The Art Factory Ministry

I have not been to Europe since 1957. We left Germany when I was six weeks old. Needless to say, I remember nothing about the land of my birth.

Army Base. Stuttgart.

Mama never had much good to say about her time in Germany. Mostly because my birth – four days of labor and face first, how else? – had been traumatic for her. (Somedays it seemed like everything about me was traumatic for her.)

Tim has been to Europe. He’s seen Paris, The Louvre. Belgium, Brussels, NATO Headquarters.

But this summer marks our 35th anniversary (Yay for working hard on lasting love), and our friends Rick and Mary Beth Holladay have invited us to join them at The Art Factory.

Located in Kandern, Germany, The Art Factory is a ministry for restoration. (I’m certainly in need of some, you?)

Rick is the guy who introduced me to Tim years ago at Oregon State University. Tim and Rick were both transfer students from Judson Baptist College and good friends. Rick graduated with an Art degree from OSU and went into full-time ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ. He served all over Europe for many, many years.

Then he got this idea for the Art Factory: A place where professional Artists from around the world are invited to come spend up to a month, offering seminars, workshops or just a chance to r&r and work on their own projects.

Creating is a lot like labor.

It’s exhausting.

Sometimes it’s painful.

The thing created is not only a reflection of the one creating. It’s the embodiment of the creator. A giving away of oneself in a very real way.

Part of creating anything requires a certain nesting period. A time of being very still. A time to ponder.

The Art Factory allows creators the opportunity to sit, to ponder, to work alongside other artists, to feast alongside them, to discuss the work that is so often done in absolute isolation, apart from community of any sort.

So, God willing and the creek don’t rise ( to borrow another of Mama’s favorites) Tim and I will be heading to The Art Factory this summer.

And you? What do you have planned for 2013?