art and Mrs. G.

When I first started blogging, I thought I'd end up writing a lot about what I do. But I don't. I mean I do do stuff. But I don't write a lot about what I do for a living. A lot of it is humdrum. A lot of it is confidential. And most of it takes way more explaining than the attention-span of your average blog-reader allows.

BUT ... I'm kind of excited about a new development at Crossfire.

It looks like this:

We've always thought art is important in the church in general. But since my eighth grade art teacher, Mrs. G., shrieked, "WHAT is THAT???!!!!???" while staring in horror at my attempt to paint a tree, I've been aware that art is not one of my strengths. At all. Not even a tiny little bit.

But I still think art is important.

A few years ago we bought a building that had two massive inset areas on the front wall, just begging to be filled with ... something.

But there were renovations to do, and then there was Ukraine, plus a lot of new community friendships to build, and ... well ... the truth is, I didn't know any local graffiti artists. I asked around, but only came up with reasons it couldn't be done.

A few months ago, I was at a meeting of other pastors, and we did some brainstorming. You know - "What would you do if you could..." and I said, "I would put some art out there, but I don't know anyone..." and the guy beside me said, "My son does that." He gave some examples of locations where his son had done other murals. One was on Locke Street South, and I think (?) this is a picture of it.

The guy across from me said, "That's YOUR SON???  He's really good!!"

One thing led to another, and as of just a few days ago - art - designed and created by local artists - is on the front wall of our building, which is on one of the main streets in the city. It's mounted on plywood so that we can change it from time to time if we want to. Maybe we'll eventually move it down the side of the building - also visible to the street - so that newer stuff can go on the front. Maybe someday we'll have an outdoor art gallery on our building! Oh, the possibilities!

I'm pretty pumped about it. Everyone in the neighbourhood is talking about it. People love it. We've got art, baby!

Take that, Mrs. G.