February Ya’ll

Hey ya’ll. I’m getting used to Texan speak and “ya’ll” is a pretty common descriptor. So enjoy. I finally feel like I’m at a place where I can take a little breather so I thought I’d post some pics and play a little catch up.

Above is a pic of me painting at a Haiti benefit concert with Derek Webb at Taft St Coffee.  A really great non-profit in town called I Am Change put on the show and I offered my services to the whole event. It was great working with Derek again and the paintings raised some good money for a good cause.

Give Hope for Haiti Benefit Concert -http://dejiosinulu.com/blog/?p=229

URBANA09

Let’s back up a bit and talk about Urbana09.

At the end of December I worked with WorldVision ACT:S in producing an interactive art station that dealt with creative advocacy. Everyday, attendees had the opportunity to be a part of creating an art piece that corresponded with the themes of that day and also in response to what they had witnessed as they went through WorldVision ACT:S booth. It was an awesome time. The art pieces turned out great.  And I met some fantastic people. I’m working on a video currently and will have that posted in due time…..

Live Paintings at Youth Conferences…..

I did a couple gigs with students in Tennessee and West Texas. Here’s some images from that…..

Artist in Residency – Ecclesia Church

I’ve started a blog about my artist in residency at Ecclesia Church. I’m pretty sure i’m the only one in the nation with this job… so i decided to keep tabs on what’s going on. i’m updating everything i do there as an artist – all the stuff i’m making, what’s going on creatively, etc…..

If you’d like to follow it, you can go to http://createvisualculture.wordpress.com or click below on the different links to receive emails or updates on facebook

click here for email subscription

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Saints of LOST Opening At Xnihilo Gallery, Houston, TX

Even though the show was up for two weeks, we still had an opening for the Saints of LOST show in Xnihilo Gallery at Taft on the 30th. We decided this night cause the season premiere of season 6 of LOST is on tuesday…. so we wanted to build on the hype as much as we could. In order to sweeten the pot a little bit, i decided to make a new painting for the show. This one is about Charlie… and it turned out awesome. A better picture will be uploaded sometime…. but here it is….

It’s 5ftx4ft, acrylic on canvas. the title is still undecided.

It was a great night. We had a lot of people show up. It was pretty steady for 3 hours…. and i found myself talking to people non-stop throughout the evening. That’s about it. Go lost!

okay… this post is long enough. lots still coming up. i’ll try to post more often.

make space for art

scott

End of An Exciting Year…..

Well “HO HO HO” and “God bless us” everyone. It’s Christmas and a good time to just check in and update the Transpire site. In November, I finished the last of three National Youth Worker Conventions where I was the artist in residence during all the main sessions, and hosted the ArtDen – a creative space for youth workers to create and get ideas for their groups back home.  I had a great time as always and created some good work. Here’s some examples….

Saints of LOST Poster

My friend Chris Seay’s book The Gospel According to LOST is soon to be on the shelves at a bookstore near you. Most of you have been watching the process of me creating Saint images of each of the LOST cast mentioned in the book.  So just in time for the holidays, I have created a poster with all the images that is available for purchase through my online store.

The Saints of LOST | 18″x24″ | $10.00 plus shipping

DCLA09 Video

Here’s a little video I made about my time at this summer’s DCLA youth conference

There’s the update. I’ll have more things to come at the beginning of the year.

Make space for art

SCOTT

October Photo Update

Hey. Not a lot to say.  Staying busy here in Houston as the artist in residence at Ecclesia Church.  There will be more about that later.  Just thought I’d post some pictures of events I’ve done lately.  These are images from DCLA this summer and the National Youth Worker Convention in LA last month.  All images are on 3×4ft panels and were created in under and hour.

September [Life] Sessions

(with Late Tuesday at the Triple Door in Seattle)

Before I left Seattle for my new home in Houston, I got a chance to paint with my favorite rocker ladies from Late Tuesday at their reunion concert at the Triple Door.  It was a great night and I had so much fun seeing old friends and singing along to all their great songs.  If you didn’t know, LT was the first band I ever created with…. about ten years ago with chalk no less!  Crazy where life takes you.

So… a couple things.

John Locke - Patron Saint of the Fatherless

One… the LOST Saint Paintings are done.  These are 12 illustrations for an upcoming book by Chris Seay called The Gospel According To LOST, published by Thomas Nelson.  They were a blast to work on and you can preview them all by clicking here.

Sawyer - Patron Saint of Kind Hearted Con Men

Hurley - Patron Saint of Blessed Losers

Kate - Patron Saint of Beautiful Killers

Two… So I’m down here in Houston now.  I took a job with Ecclesia Church being there artist in residence which is pretty cool and actually a really good spot for where I’m at.  For me, being an artist and being someone who loves Jesus and is a part of His church, I’ve been wondering a long time how visual artists fit in the life of a community centered around Jesus.  Hundreds of years ago, whether good or bad, the church hired artists to make some of the best artwork ever made in some of the greatest places of worship.  Now though, it seems like the only thing you can do as a visual artist is help design logos or paint the nursery noah’s ark.  There’s gotta be something more.  And Ecclesia has invited me to come and live that out for awhile and see what happens.

(image of painting from my first Sunday with Ecclesia)

One of the first things I was asked to do was to write out my own job description.  I spent a lot of time thinking this through, and I share it now with you:

————————————————————————————-

ECCLESIA CHURCH

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE | SCOTT ERICKSON

JOB DESCRIPTION

CREATE | INDIVIDUAL

The invitation to come and be a part of Ecclesia was to come and do what you do.  First and foremost, what I do is create.  My role in a community/body of Christ is that of a storyteller and creator.  I will work diligently to be obedient to my calling in the work that I do with the Ecclesia community, and as well as I what I know I am supposed to do as an artist.

VISUAL CULTURE | CHURCH

Creating comes out of story and experience.  In this job, the stories and experiences I encounter will be in the context of the Ecclesia community.  I hope to lead in the visual interpretations of the journey this community experiences with Christ through:

-visual worship during our communal gatherings

-furthering visual storytelling and remembrance

-corporate art

-public art

-design assistance

GIVE VALUE | COMMUNITY

As a body, we make up different parts and have different giftings.  Often in our culture, those who have been given the gift in the creative arts feel as though their abilities are of lesser value compared with others.  This is just not true.  Part of my work will be to:

-encourage the artists in the Ecclesia community

-pursue missional partnerships involving the arts

-build relationships with local artists.

————————————————————————————-

For the next few months I’ll be at all the Youth Specialties National Youth Worker Conventions in LA, Cincinnati, and Atlanta. Maybe see some of you there.

cheers

scott