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BECOMING AN ARTIST

I cannot untangle my journey as an artist from the journey of my mother. My life began in the home of a woman who loved the Lord her God and tilled the time and space of her days to plant the pursuit of creating art. My sisters and I cannot recall a time when we were not encouraged to explore artistic mediums. My mum exhorted us to pursue creative ideas with her full support and whatever funds our tight budget could spare. Christmas and birthdays were leveraged for gathering new supplies, along with trips to the  clearance section of Pat Catan’s (a now-closed local arts + crafts store chain). Trying out pastels, oil and acrylic paints, block printing, charcoal, and so many other mediums—this was the norm of our world. My mother cultivated not only a sense of freedom to explore artistry, but an unquestioning confidence in our capacity to create beauty that mattered.

Despite the exploration of visual art, from an early age I was drawn to the artistry of words. Mum told us she read Dickens aloud to us when we were quite little—we didn’t know what she was saying, and then she could read what she was interested in! From an early age I was immersed in beautiful, complex stories, and that has shaped my work and my desires to this day. My childhood was imperfect, but was most certainly a good bit of ground for my growth as an artist, tended by my earthly and heavenly gardeners. 

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BECOMING AN ARTIST MISSIONARY

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I spent years knocking on a great many doors. I knocked on the door of grad school, of a school makerspace position (twice), of so many and varied jobs that I have lost the roles to the blur of cover letters and resumes and rejection emails (or an astonishing lack thereof). A season of knocking is inherently littered with discarded hopes and stinging nettles of disappointment. But someone said to me “you only need one door” and I have held onto that in these years of my life. I can only walk one road at a time, only go one way at once. The door that God has opened is heavy, and will take everything I’ve got and more besides for it to fully open so I may walk through. 

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In the deep, painful furrows of rejection and disappointment, God handed me a seed. It was not a new seed, but it had been hidden under layers of soil, not-quite-forgotten, but not-quite-remembered either. A desire, and a capacity I could never have imagined undertaking as anything more than ministry outside of my work. That desire is to do the beautiful, complex work of tending and cultivating artists. Of exhorting, encouraging, challenging, and caring for artists of the church. I am carrying on my mother’s work, which she began in the context of her home and carried into the classes she taught. Mine, in some ways has already begun in various corners of my life—in my classroom, in certain relationships, in small attempts in my new church. But the Lord has given me an opportunity to dig in deep and really make a difference for the artists of his church. 

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The door that has opened is through a ministry called United Adoration whose work is this work, to “empower artists, and the local church, to create art that is meaningful to the communities that matter most to them… their own.” This emphasis is so helpful—art isn’t just for national or international fame. Not all artists will live off of their work. Not all of them will follow traditional paths of sharing their work. But all artists need encouragement and companionship to live “on mission” which is to create the art they were made by God to create and share it in beautiful ways. So I am going on staff as an artist missionary to Northeast Ohio, the hills and people I love dearly, so I, too can cultivate in artists an unquestioning confidence in their capacity to create beauty that matters.

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BECOMING A TEAM

 

I cannot do this work alone, which really is appealing for me. I love solitary work, but I really, really love a good team. Would you prayerfully consider joining my team? There are three ways you can support me: 

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1. Prayer: I would be so grateful if you would pray for me as I raise support, and discern what God has for Northeast Ohio, and for my own art. You can sign up here to receive my monthly missions updates and prayer requests.

2. Resources: If you are local or local-ish and have resources that might be useful to an arts ministry, I’d love to talk about what it would look like to partner, share, donate, etc. Feel free to email me at karly_smith@unitedadoration.com

3. Support: Support raising is a work of faith, and an opportunity for me to invite you into the Lord’s work in another way. If you have the capacity and willingness to contribute financially to the work of ministry I’ll be doing in Northeast Ohio, you can do so here. One of my part time jobs ends this week. The other will wrap up in July. So I am trusting in the Lord to help raise enough for me to live on while I work toward my full salary and ministry budget. If you want to talk more about the work before you give or to help you prayerfully make that decision, I’d love to meet if you are local or jump on a phone call and answer your questions and share more! Just reach out to my email and we can set something up: karly_smith@unitedadoration.com