Description:
From a world-renowned painter, an exploration of creativity's quintessential--and often overlooked--role in the spiritual life
Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura's broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of "making." What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise.
Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God's being and God's grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman's words, "an accidental theologian," one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.
Brief description: Makoto Fujimura is a world-renowned artist whose process driven, refractive "slow art" has been described by David Brooks in the New York Times as "a small rebellion against the quickening of time." Fujimura's unique fusion of contemplative art and expressionism is credited to his bicultural arts education. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bucknell University, then studied traditional Japanese painting at Tokyo University of the Arts. He is a recipient of 2023 Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life.