C.S. Lewis, the Mystical Builder

C.S. Lewis was a Christian mystic but not in the pagan sense, in the Tozer sense: he experienced his faith deep in his sentient being, always aware of God’s presence in his own nature and the world around him. Lewis’s friend George Sayer said Lewis’s life experiences were not literary but “mystical experiences of the presence of God.” 

Introducing Memphis Arts Moot

“Hey, I just saw the announcement about no Homebound this year. Wondering if there’s any chance there might be a ‘901 moot’ in the offing?” 

I sent this message to Eddy Efaw, the only person I knew who was involved with Hutchmoot Homebound in 2020 and 2021. All I wanted to know was whether or not someone was already planning a faith and arts conference for Memphis (the “901”, in local parlance). If so, I definitely wanted to attend.

Hope and Hardship

If someone were to ask me, “What is it you’re trying to do with your creative work?” I think I would say, “I want to give hope, but acknowledge hardship.”

What Makes Art: The Head or the Heart?

I’ve never considered intelligence to be the defining factor in the acts and processes of making art. I’ve never once thought to myself, “Human artists could finally be supplanted if there were just something else out there with enough intelligence.”

Save the Date: Hutchmoot UK Tickets On Sale 1/4/23

“If we want everything to stay as it is, everything has to change.“

This is one of the great insights of the Sicilian aristocrat, Giuseppe di Lampedusa, in his great, but only, novel The Leopard. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t thinking about Hutchmoot exactly when his character Prince Tancredi utters this pearl, but he might as well have! It is entirely apt. 

Rows and Rows of Green

I was no artist. Even when I was little, I didn’t paint pictures, I painted lines. I have laughed to cover my shame about it for most of my life.

I was four years old when I stood at an easel and painted a page full of green in nursery school. I didn’t paint the sun or a tree or a rainbow. I painted green. Green lines. All green lines. Green line after green line until the page was full.

Introducing the Limited Rabbit Room Edition of Rembrandt is in the Wind

Allow me to introduce you to this special Limited Rabbit Room Edition of Rembrandt is in the Wind. I dedicated this book to my art teachers from middle school and high school because they played a formative role in developing my love for art. The Rabbit Room played a similar role in my desire to write. 

The Guild Conference: For the Craft and Character of Artists

It’s always a joy to highlight the meaningful work of friends, and we’re excited to support a new one-day event happening soon in Raleigh, North Carolina called The Guild Conference.

The Holy Work of Shape-shifting Dragons

I was driving my son to school when we almost ran over a beaver in the middle of what should have been a beaver-less place. It was a field filled with cows and one lone dump truck rusting into the ground. After narrowly dodging becoming beaver murderers, my son and I got to thinking about beaver-ish things. He had a lot of questions.

Artists & Discovering Your Artistic Voice

In this episode of the Artists & Podcast, co-hosts Kyra Hinton and Jamin Still channel archeological metaphors to discuss the relationship between artistic voice and an artist’s style.

Call It Good: Propaganda, Carolyn Arends, Andrew Peterson, & Pete Peterson

New to the Rabbit Room Podcast Network is Call It Good: Conversations on Creative Confidence. Hosted by Matt Conner (host of The Resistance), Call It Good is a limited series of conversations with authors, artists, and pastors about the invitation before us to join with the Spirit in the act of re-creating the world.

(Re-)introducing the Rabbit Room Podcast

The Rabbit Room Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things Rabbit Room. Each month, co-hosts Drew Miller and Leslie Eiler Thompson discuss what you can expect from us in the next four weeks, from Rabbit Room Press to North Wind Manor events to our Podcast Network and more. And sometimes, they’ll even talk with a special guest. Be on the lookout for new episodes at the beginning of each month.