Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
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  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
      • God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (Book Club – February 2021)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Sacred Artist Interview

Sacred Artist Interview: Milton Brasher-Cunningham

I first met Milton Brasher-Cunningham through the RevGalBlogPals, a blog ring for people who support the leadership of women in Christian communities.  I was drawn to his blog 'don't eat alone' because it's primarily about one of my favorite topics — food and the way food can be meaningful and sacred.  Milton also writes about social justice, about discernment, about poetry, many of the things I feel passionate about as well.  Then recently I got an unexpected gift in the mail from him — a copy of his new book Seven Summers at the Beach, a delightful collection of poetry and recipes from his blog put together in a clean and accessible format.  I am always thrilled to receive presents, especially one that combines some of my favorite elements and it occurred to me that Milton would make a great subject for my Sacred Artist Interview series as an artist of word and food.

Are you rooted in a particular faith tradition?

I was born into a Christian family that was also Southern Baptist. I turned one on the ship going to Africa, where my parents served as missionaries, and left the continent for good on my sixteenth birthday. During those years I was exposed to Christians of many denominations, many of whom my parents took seriously as colleagues in ministry. As an adult, I have found my home in the United Church of Christ and it’s gospel of extravagant welcome. 

What is your primary art medium?

Writing and cooking, though I also find expression in other tactile media: card making, candle making, watercolors. For Christmas several years ago Ginger gave me a class in Byzantine iconography, which was an incredible experience in both art and spiritual practice. I want to get back to that. 

How do you experience the connection between spirituality and creativity?

My answer begins with mentioning Parker Palmer’s book The Active Life, which helped give me a vocabulary to talk about the connection. I’ve never been a meditative person – in the sense that I find God by sitting quietly. Palmer says there is an active way to God: being active can also mean being attentive in the same way as being quiet. In this sense, faith is a contact sport for me. I hear God best when I am active and creative.

What role does spiritual practice have in your art-making?

In iconography, the point is to copy the image that has been handed down over the centuries. You follow the same lines as those who have come before you; you don’t sign the work when you are finished. The point is to create a “window into heaven” rather than an individual artistic expression. The lesson has been difficult for me because the language of love I hear best is that of affirmation – I am fed when someone tells me I have done well. What I continue to learn, whether I’m writing a blog post or a poem or working to make the plate about to go out into the restaurant as perfect as I can, is that most meaningful affirmation comes from understanding the connections I’m creating, from being able to see I have created an expression of the love and grace that holds us all.

What sparked your spiritual journey?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know that God loved me, so, in one sense, I was born on the journey. The latest chapter in the journey, which has been most significant as far as my artistic life goes, began eight years ago when I began to come to terms with my depression and learning what it means for that to be a part of both my spiritual and physical makeup.

What sparked your artistic journey?

Relationships. I have been blessed with a number of people along the way who taught, encouraged, and challenged me to try my hand at everything from songwriting to cooking to graphic design. My mother is a fearless cook and capitalized on my curiosity to get me to help her in the kitchen. Others along the way responded to my inquisitiveness by being willing to show me how they did what they did. I don’t think one step of my artistic journey has been a solitary one.

Do you have a particular process you use when entering into your creative work?

The ongoing process for me is looking for connections. I like finding ways to draw things together that don’t look like they go together. Beyond that, I don’t have a specific regimen. The biggest challenge in writing is carving out time to do it. When it comes to cooking, I find someone is almost always ready to eat.

How does your art-making shape your image of God?

The first image we see of God in the Bible is that of Creator — The Original Artist – working in every possible medium and creating for the sake of creating. A look at the world around us and we can find functionality, whimsy, passion, brilliance, imagination, determination, focus, tenacity, tenderness, intricacy, expansiveness, love, and a sense of humor. As the children in Narnia are warned, “Remember Aslan is not a tame lion.” I cook and write and paint and whatever else to make meaning of this weary and wonderful world God continues to create. To see God as Creator means, to me, that God’s truest expression of self is one of love and inclusiveness. John described Jesus as “knowing he had come from God and was going to God.” The true is the same for us. We have come from a God who is so full of creativity that God could simply breathe us into being; we are going to a God who is unabashedly Love, Love, Love.

*****

A wholehearted thank you to Milton for sharing his insights.  There were many images and ideas here that spoke to me including "the gospel of extravagant welcome", faith as a "contact sport",  how art and creativity are rooted in all levels through connections and relationship, and God as Original Artist and pure love.

Make sure to visit his blog and check out his new book!

** Make sure to visit this week's Poetry Party! **

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7 Comments May 28, 2008

Upcoming Programs

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
Retreat for Lent 2021

February 17-April 1, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman

Recent Reflections

  • Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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