INTERVIEW WITH MEGHAN WILLIAMS OF DYED4YOUART.COM

 

Wake Up, Dyed4YouArt

Great picture, isn't it? I discovered the work of Meghan Williams on Dyed4YouArt years ago, and I'm please to share the below interview.

JR: One bad habit I have is I include two or more questions as a single question, and I'm falling into that habit now. How did you become a Christian, how did you get into art, and when did you start your ministry of blending your art with your faith?

MW: Well I appreciate the clarity the extra questions add, so no worries! I first began digital imaging back in the early 1990s when I was in college and Photoshop was on version 1.2 and didn’t allow layers yet. For those who have never done any digital photo manipulation, basically what that means is if you cut something out from one picture to put into another picture you couldn’t move it or change it once it was placed. Basically get it right the first time, which is extremely challenging especially with how rudimentary the tools were then. This meant early efforts were nowhere near the incredibly photorealistic ones we get today, though we were excited by the technology at the time nonetheless.

My first job out of college was as a digital imager, so I spent many years pre-salvation creating digital art. (I got saved when I was 25.) I first began creating prophetic art though in 2009. At that time, my husband and I were part of monthly prayer meetings with James Nesbit, who is a powerful prophetic artist. He is a wonderful father in the faith and always has a mind to help those around him grow into their calling. At that time, I was about 2 years into Dyed4you, which is the ministry God birthed through me creating prophetic silks (both wearable and as worship flags). When James found out I used to do digital imaging for a living, he came and lay hands on me to pray for God to stir up that gifting to use for His glory.

Several months later I created my first piece called Stairway to Revelation
(https://dyed4youart.com/2009/11/stairway-to-revelation/). My early pieces always included an image of one of my silks, and the prophetic download that goes with the silk is typically connected to the download that goes with the art. This was how the prophetic art portion of the ministry became called Dyed4you Art.
 

Over the years the ministry has grown, and included in that is an amazing team of volunteers who support the ministry in prayer and also share prophetic downloads and insight as the Lord leads. Those pieces are then included with the silks and art pieces. The format for how we do that has evolved over the years, but at this point we have a rich collection of downloads much of which can be found at Dyed4youMinistries.com. (People are able to subscribe to receive the downloads via email.)

JR: I am blessed by your art, and my favorite is titled "Whisper His Name." What was that piece's inspiration? Have you received feedback from it?

MW: Ah yes, that piece is what I call a “crowd favorite.” I think it tends to resonate with people because many of us have had that feeling where we are just worn out, done in, and all we can do is just whisper His name and trust God’s got us. The inspiration for that piece came from the original picture of my friend (who also happens to be part of the Dyed4you Ministry Team) as she sat covered in a beaded veil.

Let me back up and say that I primarily use pictures of people I know and have photographed in the art I create. There’s a variety of reasons for that, including that this has helped me to align the anointing of the person in an image with the anointing of the art piece. For example my ministry partner, Larisa, carries a heavy warfare anointing. So many of the Dyed4you Art pieces I’ve created that use a picture of her have that fierce feel to them (e.g. “Empowered by Love” and “Thundering Vanquisher”).

So with “Whisper His Name,” I was conscious of the trials my friend was walking through and the expression was definitely captured in the original image and then highlighted in the final art piece, which again is why I feel like it’s resonated with so many people. 

As to which is my favorite, it shifts over the years. I enjoy the fact that I can appreciate Dyed4you Art on multiple levels - as an artist, as a contributor to the prophetic download that goes with each piece, and as a recipient. (And of course, I enjoy appreciating them in connection with all the testimonies too.) 

Several years back we began offering Prophetic “Portraits” (https://www.etsy.com/listing/515237228), which essentially means I create a new piece (without input from the recipient) based on whatever download God gives me and/or the Dyed4you Team. Prophetic “Portraits” are a great way for someone to receive a download without any of their personal biases or focuses.

Let me pause briefly to explain what I mean because I’m passionate about helping people understand the prophetic (i.e. hearing God) and understanding how they flow in it. People can receive a prophetic word from us at anytime simply by allowing God to highlight one of the Dyed4you Art pieces to them and then going to read the word or allowing Him to simply speak to them through it. As we like to say, we give a portion of a conversation with God, not a conversation in its entirety. So the hope is that each person will continue that conversation with God personally.  

However, often people don’t trust themselves to pick or find they’re drawn based on biased (e.g. favorite color, person in the image resonates with them for a specific reason or the opposite may be true), so the Prophetic “Portrait” is a great way to bypass all that since it doesn’t allow for the person ordering it to give input. So if they want to have art created connected to a specific scripture or vision, we can do that, but it’s considered commissioned art which is different.

The beauty of the Prophetic “Portrait” is the complete release of control. You have to trust the process completely and trust God to move through it. I actually share my experience of going through this process with another prophetic artist on my personal blog.

So back to the original question, often the Prophetic “Portraits” will end up being timely words for me too. So two of my current favorites are “Accepted and Loved"

(above, left) and the yet unreleased “Soaking in the Waters of Life” (below left), both of which I have framed and hanging on my wall and both of which began as Prophetic “Portraits.” Though in fairness I have just over 30 Dyed4you Art pieces hanging in my home I believe, not to mention quite a few from other artists. Suffice it to say I’ve had to get creative with how I hang things LOL!

JR: Any of your art memorable? Maybe by how it was inspired. Maybe by being a struggle to complete. Which are the ones that affected you the most?

MW: LOL well you have to remember these are my babies, so that’s like asking a parent if their child is memorable. To me each one has a story, and there’s no repeating pattern in how they’re made. Sometimes I’ll have a vision or see something that sparks an idea, sometimes one of the Dyed4you team members will get something that kicks one off, sometimes something that happens in a church service or prayer meeting can stir an idea - it literally could be anything.

That said, a few of the other crowd favorites stand out. The first two are Lion of Judah images and they also happen to be popular art flag styles.  As a side note, the art flags are what brought the Dyed4you Art portion of the ministry into the black. The first eight years I was creating prophetic art, I would spend hundreds of hours creating and images would get shared all over online, but I could probably count on my fingers how many prints I’d sell in a year. First and foremost my heart for Dyed4you Ministries is that it is in fact a ministry, so I had to choose to keep blessing the Body of Christ with what Papa put on my heart and trust that He’d cover me. And He has. But it also was a true joy to find a product that the community would find worth investing in. So the flagging community supports the creation of Dyed4you Art, and the top two favorite art flags are our Lion of Judah flag and our Jealous God flag.

Our Lion of Judah flag is based on our Dyed4you Art piece “Listen to the Sound,”  which was inspired by Misty Edwards’ song “People Get Ready.” There’s a line that says, “I can hear the rhythm of the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” and I started seeing a sound wave (which actually made it into the art piece). The other top favorite art flag is Jealous God, which is based on our Dyed4you Art piece “No Other Gods." That one is inspired by the name of God “El Qanna,” which means Jealous God. It comes out of Exodus 34 which is the scripture that is visible overlaying the lions face in the art piece. A customer just posted a breathtaking video using a pair of these on YouTube https://youtu.be/w09fLSqkNGg - it really gives the art a whole new layer of prophetic download and release when you see it in motion.

The final piece that really needs to be mentioned is Into the King’s Chambers. This piece pictures the bride ascending a flight of stairs with the Lion of Judah awaiting her at the top. The image was inspired by a conversation I had with a Dyed4you customer. She was planning a conference by the same name and shared the theme with me. The imagery came to me as she was speaking. As it turned out the conference wasn’t able to go forward, but the art piece inspired by it has born a lot of fruit. I feel like that whole experience is a beautiful example of how God’s plans aren’t always our plans, but they’re always good! I actually had the opportunity to catch up the the customer earlier this year and share about how many people have specifically been blessed by my visualization of the vision God had given her. She was deeply blessed - because I’m sure most of us know what it feels like to *think* God is taking us one way only to have Him redirect us and we’re like “what just happened there?!” LOL! So it’s nice to be able to bring that fruit back and share it.

JR: There's a book out called Facing Snarls and Scowls: Preaching Through Hostility, Apathy, and Affliction. I'm sure you face that from the church as well as attacks from the world as well. What strengthens you to continue to persevere?

MW: Happily, on the whole we haven’t dealt with a lot of attacks. The ones we’ve had have been exclusively from within the church though, which has definitely been disheartening. When those moments come I always try to step out of my personal feelings and remember God is sovereign. So I just ask why He’s allowing the situation to occur. This typically allows for a peaceful resolution, or at worst we simply choose to part ways.

JR: Thank you for your time. What projects are you currently working on? How can the readers keep up with your ministry?

MW: Thank you for inviting me to join you! At any given time I always have portions of downloads started or images partially worked on. Over the years I’ve learned to be patient. I’m intentional to not get out in front of God. So I work on something until I can feel resistance, which tells me there isn’t anointing there for it yet. So I back off and wait. Sometimes things will sit for years before being completed, sometimes things get birthed end-to-end in one day - but I just try to stay in step with where I feel the anointing - as I’m sure we all strive to do!

For people who enjoy the artwork, following Dyed4you Art on FB is a great way to keep up. You can also find any new art pieces in our gallery at Dyed4youArt.com (or if there’s a piece you enjoy and you’d like to see the download that goes with it, you can find them via the alphabetized list too [http://dyed4youart.com/art/]). The Dyed4youMinistries.com blog as well as my personal blog MeghanW.com both can be subscribed to via email as well.

Thank you again so much for this opportunity. It’s been wonderful even taking the time to pause and remember. Hopefully others will be blessed by the journey.

Hidden Danger Of Arts Revisited

 

Allegory of Painting, Gerard van Honthorst

 Two days ago, I shared a post about one of my heroes leaving one ministry for another. If there was much press about that, it's been eclipsed by Kevin Max, formerly of DC Talk, saying he's now an Exvangelical. If it was just him, that would be one thing, but he's not alone.

This reminded me of a paper I read thirty years ago by my friend Robert Roberg, titled "The Hidden Danger of Art." Roberg, who himself is a singer/songwriter, a visual artist, and a former church planter,  introduced one danger in art before telling a hypothetical story illustrating other dangers. 

I do have some comments about Mr. Max and the state of today's Christianity, but I would at first like to bring up Mr. Roberg's initial critique and add other things that can be a danger of an artist, be it musicians as in Roberg's story or actors/actresses or novelists or visual artists.

The first point Roberg made was the focus of self promoting that is involved in art. I'll admit that I do that with this blog, because I feel it might reach twice as many readers if I do (meaning there will be four regular readers instead of two). True, this is a job that many artists whole heartedly despise. There may not be the ego with these creatives. But it can also lead to a mentality that our success as a musician is up to us, not to God.

Another danger is contained in Proverbs 18:2: "A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart." Art can be an effective form of communication - after all, a picture (or a symphony) is worth a thousand words - but a lot of times it is self expression, emphasizing not what's on God's heart but what's on ours.

Also, art is by nature sensual.  I don't mean that in a negative sense (pun unintentional), but as an objective fact. Paintings draw one's eyes. Music catches the ear. Acting does both. You could say that novelists are an exception, except the best writers are good at making you feel, see, hear, and even taste and smell the setting. Thus, there is a danger of the artist moving from appealing to the senses to being sensual (in the negative sense).

An artist can also forget what is inspiration and what is Inspiration. I've known one musician who arranged Romans 8:1 to music and says it needs to be heard because he wrote it. No, who set the music doesn't matter. Another songwriter claims innocently that it's not him who writes his songs but God. No, my friend used his talents and wrote in his style. 

I love hanging around Christian artists and musicians, and for that matter pastors and missionaries (all my rowdy friends are preachers). For me, sharing their faith is a blessing. But even for me, it can be a danger, because I could start hanging around and listening to and viewing artists that don't have my worldview. "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray." (Prov. 12:26)

Now, one may ask if being an artist more susceptible to falling away from the faith. I know of two people I admired (one musician, one author) who went from being outspoken Evangelicals to taking a more ritualistic approach to faith to becoming atheists. As mentioned above, it's not rare for artists to become "Progressive."

But let me seem to digress. Nobody really considers news to be art. And many complain of all the crime in the news. One person commented, though, that crime is the exception. There are more people helping others than killing others. The helping is so commonplace, it's not newsworthy. The killing is not as normal, so it's news. Likewise, you're going to hear of the few who are turning from their faith while the many that stay faithful are seemingly (and possibly actually) ignored.

Kevin Max has become progressive and left the evangelical scene. Any indication his former bandmates Michael Tait - who became lead singer for the Newsboys - and Toby Mac doing the same? I haven't heard a peep. Likewise, while Max has moved toward Progressive Christianity, former Zoe Girl Alisa Childers used the lure of Progressive Christianity to strengthen her faith, which you can read in her book "Another Gospel."

So what can we take away from this? First, we need to do as Peter says and make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10). Second, we can look for those who are standing firm and encouraging them in the faith. 

Is there an artist you know that you can encourage?

INTERVIEW WITH VISUAL ARTIST/CHURCH PLANTER KERRY JACKSON

Title: Everyone loves a rose, but are you grateful the the thorns?" 

Besides being a novelist, I have written a whole batch of songs in the past. My favorite classes in high school were Creative Writing and Art. I attended Yavapai College Verde Valley Campus my first year out of high school and took classes including Ceramics (2 semesters), Art Theory and Design, Drawing, Stained Glass, Photography, Creative Writing, and a Poetry Workshop. (I also took English, Economics, and Literature of the Bible.)

Did anybody know I'm an artist?

Thus, it excited me when I attended the Indiana Southern Baptist Convention several years ago and looked at the board promoting church planters. I got excited when I noticed a card for a couple that was working specifically with artists. Becky and I were able to get to know Kerry and Twyla Jackson as a result.

Kerry has a ministry called Drawing On The Rock, which he describes in the below interview. He was at Arlington Avenue Baptist Church and did the below picture (pardon the reflection of the lights and window. I've included a link to a video of that ministry at the bottom of this blog.

 

JR: Greetings, Kerry. Let me start with asking how you got interested in the arts. Are there any favorite painters who were an inspiration?

KJ: Hi Jeff, thank you for the opportunity to share a little about myself and my ministry. I honestly can’t remember exactly how my interest in art began. I’m old and it’s been a very long time! However, it may have all begun with my childhood interest in comic books. I was fascinated by them and would try to draw and replicate the storyboards. I was always drawing as a child. I find it ironic that when I was sitting in church as a young boy and drawing on the bulletins, my mom would lightly slap my hand and tell me to pay attention. Little did she know that years later I would be drawing and painting in churches and getting paid to do it!

Besides being influenced by comic books, or graphic novels as they are called today, the artists of Mad Magazine influenced me a ton! As I got older, I can say that Michelangelo, Andrew Wyeth, and Norman Rockwell influenced my style and subject matter choices.

JR: Could you tell us about your ministry Drawing To The Rock?

KJ: Drawing to the Rock is a ministry God blessed me with over 30 years ago. It involves the creation of art with a spiritual message or a testimony of my faith journey. It also involves traveling around the world leading in what I call “visual worship.” I bring a creative element to church worship services. I create a large piece of art in front of the congregation while music is played. I also take my ministry to Christian schools and outdoor evangelistic events. I’ve even done a few corporate events.

JR: You have done church planting with the focus on the artist community. Here in Indianapolis, the church met in the Art Bank (a gallery) and Indy Fringe Theater (which sounds like the type of place people typically plant churches). What doors has your artistic ability had on outreach ministry? 

KJ: Yes, for eleven years I was involved in church planting among Cultural Creatives in Atlanta, GA and Indianapolis, IN. I can honestly say that church planting is the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish. Yet, God in His power, did some amazing things in the lives of our little congregations. We saw lives changed and artists from all kinds of creative disciplines come to the understanding of how their art and their faith connect and intertwine.

As a professional visual artist, most other artists I meet first see me as a colleague. Then as our relationship begins to grow, they look past my talent and begin to see who I truly am. They begin to see me as a Christ follower and my role sometimes turns to that of a “chaplain.” Eventually, if God so leads, I become their pastor. My spiritually themed art has always been designed to invoke questions. I can’t tell you how many times my work has led to spiritual conversations. When asked to explain my work and the subject matter, the chance to share my faith and what God has done in my life comes so natural and non-threatening.

JR: What are your current endeavors, both on the ministry side and as an artist?

KJ: Well, the Coronavirus pandemic shut my live performances down completely. All of my remaining 2020 bookings were cancelled after everything locked down last spring. So, I’ve been collaborating with a fellow minister to make some s

hort videos based on some of my pieces and posting them on social media. I call them “Art Devotionals.” I’m just trying to keep my ministry in front of folks. I’ve also been blessed with a few commissions to help bring in some income during this period. I also teach art to high schoolers at a local Christian academy.

JR: Thank you for your time, Kerry. May the Lord Jesus Christ richly bless your ministry.

KJ: Thank you Jeff! I really appreciate your friendship and the way you’ve supported and encouraged me through the years. God bless you and Becky.

 

Again, below is a link to a video for Drawing On The Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9cK3SBhs9s

 What ways have you used art in teaching or defending the faith?