Back in the Swing of Things

I am back to school and riding out the changes that have happened and are in the midst with a peace that I don't understand. So much has changed in my circumstances and in myself that I am still trying to wrap my mind around.

I am going to start using this website to post past work that I have done, and current work. I am ready to take my "secret life of painting" out in the open, and share with people in the hope that it will be used for more than decorative purposes in my apartment. Because of a lack of space, and a readiness to get rid of things that I have been holding on to, I have decided to sell pieces from college to raise funds for a future missions trip that I am hoping to be a part of.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these pieces, or if you would like a larger image, let me know by sending me an email to: sfilby28@hotmail.com with the title and description.

In the midst of NYC

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the part that you played in making this summer happen in NYC. Through the multiple paintings sold through this website, as well as through other random donations, and 2 painting commissions, all the funds were brought in!

I am now 3 weeks into my stay here, and finally feeling somewhat adapted to the crazy atmosphere and culture. I have had the opportunity to see some artwork, meet a lot of wonderful artists, as well as create some artwork myself.

We are working toward our gallery show which will be July 9th-12th at our gallery and studio space on W. 28th Street in Manhattan. The students (and staff) are working hard to get their pieces prepared within the theme of "Re-Humanization" for the show. I will post my painting when it is finished.

Thanks again for your support.

Tribeca Arts Project

NY Tribeca Art Summer Project

I am moving to New York City for 6-7 weeks this summer to help staff the Tribeca Arts Project.
This project brings in over 15 staff members of Campus Crusade for Christ who are artists to work with about 30 art students coming from all over the nation to study the diverse culture of the City, along with the arts community and how to use the gifts we've been given for the greater purpose of serving God. I came here two summers ago to staff the project to end my year of ministry working with Campus Crusade for Christ. During this time on the project we worked with students of the multiple campuses around the city where we surveyed over 800 people with the "soularium" survey (a visual image survey that leads people in a spiritual questionnaire through the use of 50 images that evokes spiritual conversation). Through this survey, we compiled the results and studied them as a small population of society, looking at the trends and most common answers to questions such as, "What are 3 images that you wish were a part of your life right now?", and "If you could choose 1 image to represent your view of God, what image would you choose?" With the results of our surveys we organized groupings of students and staff members to create a gallery show near the Chelsea Art District in Manhattan. Every person that we surveyed we also invited to the show's reception, where we were able to follow up with people and reconnect. God did some powerful things, and used the art to create a unique bond between the people and the artists.
This coming summer will involve similar aspects, where we will survey people in our hometowns before we go to get a read of the overall United States, then all come together to be built as artists, seeking to follow God in this calling we've been given. We will have a variety of artists represented--musicians, painters, dancers, actors, graphic artists, and more. I will be in charge of specific aspects of the project, discipling students, as well as developing parts of my own artistic abilities. We will see what this summer brings.
Because Campus Crusade is a non-profit organization, everyone involved in the project, as well as in the organization has to raise their own funding. After a year and a half of raising support traditionally through letters and phone calls a few years ago, I have decided to try raising my support in a different manor. I started praying about how God wanted me to go about this about 6 months ago, and as time crept closer, He began to reveal the way to go about this...through painting.
I have been in a painting slump in the past 6 months, where it has been very difficult for me to create due to physical exhaustion from teaching, as well as emotionally fatigued from investing most of my energy into high school art students. I am used to painting large-scale portraits, but they became overwhelming, so as I began to think about how to potentially raise support through my art, smaller works became of interest. So, that's what I did.
My original plan was to have "30 Days of Creation", where for the whole month of March, I would create 20 pieces. Well, March is gone, and I have 11 completed, with 3 more waiting to be finished. I am going to continue to create paintings and drawings, and will add them as I go.
What I am hoping to do is to sell these paintings as my means of paying for the project costs and the cost of living, which will be about $2300 altogether.
If you would like to be a part of this by either purchasing an artwork, or by giving a donation, please email me at sfilby28@hotmail.com.

Because this is a blog site, you can't pay over the internet, so if you are interested in purchasing a piece of art to help support this project, follow the steps below:




To Purchase Artwork:

1. Decide on the piece and remember the title and description of the work. (All artwork images are on the side of this page)
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE ANY OF THESE IN A LARGER FORMAT, EMAIL ME AND I WILL RESPOND WITH THE LARGER IMAGE ATTACHED.

2. Email me at sfilby28@hotmail.com to let me know that you're interested with the following information:
-artwork title
-artwork description
-amount of purchase price (This is a suggested donation that will be tax deductible through Campus Crusade for Christ)
-If you want your artwork matted and framed, add $50 to the amount
-your name and shipping address ( or if you want to pick it up, let me know)

Also email me with any questions you might have and if you would like any more information.

Attempt

My words often escape me, especially when talking. I speak often to find that my words are jumbled and lost; my thoughts unspoken. I cannot find the words. If only I could speak and write in pictures, I would be better understood and a lot less frustrated.

Art is a communication tool for many, as well as for me. I speak through my art what I cannot put down on paper, and through terms that my spoken words cannot reveal. Creating, for me is much more than a task or an expression. I have found that when I do not create, I cannot breathe. It is as though I were being held underwater; speechless and frantic. I must create because it is the language tool through which my soul speaks, one that has been granted to me out of the image and essence of my Creator. It is only by Him and, through Him that I am what I am and can do what I do. My ultimate desire is that I would be breathing my every breath to give Him credit for what is rightfully His. I am His.

I have been creating ever since I was little. I am an only child, strong-willed, and raised in a single-parent household, where I had to find my own entertainment to keep myself occupied. The television often bored me, and I could never sit still long enough to read enough books to satisfy my itching desire to find myself. I would often spend hours in the living room, in the basement, or in my bedroom making things to suffice the creative thirst I had within me. As I grew older the raw desire to create morphed into something new--a desire to create and find beauty.

Looking back now, I see this paired with my increasing desire in my teenage years to find God. I longed for something that was pure, unadulterated, perfect, flawless, and beautiful--all things that I began to realize I wasn't and could never be sufficient. Even though I kept them separate until a few years ago, my art and my relationship with God mirrored each other. They were the same. The things that I was searching for in God, I was searching for in my artwork.

I am now finally realizing that creating is not a job or even just a talent, but that it is exercising the very existence I have been given. I am created in the image of my God. He is the Creator.

I am breathing.