For seven years I was involved in the most amazing group of artists: Arts and Entertainment Ministries (AEM). There are cinematographers, producers, directors, painters, photographers (of course!), writers, actors, comedians, musicians, spoken-word artists, poets, sculptors, dancers. Et cetera, Et cetera. You name the artistry, there is someone who practices it in the group. And we’d get together weekly and talk about art and how it related to our faith, or discuss a movie, or talk about a writer. It was just so encouraging to be part of a body of people all making stuff together.

Even more importantly that the artistic encouragement, I met my husband there. We went to Whole Foods together and then showed up at the group together and someone said (who knew us both separately), “Oh, do you two want to sit together?” (So in addition to all the artists, there were a few people practicing the fine art of “matchmaking.”) He was a writer and we hit it off splendidly talking about art in that group. When we got married, Joel and Mich (below), who run the arts program, gave us great advice about marriage too.

Well, once a year AEM showcases some faith-based art from around the world, and for the last seven years, I’ve documented the performance with my sharp eye and quick lens. Enjoy the pictures below, and if you can, go to the artists’ web sites — they have some incredible work.

It takes a huge team of volunteers to get this event to happen and here are some of my favorite volunteers.
Kengsen Chong flew all the way from Malaysia to be a part of the evening!
Kevin Rolly is one of those cool guys who lives in the downtown artist community of the Brewery and uses a hybrid of traditional photography with oil painting. Yolanda Tolentino‘s voice melts like butter and Jeffrey Travis‘ is an awesome filmmaker of short films and animated shorts. Travis’ Flatland: The Movie is currently being reworked into an IMAX 3-D film and is definitely a must see film. Yolanda’s voice was BEAUTIFUL and you can just see how in the moment she is. Love it!I love when I get to take a picture of someone taking a picture. It makes my lens happy.Kelda played an awesome set of poppy meets alternative rock piano based music. She was awesome!
Aaron Blez was straight up hysterical. I LOVED his poetry and his dry sense of humor.I was so excited to see One Truth come back for a second year. With a hip hop vibe, this guy preaches it! If want to know what it means to live a life of faith, listen to his music and don’t be surprised when you find yourself dancing.For the last section of the evening, Joel interviewed the artists about their process and inspiration for their art.And for other’s who were in the show, make sure to check out the hysterical Kristen Weber, the filmmaker of one of the most thought provoking films I have seen for a long time, Steven Holloway, the abstract painters, William Butler, Jennifer Kimbrough and Glen LaMar.

Martin Buber once said “Creation is not a hurdle on the road to God, it is the road it’s self.”