Why art? 

Whenever I introduce a new integrated art activity to a group I always make an example to share with others. Since many are visual learners, including me, they find it helpful to see what I’m describing. The mandorla at right was such an activity. It was introduced at a workshop for social entrepreneurs working at The Hub in Amsterdam exploring everyday leadership – seeing a gap before them – a need to be addressed, and stepping into it..

Working off Frederick Buechner’s quote “the place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” the workshop was designed as an art experience to help clarify some of the specif- ics of the participants “deep gladness” and where it intersected with some of “the world’s deep hunger.” I designed a mandorla, the Italian word for almond, composed to two overlapping circles that created an inner almond shape. On the left side of my circle I included symbols that represented the facts of my life – faith, family, location, education, etc, plus my talents and interests. The right circle is filled with words and doodling that represents an aspect of “the world’s deep hunger” that I especially relate to – people who are attracted to art-making but feel intimidated by the art-making process and declare almost immediately “I’m not an artist.”

The place where the two circles overlap, the almond-shaped center, contains the gifts, attributes and character qualities that I bring, out of my deep glad- ness, to their deep hunger. After I finished the art piece, I was a bit surprised at the deep hunger I am called to; it is narrower space than I’d imagined but also a place that feels right and settled for me. While we’d created this art-integrated discernment activity for others, it was surprisingly helpful for me, and it influ- ences even now how I choose to commit my time. That’s the power of process art. Through self-reflection during the art-making process, the potential for increased self-knowledge emerges.

Imagine using the process partnered with Character Education and Everyday- Leadership.

Imagine whole communities being involved in these types of experiences.