IVCF World Assembly 2007

Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship’s World Assembly 2007 is being held at Redeemer University-College this year and I was fortunate enough to be asked to participate. Along with 14 other artists, thanks and words of support were given during the Artist’s Reception. It was a diverse group of people, but I very much enjoyed getting a chance to talk with others and hear what they were doing and their experiences.

The most surprising comment made to me was how lost many of the other artists felt within their communities. As an Orthodox Christian convert I had forgotten the whitewashed walls I grew up with, but during these conversations memories of the last visit to my father’s church (where I have to admit I spent most of the sermon imagining icons for the large white ceiling …) came back to me. Many of these people struggle to have visual art understood within their communities, and while I very much respect their work I was very thankful on my way home not to share in this foundational labour.