Art by J. Daniel Graham, Jordan Lienhoop-Crump, Loren Myhre, McKenna O’Hare, Tim Robertson, and Michael Winters

Gallery talk at 7:30pm, Doors open 7-9pm with live folk tunes by Brittany Jennings and Daniel Graham.

Six artists backpack into the Daniel Boone National Forest together for three days and then make art in response. On view November 1, 2024 - January 5, 2025

In the summer of 2023, the six of us hefted on backpacks and followed each other down into the Red River Gorge. Some of us were seasoned backpackers and for some of us, this was the first time. The idea was to enjoy the place and each other’s company, and to afterwards make art that speaks something of “wilderness,” inspired by the particular gifts of Kentucky’s forests.

Under a large rock shelter shaped like an inverted amphitheater, after wandering around like curious children, we gathered and responded to the question, “What’s different about you when you’re here versus when you’re in your everyday life?” A shared awareness emerged as we together felt how present we were to our surroundings, each other and ourselves. 

Wilderness as a concept doesn’t have precisely defined boundaries. Edward Abbey wrote of wilderness that though we scarcely know what wilderness is, “the word itself is music.” When we enter into wilderness, we enter a different mode of being. Author Wendell Berry and photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard created a book together about Red River Gorge in 1971 with the title The Unforeseen Wilderness. Among other brilliant insights, this book includes one of Berry’s most extended writings on visual art, specifically art photography. He contrasts the tourist-photographer “who goes to a place, bound by his intentions and preconceptions, to record what has already been recorded and what he therefore expects to find” with the photographic artist whose “search is a pilgrimage, for he goes along ways he does not fully understand, in search of what he does not expect and cannot anticipate.” 

Working in different media and styles, the six artists in this exhibit have pilgrimaged together and now share the records of that journey. In their various forms, these artworks reflect on various aspects of wilderness and the human experience of entering into it. Red River Gorge and the larger Daniel Boone National Forest have been our muse.

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, September 16th at 7pm to discuss Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes to serve as the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. In the almost forty years that follow, Latour spreads his faith in the only way he knows—gently, all the while contending with an unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Out of these events, Cather gives us an indelible vision of life unfolding in a place where time itself seems suspended.”

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret novels thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, November 18th - Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Come celebrate the artistic work of Sojourn Midtown members and regular attenders on Friday, July 19th from 7-9-pm! Performances will take place all evening, with the gallery open for viewing.

Performances by Christopher Daniel Owen, Darren & Brittany Jennings, Jason Stephens & Danley Pyles, Paul Sridhar, Carra Rose Babin, Asiah Wedin & Ava Franklin, Asher Wedin, Gracie Hawkins, Andy Fillebrown, Noah Vance, Hannah R Johnson, Ashley Miles, Jonathon Crump & Will Meadows, and Lydia Walker.

Visual Art by Alex O'Nan, Allison Paige Workman, Brian Rodman, Brittany Anne Jennings, Caleb Garza, Caroline Mae Rothschild, Casey Hamm, Chelsey Garza, Chloe Cheng, Crystal Sridhar, Dani Wallace, Daniel Vance, Evangeline Grace Eubanks, Hannah Johnson, Jason Stephens, Jennifer Kramer, Jenny Stopher, Jordan Lienhoop, Joshua Jean-Marie, Jupiter Katsaros, Kelly Davenport, Leandro Lozada y Leon, Mercy Kershner, Michael Winters, Nadia Irving, Sammi Lawson, Sarah Mayer, Sarah Ritz, Selah K. Wigginton, Shawn Apostel, Stephanie Teelucksingh, Talli Frame, Tasha Irving, Tim Robertson, Victor Martinez Camacho, Viki Kooiman, and Zhong Yang

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, July 15th at 7pm to discuss Dante’s Indiana by Randy Boyagoda.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“Middle-aged, married, but living on his own, Prin has lost his way. Desperate for money and purpose, he moves to small-town Indiana to work for an evangelical millionaire who’s building a theme park inspired by Dante’s Inferno. He quickly becomes involved in the difficult lives of his co-workers and in the wider struggles of their opioid-ravaged community while trying to reconcile with his distant wife and distant God. Both projects spin out of control, and when a Black teenager is killed, creationists, politicians and protesters alike descend. In the midst of this American chaos, Prin risks everything to help the lost and angry souls around him while searching for his own way home. Affecting and strange, intimate and big-hearted, Dante’s Indiana is a darkly divine comedy for our time.” — Biblioasis Publishing

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret novels thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, September 16th - Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

• Monday, November 18th - Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

OPEN MIC NIGHT & Gallery Reception: Friday, July 19, 7-9pm

Let's celebrate the creative work of Sojourn Midtown members and attenders! Anyone that’s involved with Sojourn Midtown in any way is invited to participate in the Sojourn Artist Showcase Open Mic Night.

Open Mic participants are required to register in advance by filling out this online form. Participants will be given a 5 minute time slot. We’ll do our best to include everyone that would like to participate. Performances must be appropriate for our all ages context.  Deadline extended! The deadline to sign up for Open Mic Night is Thursday, July 11th at 11:55pm.

Let's celebrate the creative work of Sojourn Midtown members and attenders! Anyone that’s involved with Sojourn Midtown in any way is invited to participate in the Sojourn Artist Showcase.

The deadline to submit art for the Sojourn Artist Showcase is Friday, May 31st at 11:55pm. Participants may submit up to 3 pieces of artwork. Everyone who submits work will have at least one piece selected.* There is no theme other than to see what our community is making. Only wall-hung artwork will be considered. All accepted art must be ready to hang, including hanging hardware, and must be labeled on the back with the title and artist’s name.

When uploading images of your artwork, please make sure the file name is Your_Name_Title_of_Piece.jpg. Submit your artwork here.

Participants will be notified of the selected piece(s) on Thursday, June 6th. Artwork must be delivered by Sunday, June 23rd.

*However, we do reserve the right to not include artwork deemed inappropriate to our all ages context.

Join us for the reception of Printed Faith: Art by Gabriella Boros, Lauren Stevens + Dani Wallace on Friday, May 24th. Artist talks begin at 7:30pm, doors open 7-9pm. All ages welcome.

The three printmakers in this exhibit create work inspired by Christianity and Judaism. Their different expressions of faith are as varied as their printmaking techniques– copper etchings, woodblock prints, linocuts, and screenprints. 

Gabriella Boros’ woodblock prints and books draw upon the Torah and Talmud as she processes and applies the text to life. Lauren Stevens’ detailed copper etchings are filled with Old Testament stories and prophecies of creation restored. Dani Wallace’s prints explore the ways God works in our lives, finding spiritual meaning through imagery drawn from life.

Gabriella Boros, born in Jerusalem, Israel to Holocaust survivors, immigrated with her family to the US for her father’s career during her formative years. 

 A graduate of the University of Michigan School of Art, Gabriella has been exhibiting her art nationally and internationally since 1986. Since 2012, she has explored woodblock printmaking, and in which she has completed three artist residencies. She is a recipient of a State of Illinois Artist Grant. She has also participated in two fellowships. Her work is included in both private and institutional collections. Her three handmade books Esh: Sanctity in Fire, Symbiosis and Eighteen Stones are in the permanent collection of the University of Michigan Libraries Special Collections. 

Her themes range from the intersection of plants and humans to gender and spiritual commentary, sometimes in the same work. Most of her prints are created as thematic series, which she researches and develops into visual narratives. See more of Gabriella’s work at www.gabriellaboros.com.

Lauren Stevens was raised alongside car engineers and Bible scholars in the desert terrain of Chandler, Arizona. A young love of pen and ink drawing easily translated to the linear nature of copper etching when she studied at the Kansas City Art Institute. There, she earned her BFA with a specialized emphasis in printmaking. Now, she is furthering her research as the Fall 2023 printmaking candidate at Arizona State University. See more of Lauren’s work at www.laurenstevensart.com. 

Dani Wallace is a visual artist and graphic designer living in Louisville, KY. She studied Studio Art & Marketing at the College of William & Mary. There, she discovered relief printmaking and fell in love with the medium for its graphic, illustrative quality and the ‘happy accidents’ that can occur. She enjoys creating works infused with narrative and symbolism that explore the presence of God in people’s stories. The medium of printmaking also brings with it unpredictability, which Dani finds challenging yet appropriate for works involving storytelling, as stories themselves are never straightforward. In addition to printmaking, Dani works full-time as a brand manager for several companies. She also freelances on the side and has produced artwork for Sojourn Midtown and other local businesses and individuals. See more of Dani’s work at www.daniwallace.myportfolio.com.

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, May 20th at 7pm to discuss Haven by Emma Donoghue.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—he rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. In such a place, what will survival mean?” — Little, Brown and Company Publishing

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret novels thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, July 15th - Dante’s Indiana by Randy Boyagoda

• Monday, September 16th - Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

• Monday, November 18th - Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

This is part two of the clay-building workshop. We will meet on the 2nd floor of the Meridian Building on Saturday, April 13th at 10AM for the second class to glaze our pottery.

Registration is closed.

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, March 18th at 7pm to discuss Kindred by Octavia Butler. Content warning: Contains physical and sexual trauma and abuse related to slavery and racism.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“The visionary time-travel classic whose Black female hero is pulled through time to face the horrors of American slavery and explores the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.

’I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm.’

Dana’s torment begins when she suddenly vanishes on her 26th birthday from California, 1976, and is dragged through time to antebellum Maryland to rescue a boy named Rufus, heir to a slaveowner’s plantation. She soon realizes the purpose of her summons to the past: protect Rufus to ensure his assault of her Black ancestor so that she may one day be born. As she endures the traumas of slavery and the soul-crushing normalization of savagery, Dana fights to keep her autonomy and return to the present.

Blazing the trail for neo-slavery narratives like Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Water Dancer, Butler takes one of speculative fiction’s oldest tropes and infuses it with lasting depth and power. Dana not only experiences the cruelties of slavery on her skin but also grimly learns to accept it as a condition of her own existence in the present.” — Publisher

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret novels thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, May 20th - Haven by Emma Donoghue

• Monday, July 15th - Dante’s Indiana by Randy Boyagoda

• Monday, September 16th - Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

• Monday, November 18th - Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

This workshop is full and registration is closed.

Learn foundational watercolor techniques with Midtown member Sammi Lawson on Saturday, March 16th at 10AM. We’ll go over techniques such as painting wet on wet versus wet on dry, and you’ll also learn to use frisket, a water resistant medium, by painting an Easter scene. This class will work with a limited color palette of rose madder, cobalt blue, and aureolin yellow.

We’ll meet on the second floor of the Meridian Building (1303 S. Shelby St.). The workshop is $5, which covers the cost of supplies. Registration is closed.

Art by Cameron Lawrence, Stephen Procopio, Jeremie Riggleman, Michael Winters ,and Ali Wunder

Join us for the opening reception of Exuberant Spring on Saturday, March 9th. Artist talks by Cameron Alexander Lawrence and Michael Winters will start at 5:30pm. Doors open 5-7pm.

Exuberant. Effusive. Profuse. Superabundant. Gushing. Excessive. Lavish. Extravagant. 

Coming out of winter, spring first has a quiet liveliness, but it soon erupts over-the-top. Peak spring can seem gaudy. So much life in the world!

The five artists in this exhibit have made objects that reflect on this quality of exuberant abundance found in the spring season. Exhibited around Easter, these objects of floral excitement also align well with the over-the-top grace of God found in Christ’s death and resurrection.

Cameron Alexander Lawrence is a poet and visual artist from the American southwest now based in Decatur, Georgia. His poems appear in many literary journals, and his paintings can be found in private collections in Europe, South America, and across the United States. Learn more at cameronlawrence.com.

Stephen Procopio is an illustrator living in Northern Virginia. His work has been featured in many churches and galleries in Europe as well as across the United States and Canada. His work has appeared in many publications including Christianity Today and Lifeway Publishing. He has created album covers for popular musicians including Caroline Cobb and Lovedrug. Stephen was hired to illustrate an on-location book for the popular TV show The Chosen and has worked with corporations including Pinkston Co. and Aslin Brewery. He is a partner at Fish Coin Press - whose goal is to illustrate beautiful and contemplative works that partner with the Bible. He has taught illustration at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and at The Art League in Alexandria, VA. He received his MFA in illustration from SVA in New York City. His iIllustrated Gospel of John "Come See a Man" and newly illustrated 1 and 2 Peter book "Reason For The Hope'' are available at Fish Coin Press. Learn more about his work at procopiodraws.com.

Jeremie Riggleman is an artist and art educator based in Indiana. Largely, his life has been spent in the Midwest United States, although much of his visual aesthetic was shaped while living in the Los Angeles area. He began exploring ideas related to race, class and privilege in his work when he relocated to Indiana from Southern California in 2017 and observed dramatic social contrast between these places. Riggleman holds a BA in studio art from Bethel University (Mishawaka, IN) and a MFA in visual art from Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA). He has participated in solo and group exhibitions at the Museum of Art and History (Lancaster, CA), Coagula Curatorial (Los Angeles, CA), il Palazzo della Provincia di Frosinone (Frosinone, Italy), Oceanside Museum of Art (CA), Riverside Art Museum (CA), Westmont College (Santa Barbara, CA), Concordia University, Irvine (CA), and Gallery 825, (West Hollywood, CA, Los Angeles Art Association). His art has been collected by numerous public and private parties, including the late Carrie Fisher. Learn more at jeremieriggleman.com.

Ali Wunder is an artist and educator living in Northern Virginia. Her current body of work features embroidered paintings of plants and flowers that celebrate the beauty of things that grow, and explore her deep connection to the garden. Ali received her Masters in Art Teaching from George Mason University. She has over ten years experience working with art non-profits, primarily The Art League in Alexandria VA. There she served as gallery director, a teacher, and community arts programmer. Learn more at aliwunder.com.

Michael Winters is an artist and arts organizer living in Louisville, KY. His artwork has been featured in galleries such as Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, Intersect Arts Center (St. Louis), and Biola University (LA, CA). His work has also been featured online on Vice and in print in CIVA’s Seen Journal. He’s director of Sojourn Arts, a project of Sojourn Church Midtown where he has curated exhibits and facilitated artist groups since 2007. Learn more at michaeltwinters.com.

In this workshop, Midtown member Tasha Irving will teach beginners how to wedge and join clay together, making their own pinch pots and slab building, and she’ll help intermediates grow in their skills.

This is a two-part class, as the clay needs to dry out before we glaze it: please make sure you are able to attend both dates.

We will meet on the 2nd floor of the Meridian Building on Saturday, March 2nd at 10AM for the first class. The second class will meet on Saturday, April 13th at 10AM.

The cost is $20, which includes cost of supplies, firing, and compensation. When you register, you will submit payment for the class.

Registration is limited to 30 people and closes on Thursday, February 29th. Please register here.

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, January 22nd at 7pm to discuss Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“While searching for a place to rest for the night, Dr. Elwin Ransom is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and taken to the red planet of Malacandra (Mars) as a human sacrifice for the alien creatures that live there. Once on the planet, however, Ransom eludes his captors, risking his life and his chances of returning to Earth, becoming a stranger in a land that is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similarity. First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet remains a magnificent and suspenseful tour de force in which epic battles are fought between the forces of light and those of darkness. It is the incredible beginning to C.S. Lewis’s spectacular Space Trilogy, which also includes Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.” — Scribner

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret novels thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, March 18th - Kindred by Octavia Butler.

• Monday, May 20th - Haven by Emma Donoghue

• Monday, July 15th - Dante’s Indiana by Randy Boyagoda

• Monday, September 16th - Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

• Monday, November 18th - Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Join us for an artist talk with Marcus Clarke and Nathan Rice about their work in Witnessing Nearness. Doors open 5-7pm, with the talk starting at 5:30pm.

Witnessing Nearness is about the different beats of relationships along the horizontal and vertical axis. Artists Nathan Rice and Marcus Clarke met over an overlapping semester of their MFA graduate programs in San Antonio, TX. They found quick camaraderie and solace in each other’s faiths and their art practices, and interestingly, they’ve found their work meets at the horizon line, with a gaze of what is above and below.

To expand this conversation, Marcus’s and Nathan’s work uniquely parallels the historical exchange between artist and friends Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. Nathan’s abstract, gestural paintings of flowers and gardens explore the sanctity of the created world and quotidian labor, a reformed theology reminiscent of van Gogh’s Dutch Protestantism. On the other hand, Marcus’s work of sculptural and architectural installations with light, often using colored, defused LED lights to atmospheric effect, is reminiscent of Paul Gauguin’s color fields that are backdrops for mystic encounters. Like Gauguin, he deploys numinous visual language to question the ends of perception and ponder what lies beyond our abilities to perceive and know with our senses. As Gauguin’s Vision After The Sermon (1888) and Van Gogh’s The Sower (1888) are in conversation with each other about these theologies and philosophies, this show creates unique conversations held in tensions when a gaze towards the transcendental and the temporal meet. In this exploration of their works and their reference to sky and land, we can meditate on how something as abstract and as far as the horizon can also, in the suspension of unbelief, be near, intimate, and even immediate. 

— Marcus Clarke & Nathan Rice

Marcus Clarke makes objects and installations charged to be sites of self-inquiry.  Raised with a physicist for a father and with a deep curiosity in theology a la his mother, he has a unique perspective from which to approach the metaphysical and ontological as pathways to embracing the unseen and unknown. Similar to the big Texas sky he was raised under, he describes his work as both pastoral and foreboding and as a means of catharsis.  

Marcus studied Advertising and Architectural History at Pratt Institute and Savannah College of Art and Design–he thinks deeply about media, communication, philosophy, theology, and the built environment. He lives in San Antonio and is an MFA candidate at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  He’s pursued theological coursework at Duke Divinity School, assists in the studio of Matt Kleberg, and is active in education initiatives at the UTSA Southwest School of Art, Laity Lodge, and the Old School Makerspace. He is the current Artist and Curator in Residence at Vesper Austin. 

Nathan R. Rice (b. 1991 San Antonio, Tx) is an artist exploring themes of color theory, abstraction, whimsey, and worship through design, drawing, and painting. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Texas in 2014 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2022. 

As a husband and father, his work engages an ongoing dialogue between faith, family, doodling, nature, accidents, singing, and old paintings.

"I believe in order to understand." - Augustine

Join us for a lecture by Dr. Jonathan Pennington: “Light in the Gospels” on Thursday, January 11th from 7-8pm at Sojourn Midtown. This talk is paired with our exhibit Light in the Dark.

About the exhibit:

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” - John 1:5

On view this coming Advent and Christmas, Light in the Dark will be an art exhibit pulled together from artists’ submissions from around the United States. Contrast between light and dark is a powerful artistic theme seen all throughout history in various media and across cultures, and it is also a deep biblical theme with strong connections to the Christmas story.

Light in the Dark features art by Keith A. Barker, Kyle Benecke, Robert Biesel, Joe Cory, Richard Cummings, Chris Dant, Claire Davey, Lisa Wallace Deen, Cheryl E. Dyer, Mia Eckes, Caroline Greb, Shana Grugan, Brandon Hochhalter, Steven Homestead, brittany anne jarboe jennings, Hannah Johnson, Neal Parker Johnson, David Kasperak, Jennifer Kramer, Cat Mailloux, Sydney Mason, Katie Petry, Samantha Sudbrock, and Lila Youngblood.

You’re invited to the third annual Sojourn Arts’ Christmas party and surprise book swap! We’ll meet at Sojourn Church Midtown in the Connect Room on Monday, December 11th at 7pm for refreshments and fun. Please register here so we know how many snacks to prepare. Registration opens November 1st.

Please enter through the red outside door of the Connect Room. This is located on the right side of the parking lot (or the opposite end of the main glass doors) around the courtyard.

To participate in the surprise book swap, choose a new or used book from any genre that is meaningful to you — it could be your favorite book you read this year, a novel that deeply impacted you, a book of poetry you love, and so on. Then, wrap the book in paper and write a few descriptive words or a sentence about the book on the front. At the party, we’ll play a book swap version of white elephant where you choose a book based solely on the brief description. You do not have to participate in the book swap to attend the party.

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, November 20th at 7pm to discuss The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“The Brothers Karamasov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the ‘wicked and sentimental’ Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons―the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.” — Picador Publishing

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret cultural artifacts thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, January 22, 2024 — Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis.

Join us for the opening night of Light in the Dark on Friday, November 17th. Doors open 7-9pm.

Art by Keith A. Barker, Kyle Benecke, Robert Biesel, Joe Cory, Richard Cummings, Chris Dant, Claire Davey, Lisa Wallace Deen, Cheryl E. Dyer, Mia Eckes, Caroline Greb, Shana Grugan, Brandon Hochhalter, Steven Homestead, brittany anne jarboe jennings, Hannah Johnson, Neal Parker Johnson, David Kasperak, Jennifer Kramer, Cat Mailloux, Sydney Mason, Katie Petry, Samantha Sudbrock, and Lila Youngblood.

“The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” - John 1:5

On view this coming Advent and Christmas, Light in the Dark will be an art exhibit pulled together from artists’ submissions from around the United States. Contrast between light and dark is a powerful artistic theme seen all throughout history in various media and across cultures, and it is also a deep biblical theme with strong connections to the Christmas story.

Learn how to design and print your own Christmas cards using linoleum blocks with Midtown member Tasha Irving on Saturday, November 11th at 10AM at the Meridian Building (1303 S. Shelby St.). Cost is $5, which includes the use of tools, supplies, and 10 folded blank cards (4.25"x5.5"). You can bring your own paper and cards for printing as well, and if you have any printmaking tools, please bring them. We will be using printers ink so wear clothes that can potentially get messy.

Registration is limited to 30 people and closes on Friday, November 10th. Please register here.

AN EVENING OF INSPIRATION AND HOPE, CURATED BY JOHN ONWUCHEKWA.

We Go On Live is an evening designed to help you hold on to hope during times that seem to make it so slippery. The We Go On Tour is designed as a next step toward healing. We’ve learned that sometimes the smallest steps are the most important ones - so, we curated a safe space for you to talk (and laugh) about the uncomfortable, intimidating, and sometimes scary topic: Grief. Our time together will be filled with coffee, live music, film, and conversation. Come experience a sense of both anticipation and freedom and leave with a wealth of hope. 

Tragedy doesn’t ruin us. Hopelessness does.  Join us for an evening full of hope.

Get tickets here.

Join us for an artist talk and reception with Alex O’Nan and Parker Bolin on Friday, October 13th at 7:30pm, doors open 7-9pm.

Death, Like a Door is a collaboration, but it is also a documentation of two unique perspectives that explore different worlds of change. It chronicles the passage of time in a way that is both personal and ineffable. The subjects and places shown are extensions of the artists’ lives, beliefs, and daily routines.

Parker Bolin is a designer and multidisciplinary artist living in Louisville, Kentucky. Although his art-making practice has encompassed photography in the context of print-making and digital media, he recently began photographing with the intent of seeing and creating more holistically. He picked up the camera in an effort to stay present and creative in the midst of his life experiences - documenting places and subjects that are closer to home. His photography practice attempts to capture beauty in otherwise mundane objects and environments. See more of his work on Instagram at @parkerbolin.

Alex O’Nan has been making photographs for nearly 30 years. At the age of 13, Alex received a 35mm camera, roll of film and introduction to photography book for Christmas. Since then, Alex has made a habit out of documenting all that catches his attention. From his time at UofL as a photography major, to his nearly 20 year career as a railroad conductor, and now as a property manager who goes on photo walks during his lunch hour, Alex tries to capture in a photograph all the things that catch his attention. See more of his work on Instagram at @wooden.frames.

This exhibit is part of Louisville Photo Biennial.

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, September 18th at 7pm to discuss Godric by Frederick Buechner.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

Frederick Buechner's Godric "retells the life of Godric of Finchale, a twelfth-century English holy man whose projects late in life included that of purifying his moral ambition of pride...Sin, spiritual yearning, rebirth, fierce asceticism—these hagiographic staples aren't easy to revitalize but Frederick Buechner goes at the task with intelligent intensity and a fine readiness to invent what history doesn't supply. He contrives a style of speech for his narrator—Godric himself--that's brisk and tough-sinewed...He avoids metaphysical fiddle, embedding his narrative in domestic reality--familiar affection, responsibilities, disasters...All on his own, Mr. Buechner has managed to reinvent projects of self-purification and of faith as piquant matter for contemporary fiction [in a book] notable for literary finish...Frederick Buechner is a very good writer indeed." — Benjamin DeMott, The New York Times Book Review

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret cultural artifacts thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, November 20th - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

In this workshop, Midtown member Tasha Irving will teach us two different methods of hand building with clay: pinch pots and slab building. We will also learn how to wedge and join clay together.

This is a two-part class, as the clay needs to dry out before we glaze it: please make sure you are able to attend both dates.

We will meet on the 2nd floor of the Meridian Building on Saturday, September 16th at 10AM for the first class. The second class will meet on Saturday, October 21st at 10AM.

The cost is $12, which includes cost of supplies and the use of tools. When you register, you will submit payment for the class.

Registration is limited to 30 people and closes on Thursday, September 14th. Please register here.

Join us for an artist talk with Asher Imtiaz on Friday, July 28th at 7:30pm. Doors are open from 7-9pm.

About the exhibit:

All of us need to know where to stand. 

For a photographer, where you stand makes all the difference. The infinite number of places to stand yields an infinite number of perspectives. Even the small distance between your left and right eye gives you two different perspectives. For a photographer, moving slightly left or slightly right, a little forward or back, makes a different picture. The composition changes. Some things come into view and some things disappear depending on where one stands.  

Asher Imtiaz has often chosen to stand among immigrants and refugees, meeting them with kindness and attention. Some of the people in these pictures have needed to flee war or famine. Some have sought new geographies for better opportunities for themselves or their children. We all make choices about where to stand geographically.

And we all need to know where to stand convictionally. When confronted with differing viewpoints, doubt, or conflict, how do we know where to stand politically, socially, or theologically? Many feel this has been especially difficult in recent years. Knowing where to stand isn’t a simple matter. 

It’s not a simple matter and it’s also not static. Along with the need to know where to stand is the equally important need to know when to move on. In Asher’s photographs, we witness his ability to flexibly move into new spaces. Originally from Pakistan, Asher began photographing religious minority groups there. This included his own community of Christians living in a majority-Muslim country. Since moving to the United States in 2012 for graduate studies, his photographs have focused on immigrants, but more recently, he’s also found his photographic subjects expanding again to include a broader look at America, documenting life here in both heightened moments such as the streets of Minneapolis after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, as well as in the daily routines of subway rides in New York City or life on the Navajo reservation, for example. The ability to graciously enter other people’s spaces and see them as they are is an admirable skill. 

Wherever Asher finds himself, he’s drawn to people. Humanity is his true subject. My awareness that Asher is a Christian leads me to wonder how much his faith impacts the way he sees and photographs. Asher’s vision seems to align with Jesus’ way of seeing. The gospels frequently note Jesus seeing people. When approaching the city of Jerusalem, “He saw the city and wept over it.” He sees the crowds, too, but most of the notes about Jesus seeing in the gospels are closer up and intimate. He sees a blind man lying on the ground. He sees the woman at the well. He sees Nathanael under the fig tree. While he’s on the cross he sees his mother. In all these instances and more, Jesus’ vision is characterized by compassion (Matthew 9:36) and that’s the same spirit that comes through in these photographs. 

Through the magic trick of photography we are able to stand where Asher stood and see what he saw. Our way of seeing overlaps with his way of seeing and our imaginations may expand a little to include this new way of looking. 

See more of Asher’s work at asherimtiaz.com. Interested in purchasing a print? Contact asherimtiaz@gmail.com. 

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, July 17th at 7pm to discuss The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Content warning: this book contains content that may be triggering to readers.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.” — Ballantine Books

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret cultural artifacts thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, September 18th - Godric by Frederick Buechner

• Monday, November 20th - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

A one-part clay class for kids and parents taught by Midtown member Tasha Irving! Kids will learn how to make pinch pots and underglaze their pottery. We will meet at 10am at the Meridian Building (1303 S. Shelby St.) on Saturday, June 10th. Please wear clothes that can get messy. Registration is $6 per person and covers the cost of supplies. Registration extended to June 8th.

Register here.

Understanding the Soul through the Arts

Our sorrows can be experienced, processed, and transformed by lament, an ancient form of expressive therapy abundant in the Bible. The arts provide ways to express lament that others can hear, see, touch, and be touched by. Join the Christian Psychology Institute for an evening of song, visual art, poetry, music, and story-telling on Friday, June 9th at 7pm at Sojourn East.

Register here for $10.

Faith in Fiction will meet on Monday, May 15th at 7pm to discuss Remembering by Wendell Berry.

Location - 803 Cattleya Ct. Louisville, KY 40207

“After losing his hand in an accident, Andy Catlett confronts an agronomist whose surreal vision can see only industrial farming. This vision is powerfully contrasted with that of modest Amish farmers content to live outside the pressures brought by capitalist postindustrial progress, and by working the land to keep away the three great evils of boredom, vice, and need.

As Andy’s perspective filters through his anger over his loss and the harsh city of San Francisco surrounding him, he begins to remember: the people and places that wait 2,000 miles away in his Kentucky home, the comfort he knew as a farmer, and his symbiotic relationship to the soil. Andy laments the modern shift away from the love of the land, even as he begins to accept his own changed relationship to the world. Wendell Berry’s continued fascination with the power of memory continues in this treasured novel set in 1976.” — Counterpoint Publishing

Our book discussions aim to equip each member to read and interpret cultural artifacts thoughtfully from a Christian perspective, and to learn to discuss challenging content graciously.

Mark your calendar for upcoming books:

• Monday, July 17th - The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

• Monday, September 18th - Godric by Frederick Buechner

• Monday, November 20th - The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky