, Philosopher, Bernard Hankins, Pastor and songwriter, Brendan Jamieson, Neuroscientist and Jazz musician, Nadine Michel and Doctor of Osteopathy, Dr. David MacDonald.
In light of recent events, I felt this conversation on Art As Healing was timely and offers creative insights on navigating through difficult times and how art contributes to Healing for individuals and to society.
I’ve said often that the artist is an architect of hope and a voice of reconciliation for a divided world. I think you’ll find the perspectives in this conversation to be helpful in finding our way forward and understanding the vital role of art as an agent of healing.
*If you’re a patron of the podcast you have access to the full conversation which includes a spoken word performance by poet Latasha Strother and Nadine Michel’s story of traveling to Haiti, the country her parents immigrated from.
Cynthia Newland is an artist, educator, speaker and wellness consultant. She is the founder of Alible3 – Nourishing the Body, Soul and Spirit, providing educational resources and equipping tools for holistic health. With her work in the area of wellness, she partners with the Health Made Simple community. Cynthia is the founding Director of Feet Speak Dance, a dance company whose mission aims to use dance to teach, inspire and bring a rich art filled experience to all whom they encounter.
In this episode, Cynthia talks with Stephen about the importance of physical nourishment, nutrition and general health in the life of the artist.
Read MoreIn this episode, Stephen talks with Producer of Marketing and Distribution for Aspiration Entertainment, Erik Lokkesmoe. The two discuss Erik's vision for individuals, families and churches who want to support artists and the arts. Erik's charge to "democratize patronage" and create local communities of patrons is an important idea for our time. “I encourage everyone to listen to this discussion then pass it along to the leaders, patrons and arts advocates in your life.” - Stephen Roach
Music Provided by: The Golden Age
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Read MoreIn 2019, I took the Makers and Mystics podcast on the road and partnered with creative communities around the country. Together, we facilitated conversations on subjects that were close to the heart of each community and featured hand-picked, local performers and influencers from each city.
The production of this series is raw and remains largely unedited much like the conversations themselves. The length of these episodes will extend beyond our usual thirty-minute format and will highlight the work of community leaders as well as panel discussions.
I’m excited to share this series with our larger community via our Patreon page and open the door for everyone to join the discussions.
Our first conversation takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia on the two-year anniversary of the Charlottesville riots. The subject is appropriately titled, art as healing. My guests include community founder, Lauren Stonestreet, Spoken-Word Artist, La'Tasha Strother, Philosopher, Bernard Hankins, Pastor, Brendan Jamison, Neuroscientist and Jazz musician, Nadine Michel and Doctor of Osteopathy, Dr. David McDonald.
This video was produced by: Micah Lindstrom
Read MoreTinasha LaRayé is a poet, actress, and filmmaker who has an intense passion to see nations transformed through storytelling. As a spoken word artist, she incorporates her theatrical world of acting to elevate poetry from the page to an encounter. From working with inner city kids, to young women, to budding creatives, she loves empowering individuals to move in their God-given voice, purpose, and power. Tinasha also desires to see the wound of racism healed in the United States and uses her creativity and teachings to equip this generation to walk out healing, justice, and unity. She currently serves as a pastor in Creative Arts at Bethel Church in Redding.
In today’s episode Stephen talks with Tinasha about her work as a poet and actress standing at the intersections of spiritual encounter and social justice. The two also talk about her film, Hope Song which explores the historical experience of Black people in America, and paints a poetic and prophetic vision for racial healing.
Read MoreRebekah Lyons is a national speaker and bestselling author of You Are Free: Be Who You Already Are and Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning. Rebekah has been described as an old soul with a contemporary, honest voice, revealing her own battles to overcome anxiety and depression— Her work has been featured on Good Morning America, CNN, Huffington Post, Publisher’s Weekly, and more.
In this episode, Stephen talks with Rebekah about her latest book titled, Rhythms of Renewal: Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace and Purpose. Through transparent personal stories and in-depth research, Rhythms of Renewal invites the reader to establish daily habits of creating and sustaining emotional, relational and spiritual health. Rhythms of Renewal offers four mindful rhythms of rest, restore, connect and create.
Many artists and creatives wrestle with stress and anxiety in their personal lives and in the creative processes. The wisdom Rebekah lives on the pages of her book offers not only a sense of hope but a practical pathway to get there.
Read MoreAndrew Peterson is an award-winning singer-songwriter and author. The second book in his Wingfeather Saga, North! Or Be Eaten won the Christy Award for Young Adult Fiction, and the fourth, The Warden and the Wolf King won World Magazine’s Children’s Book of the Year in 2015.
In 2008, Andrew founded a creative arts community called The Rabbit Room, which led to a yearly conference, countless concerts and symposiums, and Rabbit Room Press, which has published thirty books to date.
In this episode, Stephen sits down with Andrew to talk about his latest book, Adorning The Dark which is a collection of personal stories from his journey through the intersections of songwriting, storytelling, and vocation, along with offering a nuts-and-bolts exploration of the great mystery of creativity.
Flannery O’ Connor was a Southern, fiction writer and essayist born March 25th 1925 in Savannah, Georgia. She was a devout Roman Catholic with a penchant for satire, dark humor and wild, religious imagination. Today, O’Connor is considered to be one of America’s greatest fiction writers and an apologist for the Catholic faith.
Her stories are far from what you might imagine coming from a Southern Christian writer in the 1950’s. They are full of shocking scenes of violence, depravity and shady, sometimes comic Christian characters such as a bible salesman who steals a prosthetic leg or a pseudo-prophet who steals mummified dwarfs. Her character’s twisted views of reality warps the basic tenets of the faith they profess. Their situations often end in bloodshed.
Read MoreMakoto Fujimura is a leading contemporary artist, author and speaker whose process-driven, refractive “slow art” has been described by David Brooks of the New York Times as “a small rebellion against the quickening of time.”
In a culture driven by speed and instant gratification, the idea of slow art runs counter to our normal modes of living.
Mako’s approach to art challenges our relationship to time and invites us into a more reflective approach to life, creating and viewing art.
In this episode Stephen speaks with Mako as he worked in his Princeton New Jersey studio. The two discuss his process of art-making, culture care and the importance of slowing down not only in art but in our relationships and in life.
Music for this episode is provided by jazz artist, Alfred Sergel four with compositions from his latest release, Sleepless Journey.
Patrons access additional interview segments with Mako on the importance of mentoring emerging artists, beauty, a glimpse into his daily practices and advice for artists of faith working in the world of art.
Read MoreLauren Midgley is a conceptual fine art photographer based in Oklahoma. Her photography stretches beyond the historical use of the camera and invites the viewer into a world of surrealism and visual storytelling. In a world saturated with digital imagery, Lauren employs illustrative, advanced digital manipulation to paint virtual narratives that speak to the heart of our collective human experience.
In this episode, Stephen and Lauren discuss her aims and motivations as an artist as well as the inception behind several specific portraits. To make it easier to you to follow along (with the visual nature of our discussion), we have posted the images mentioned in this episode on Instagram @makersandmystics.
This episode is sponsored by Ekstasis Magazine.
Music is provided by Paper Lights and C’est Lis.
Read MoreIn this opening episode, Stephen talks with singer-songwriter Josh Garrels about his latest release, Chrysaline. The two discuss the personally transformative experiences that informed the making of these songs and how collaboration and environment impacted Josh’s creative process. Josh shares openly about his experience of personal frustration that led him to place his music on the altar.
*Be sure to listen to the end as Josh addresses the latest trend of what feels like a mass exodus from the faith by so many people in our generation.
“This may be one of the more timely and important conversations we have had on the podcast. I look forward to discussing this further with our creative collective over the next few weeks.” – Stephen
Read MoreThis LIVE Season Finale episode features the perspectives of diverse voices you’ve heard on the podcast; Amena Brown, Josh Garrels, Vesper Stamper, Cole NeSmith and CJ Casciotta. In today’s panel discussion, these five discuss the tension between the soul and the business of creativity.
In the realm of art-making, there can seem to be a tension between our desire to create authentic works, works which remain true to the artist’s creative vision, while at the same time creating works which are either commercially viable or which resonate with the communities where we have influence.
Read MoreJason Burkey is a professional actor who has appeared on television shows such as The Walking Dead, Nashville, Being Mary Jane, The Resident and a score of other well-known programs. His movie credits include a lead role in the 2012 surprise hit, October Baby as well as Lady and The Tramp, I Can Only Imagine, Bigger and The Art of Self-Defense.
Jason is also a founder of "Act For A Change," which is a local theatre non- profit that gathers Atlanta actors, writers and directors to perform one-act plays for local charities.
In this episode, Stephen talks with Jason about what motivates him as an actor and what it means to live truthfully in an imaginative setting.
Read MoreCHARLIE PEACOCK is a Nashville-based, 4x Grammy Award-winning, composer, record producer and recording artist. His production credits include Chris Cornell, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Americana successes such as The Lone Bellow, Holly Williams and The Civil Wars.
Charlie is considered one of Nashville's most prolific cultural influencers and has dedicated himself to championing the independent music scene which he has served for over 40 years.
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Lanecia Rouse Tinsley is an abstract artist based in Houston, TX. Her portfolio also includes a range of work in photography, painting, teaching, writing, and speaking.
Lanecia creates out of a desire to make the invisible landscapes within and the human condition known; using texture, form + color to speak to life upon various surfaces in ways words cannot.
In addition to her art, Lanecia works with projectCURATE as Co-Spiritual Director and Consultant for the Arts; and is Co-founder/Co-Creative Director of ImagiNoir Group, an international alliance and think-tank of black activists, artists, writers, scholars and educators.
Lanecia is a graduate of Duke University Divinity School (MDiv) and a graduate of Wofford College with a BA in Sociology.
In this episode, Stephen talks with Lanecia about her creative process and about art as healing and as a means of expressing the full range of our human experience.
***Patrons on the podcast can enjoy an additional interview with Lanecia about her inspiration in James Baldwin as well as a downloadable PDF of Baldwin’s essay on The Creative Process.
This episode is sponsored by: DITA 10 Duke Initiative in the Arts. Join Lanecia, Makers and Mystics podcast, Chris Wiman and many others at this event.
Music Provided by: Moda Spira
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Jeremy Begbie is Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Professor in Theology at Duke Divinity School. He is also Senior Member at Wolfson College, Cambridge, and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge. He is Founding Director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts, one of the main aims of which is to foster theological-artistic links between Duke and Cambridge.
In this episode, Stephen joins Dr. Begbie at Duke Divinity School to talk with him about music, art and the transcendence of God.
This episode is sponsored by:
Read MoreSister Corita Kent was an artist, printmaker, educator and an advocate for social justice. She broke through religious norms in the art world of her day by incorporating popular song lyrics, advertising images and slogans into her work. Her pop-art style is reminiscent of the works of graphic artist, Andy Warhol. When Corita viewed Andy’s artwork in the Los Angeles Ferus Gallery, in 1962 she soon began producing her own pop-culture inspired prints.
Read MoreKelly Archer is the founder and artistic director of the Cadash Contemporary Dance Movement. The vision and mission of Chadash is to cultivate renewal, reparation, and restoration in a broken world. Combining dance with film, poetry, multi-media, visual art and spoken word performances, Cadash Dance tells stories in an effort to honestly acknowledge the world as it is, but then seeks to engage in the conversation about what the world can be.
In this episode, Stephen talks with Kelly about the language of movement and what it means to “stand in the ashes of the barn burned down and point to the moon. One half in suffering and one half in hope.”
Read MoreGraham Cooke is an internationally recognized author, public speaker and strategist. He is known for a radical faith and friendship with God.
Graham's books have helped organizations and individuals overcome negative, limited thinking and transition toward a higher level of corporate and spiritual life.
An integral part of Graham's work involves producing resources for helping the poor and for eradicating human trafficking through supporting the organization, NOT FOR SALE.
In this episode, Stephen talks with Graham about cultivating environments to serve his creative and spiritual disciplines.
*Patrons can enjoy additional interview segments on how to deal with rejection and establishing healthy rhythms.
Read MoreJonathan Pageau is a professional artist, writer and public speaker. He delivers several lectures every year in Universities, conferences and other venues around North America. He speaks on art, but mostly on the symbolic structures that underlie our experience of the world.
Through his YouTube channel and podcast, The Symbolic World, he also furthers the conversation on symbolism, meaning and patterns in everything from movies, to icons, to social trends.
As an artist, Jonathan is one of the only professional icon carvers in North America, taking on institutional and personal art commissions from all over the world. You can view his works in his carving website.
Jonathan is the editor and a contributor for the Orthodox Arts Journal which looks at the revival and significance of liturgical art today. He also gives weeklong carving classes with Hexaemeron School of Liturgical Arts , which are credited by Pontifex University.
Read MoreThis episode is an Official Highjack!! StoryBrand Guide, Luke Humbrecht turns the mic around and interviews our host, Stephen Roach. In this season finale episode Luke and Stephen discuss why the conversation of faith and art is important for our cultural moment and how you can be involved in the discussions. Stephen shares from history and personal stories on what compels him to host these conversations.
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