ARTIST AS PILGRIM

Together with my wife we have been working artists since 1981. During that time we have made
attempts to connect with local churches. These attempts have ended in frustration and ultimately
failure.
Perhaps at some point this situation may change but for now the whole enterprise of explaining an
unfamiliar profession to my brothers and sisters in a church community has been put on hold.

Working weekends, traveling to art fairs to sell our work, the sequestration in the studio when we are at
home, and not having a life outside the obsession of creating art is the simple construction of life for
me. Unfortunately explaining our reality seems to present an invisible barrier that causes confusion in
the minds of otherwise understanding folks.

My experience with the Church is not so different from the reaction of members of society at large
which seem to have an ambivalent attitude towards the artist. But due the personal nature of religious
interaction the emotional blow-back from a communications breakdown seems more acute.

Somewhere in the past I may have been bruised by the patronizing attitude and the off-hand slights
about getting a real job. After all, I thought, we had been established artists for decades by that time.
We were subject to popular stereotypes conflating political liberalism and libertine behavior with the
lifestyle of the full time artist. Yet these misconceptions were completely incorrect to describe the
artists we know who work 50 to 80 hour weeks making ends meet. Finding communal ground from
where we can even start a discussion defied my abilities.

I am not thin skinned. Like other artists we regularly get rejections from some art festivals, exhibitions,
and other juried events. Facing the public, explaining yourself, answers questions, and selling your
work for hours at art fairs promotes the growth of a rather thick callous over your feelings. In the world
of art business one has to be tough to make it. It is an expected as part of the profession.

Finding little comfort in the Church a door seemed to shut. After being raised an atheist by default it
was very easy to become despondent and slip into the nihilism. That was unthinkable. It finally
occurred to me that the struggle I was experiencing was a necessary part of being Christian. Finding a
way forward had to come from God.

Persevering with Bible study and studying the history of the Church and over time I began to
understand that the whole experience with the Church was a process of revelation. Part of a shamanistic
pilgrimage of sorts where I was being lead through a series of occurrences and trials as a system of
growth and changes. Although I was only dimly aware that a plan was in place at the time.

I learned that I was not alone on this path. For various reasons others including artists found themselves
on their own in spiritual matters. There seemed to be a kinship between the path of the artist and that of
the pietist. Perhaps not the Pietism of the seventeenth century but a new pietism that fits today's
conditions and comports nicely with the Christians who lived before the Council of Nicaea. As
imperfect as it might be; independent study, private worship, and devotion can be practiced at any time,
under any circumstance and progress can be made.

This is the remedy suggested in Matthew 6:5-6 which highlights the failings of the hypocrites who
worship in public. It is guidance that has been used by generations of pietists in times of personal,
political, or social turmoil. Certainly the pre-Nicene Church had many followers who studied alone or
met in small unstructured groups. Before any creed was formalized by the Roman Empire pietism must
have been relatively common. Even so it is not right for everyone. There are pitfalls.

Some feel that the Holy Spirit is expressed in a recognized community of the faithful similar to the
Sangha in Buddhism. Yet if we believe there is a spark of Divinity in each person then it is not a stretch
to believe that it is this spark that really unites us irrespective the external conditions. This view may
not be good for institution building but where institutions are weak or unresponsive it can work for an
individual in partnership with Lord Christ.

Following a pietist path may be an ongoing endeavor or a bridge to something else. Regardless, it can
be the life of a pilgrim written by the pen of the poet, the brush of the painter, and the work of the artist.

DS Reif