Friday 23 June 2017

Faith & Creativity: Mary Brack

Today's guest is Mary Brack.

Mary is a wife and a mother to adult daughters and works in church outreach ministry. Creative pursuits of art journaling, blogging, photography, and hunting vintage items keep her sane. 


“In the beginning God created….the earth was formless and empty…” Genesis 1:1-2
God took nothing and created something.

”God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27

We were created by a creative God who made us in His image to be creative also. When we create, we reflect the image of God, the Creator.

Through creative self-expression we become more of who we are and who God created us to be.

Erwin McManus, in his book The Artisan Soul, says,
"He who is the Creator God is the creative God, and he created us in his image and likeness. He created us with imagination and curiosity, with the capacity to hope and dream, and he placed within us all the material necessary to live an extraordinarily creative life. The proof is that more than anything else we are a soul, and that soul is the divine material with which we are made to create. The difference between humans and every other species on this planet is that humans are artists. This is our uniqueness - we were created to create."

For me, my creativity and my faith are very closely intertwined. In fact, in times of dryness, when I am experiencing a creative block, I generally find in looking back that I was experiencing a time of dryness spiritually also. Once my spirit is refreshed, I find that my creativity is refreshed as well.

Much of the time when I create, my ideas for art journal pages come from my time spent in God’s Word and in prayer. I may make a page that has a Bible verse on it, or a page that has a quote, or just a word or two. Those quotes and words may be spiritual or not, but they have all come about as a result of my time connecting with The Creator in prayer and in the Bible – it is all created from my soul.

Over the years that I have been art journaling and making mixed media art, certain symbols appear often in my art. They are not overtly religious or spiritual symbols yet they hold spiritual significance for me. Circles, for example, remind me that God is whole and eternal and I find my wholeness in living out who He created me to be. I have a love for birds and enjoy watching them. They appear often in my art simply because I enjoy them. But they also hold a place of significance for me. We went through many tough years and those times brought us to a deeper faith and a deeper place of trusting God for provision and care. Reading Matthew 6:25-34 during those hard times would help me keep my focus on God and remind me of His care for us and that in caring He would provide what we needed. So a bird became a symbol to me of God’s care and love and a reminder that I can trust and depend on Him.

Nature is another thing that appears often in my art journaling and in my photography. Time spent in nature, walking and taking photos, is a very sacred time for me. I see all that God has created, the beauty that it holds, and it is a time of worship and praise. Nature reminds us that we are finite beings who serve an infinite, mighty and merciful God.

So, whether you look at my art pages and see a verse of Scripture or simply a quote, those pages reflect who I am in Christ. They reflect my journey and my heart. Many symbols on my art pages, while not speaking directly to the observer, reflect the ways God has transformed me and the ways He has made Himself known in my life.



Thanks Mary.
Find Mary's faith explorations of life and art at Found on Brighton.

1 comment:

  1. I love seeing examples of your art, Mary. I really like how you said when we create we're reflecting our creator. That is so good. Thanks for sharing your creative soul.

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