A passionate and Biblical plea for Christians to take the visual arts as seriously as they would other Gifts of God, not as a mere tool for evangelism but as an authentic expression of human life in a broken yet redeemed world.

Goal/Mission

Artistic expression is one of the most awesome and powerful rights that God has given to man.  It has recorded the rise and fall of nations.  Be it simple or be it grand, art had quietly rendered the most honest spiritual and secular accounts of life, death, war and peace.  Its greatest advances have come about during the hardest of times.

It is my hope, prayer and goal as a gifted artist to share God's Word in a way that can minister to the hearts and minds of people much in the same way that Michelangelo did when he brought the Word to life in pictorial language with the Sistine Chapel.  If we can do what the Sistine Chapel does to lure people into the church and speak to them in a way that the medium of words cannot, then we must and should do so.  As our churches use the music ministry to prepare the hearts and minds of people and to draw them into the church so too must the visual arts..  The lure of art is a vital draw to those who seek.

Step into the 21st Century's version of the Sistine Chapel with today's artists . .
 

Worship in the Visual Arts 

The purpose of this ministry is to bring a revived and renewed emphasis to the arts in the area of worship.  It is not to bring glory to the artisan, but to bring glory to God, who as the Creator, created man in His own image, with the ability to express and create.  With these God-given gifts, man is able to reflect the nature of God.

How is this a form of worship?

The ability of art to communicate the gospel is perhaps its most important religious function.  The ever-present cross in a church building is a sign of the gospel, calling both believers and nonbelievers to a consciousness of Christ's sacrifice.

The Bible gives examples of art that communicates the gospel.  One used in worship is the Ark of the Covenant, picturing the sacrificial blood covering the tablets of God's Law.  One used outside the context of worship is the brazen serpent.  The book of Numbers describes how the children of Israel, miraculously delivered from Egypt and sustained in the wilderness, rebelled against the life of freedom and faith.  God saved them from His wrath with a snake made our of bronze (Numbers 21:4-9). 

Art is powerful because it lifts an object or experience out of its normal context so that it can be apprehended freshly and more fully.  Human faces are everywhere, but a portrait causes us to see a human face as a special object of contemplation.

Art can take a common object or a universal experience and, by aesthetic techniques of form and distancing, lift it up, disclosing that object or that experience in a compelling way and drawing out its meaning.  Art enriches life because it can make us aware of meaning.

“…I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…”  Exodus 31:3

In this remarkable passage we observe God inspiring in His people the skills that were needed to construct the tabernacle. These two otherwise unknown men, Bezalel and Oholiab, become famous by participating in God’s work and, more particularly, by the way they were filled with God’s Spirit to do so.  Not only prophets and preachers and charismatic leaders are God’s agents in renewal but designers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, embroiderers, and woodcarvers also.

Too often we mistakenly associate the Spirit of God only with sensational miracles.  But this is to narrow down the scope of His activity and interests.  The Spirit is equally the ultimate source of all artistic creativity and craftsmanship which is dedicated to the worship of God.  As Philip Yancey points out, the Holy Spirit has a magnificent obsession with the ordinary.  Under His influence, what we consider to be merely natural talents and gifts are enhanced and released by His creative energy.

Who are we and what can we do for you?

The art cellar is a tabernacle of fine art.  Yahweh's Old Testament tabernacle (tent of meeting) was the first sanctuary of the most glorious artistry.  We provide and teach modern day artistry to aid congregational worship and help establish a visual arts program within your church membership.  We can help you establish a church gallery of fine arts or help you host an art exhibition.  

Adhering to the standard set by the Old Testament tabernacle and temple with all its majestic artistry by gifted artists like Bezalel, Oholiab and Huram, the art cellar seeks to render all church homes with the artistic grandeur sanctioned by our Lord to magnify and glorify Him in modern day renderings.

Lectures

· 101 God’s Calling as an Artist
· 201 The Lure of Art (art in the church)
· 301 Word and Image (logos/icon) [NOTE: also referred to as: Evolution Turns to Dust]
 

Why Establish a Church Gallery?
People go in droves to see works of art.  I, too, along with them, packed exhibition rooms standing in reverential silence and transfixed before such great images.  Why?  Because precious epiphanies burst forth from these works.  In some measure art always breaks open perceptions for the viewer, enabling nuanced insight about what he or she already knows, or startles one into recognition of what is not yet known.  These insightful moments of jarring, intensity, shimmering with transcendent luminosity, are entries into the mysterious edge of life.  The fact is, large segments of the religious community have refused to recognize this revelatory power of art.  Such moments of inbreaking are appreciated when experienced in the museum.  But, such moments of inbreaking when experienced in the context of the church, cause us to fall to our knees.  Not only are we reminded of who we are, but also whose we are.

Exodus 25 thru 29 suggests several principles about art.  First, art is within God's will.  The Tabernacle, designed to glorify God and to instruct His people, was to involve "artistic designs."  God did not want to be worshiped outdoors or, as we say, in nature.  Worship in the woods or on the mountains, as in the pagan nature religions, was specifically forbidden (Deuteronomy 12:2-5).  Nor was the true God to be worshiped in a bare, unfurnished tent.  Rather the Israelites were to "make the Tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked into them by a skilled craftsman" (Exodus 26:1).  The furnishings were to be of pure gold, delicately carved wood, and precious stones (Exodus 25).

The Lord's specifications for the Tabernacle and later for the Temple take up a good part of the Old Testament, as those who resolve to read through the entire Bible find out to their dismay.  The details of how many hooks to place in the curtains, how many cubits the frames must be, what to cover with beaten gold, and what to make from bronze are tedious to modern readers and have caused the abandoning of many a well-intentioned Scripture-reading project.  But it pleased God to include such details in His holy Word, not only for Bezalel but for us.  God, the designer and maker of the universe, clearly places great value on details of design, construction, and artifice.

Why was everything to be so lavish?  The Lord tells Moses that "you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty" (Exodus 28:2).  The priestly vestments--the gold filigree, the twisted golden chains, the emeralds and sapphires and diamonds, the golden pomegranates and bells, the woven coat, the embroidered sash (28:39)---all were to be made "for glory and for beauty."

God was to be glorified.  Only the finest, the best that human beings have to offer, is appropriate to glorify the Lord.  The glory of the Tabernacle seems to have been intended as a reminder, a faint copy, of heavenly glory (Hebrews 8:5).  Those dazzled by the sublimity of the Tabernacle were perhaps experiencing a glimpse of the much more dazzling grandeur of the infinite God enthroned on "as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness"  (Exodus 24:10).

Besides manifesting glory, Aaron's garments were to be made "for beauty."  Beauty is thereby an appropriate end in itself.  The inventor of colors, of form, of textures, the author of all natural beauty, clearly values the aesthetic dimension for its own sake.  According to the clear statements of Scripture, art has its place within the will of God.
 

What does it mean for Christians today to be obedient to God in making and supporting, evaluating and understanding the arts?

"...I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts..."  Exodus 31:3

· Putting Heart into Your Art - Spiritual Art Form Class 101 - 120

If you are interested in 'putting your heart into your painting (or art form)';   this class will demonstrate the difference between a painting or art form (albeit beautiful, painterly, and technically perfect) and an art piece that grabs your soul, captures the viewer's eye and cuts to the heart.
 

Class Title What you need. . . Fee “Putting Heart into Your Art”     Instructor:  Olivia Cameo Lewis        101 – Paint a Prayer & Painting Your Gifts          102 – Turning Pain Into Paint          103 – Serving God Through Art-A Servant’s HeArt Must supply own painting tools & equipment Free     How to Photograph Your Art      Instructor:  Olivia Cameo Lewis   To be determined How to Write Grant Proposals (getting funded)      Instructor:  Olivia Cameo Lewis   To be determined Self-Promotion      Instructor:  Olivia Cameo Lewis   To be determined Exhibiting Your Work      Instructor:  Olivia Cameo Lewis   To be determined Buying a Digital Camera to photograph your art & use for art      Instructors:  Olivia Cameo Lewis,      Nancy Medeiros & Wayne J. Lewis   To be determined Creating a Portfolio      Instructor:  Olivia Cameo Lewis   To be determined Creating a Resume      Instructor:  Olivia Cameo Lewis     To be determined

· Reading & Understanding Works of Art - Art Appreciation 201 - 220

An entirely new concept of art appreciation: the student is not told what he/she should or must like; instead students are given the principles by which any painting may be judged—a method for developing one’s own ability to appreciate the greatest art of all countries and centuries.  The first part is devoted to removing the common prejudices that cloud the average beholder’s vision and orienting the student’s sensitivity and intelligent judgment toward the principles of line, color, space, light and value, in the second, composition, structure, tension, proportion, movement and harmony.  These two sections are intended to show how the spectator, through the study of composition, light, color and proportion can find that approach which gives him/her the feeling of being both fair to the work and honest with himself/herself.  With well-known paintings, the course will demonstrate the way in which these elements are harmoniously combined to bring forth a great work of art.  Finally, the principles set forth are applied in the analysis of several master paintings. 

Recommended for all non-artist’s in comprehending works of art; prerequisite for serious art students.  (See “The Wick of the Candle” sample study)
 

 · Art Excursions - 301 - 320                                   Dates/Times/Places

Each walk (or bike ride or group trip) is a new adventure and new learning experience.  Artist, Olivia Cameo Lewis, walks and talks about the language of art, taking spectators and artists alike thru the passages of aesthetic experience—opening their eyes to nuances revealed.
Recommend walking/hiking footwear, water bottle, journal/sketchbook and/or camera.  Cost $ varies.
 

  · Drawing & Painting