I got asked to participate in the Catalyst Conference this fall in Atlanta, GA.

Catalyst is a church leader training conference that brings together a lot of big speakers, bands, spectacles, and just an all around good time. It draws about 13000 church leaders from all over North America. I painted at the Atlanta conference last year, and Catalyst Dallas in June, and guessing that I didn’t suck at those they asked me back again this fall.

I would like to say that the live painting involvement is a very tiny thing that goes on during the event… even almost never seen. Myself and fellow artist Blaine Watson were on the floor just left of the band stage. They had us paint during a few worship music sets and our paintings were placed outside one morning for people to see as they entered. Here’s a few paintings I made in about 15 minute increments:

To be honest, I’m not sure why they have us do what we do where most of it is not seen by the attenders at all, but my guess is that they want this involved somehow cause they believe it’s important… they’re just not quite sure how it fits production wise in a large venue where speakers/bands/spectacle makes the most sense. I’m just not sure if live painting is in the culture where most of the producers of this event come from.

But I’m glad I get asked to do it. I’ve come to love the Catalyst family… and the people I get to work with are all all-stars. I’m thankful for the chance to get to participate and I had a great time.

So the theme of Catalyst this year was BE PRESENT.

One of the things they wanted us artists to do was to be outside Friday as people were coming in (all 13000) and to be creating in an area. There was no real direction in that decision… just for us to be out there doing it when people come in. The event starts fairly early so I wanted to do something devotional in nature. And cause the theme is Be Present, I had the thought that you can’t be present unless you’re being honest. So I decided to make some pieces about honesty.

Christian conferences are a strange beast. On one hand, they exist to uplift the common Christ follower to go deeper into their discipleship by Jesus… alot of which the nature of that road is lowly and looks like a servant. On the other hand, people come to events drawn by their favorite speakers or bands, unintentionally creating a religious celebrity culture. What I find intriguing is the dualism between wanting to be a simple obedient disciple and also wanting to rise the ranks of church celebritism. I think this is kind of the elephant in the room. No one really talks about it… but it’s there. It comes up in me, if I’m honest, and I hate that it’s there.

So…. if I had to be honest, this is the stuff I need to confess. So i decided to do a morning confessional piece. On thursday I made 4 large signs about the things I find that come up in my soul when I’m at events like this. I posted all these signs around me as I worked on a central painting about putting these desires to death…. Let It Die… so something better can be resurrected.

A great friend of mine who lives in Atlanta, Jonathan Rich, actually wrote a song inspired by this art piece. Here’s a video of it:

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On September 30th, I got the pleasure to be a part of the Living Water International Gala.

I was asked to host their first time ever simulcast, that had over 1000 people from around the world tuning in. I also co-hosted a bit with Liz Jordan in the main hall at the Hilton Hotel of the Americas…. as well as created a painting during the event.

It was a great pleasure to work with Robbie Seay Band, The Autumn Film, and Bill Hybels who was the keynote during the event.

The painting I made was up for silent auction the next day at LWI’s open house. Upon arriving I found out that 3 bidders were up to $20,000 and they asked if I would be willing to create a few more paintings so that they all could get one. Of course I said I would! So I committed to making 2 more large  ones and one more small one for a total of $65,ooo raised!…. by painting!!!

It’s just awesome to know that I can do something helpful for clean water… even as a painter.

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(painting in the background while Shane and Ben lead us through the program)

So last weekend I headed to Philly and met up with my friend Shane Claiborne for an event called “Jesus, Bombs, and Ice Cream.” The event came about  because of an unlikely friendship between Shane and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. Apparently Ben read Shane’s book Jesus For President and loved it. They eventually became friends and although Shane is a Christian and Ben is an atheist, they found out that they agreed on a great many of things – one especially being they both considered the national budget to be a moral document.

They also both agreed that we can have a different future than the one we are writing for ourselves. Shane explains a better imagination in this story….

me, Shane, and Paul Smith, our production manager

The night involved Shane and Ben and a host of others sharing their experiences about war, suffering, pain, loss, forgiveness…. it was really a night to talk about where we are at….. and then imagine a better future with more peaceful solutions and a better way of spending our nations money.

here’s a video of Ben talking about the nations budget in terms he understands…. oreos.

What I loved about the whole night is that Shane and Ben, although they brought something together that won’t necessarily change the world, they planted in everyone attending (and participating) the idea that things can be different…. that there is a better way to do things. And isn’t a vision for the future something that changes the way we live? When we believe that we can work towards something and that it can be reality, doesn’t that change the way we interact with the world now? It’s up to the people who are making the big decisions to to make those changes… but you know what, they are just people right? They can change their minds, have a view of a different future, and act on those principles (God, we hope so!). It inspired me to think of the things I want to be an advocate for and imagine ways of bringing people along on that journey and implanting a different idea of the future…. a better imagination for our world.

Here’s some more pics….

second painting of the night… turning our “swords into plowshares”…. where we eventually turn our weapons into farming equipment…. making things that take life into things that give life.

first painting of the night. there are real names of american service men who have died in Afghanistan in the background. The bomb is a characiture of weapons actually being dropped in the Iraq and Afghan wars. The painting eludes to the idea of what we do to others effects us as well.

The first painting was given away, and Hope (on left) won it.

Ben and Shane being interviewed by Sarah from CNN. Here's the write up she did......

Practice session with the whole crew.

Shane and Ben reading through their scripts.

Limited Edition Swords Into Plowshares Prints

So I made 30 limited edition prints of my painting “Swords Into Plowshares”. They are prints varnished to wood with individual unique tags on them, and each print has a commemorative write up on the back. Each one is numbered as well. I have a few extra and if you are interested in buying one….

$20 click here!

Click here to purchase a print – $20

Thanks so much to Shane and Ben for inviting me along. Hope we get to work together soon!

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The paintings I made for Derek Webb’s Feedback Project are for sale.

First, I made a commemorative piece that has all the paintings from the project with the text of the Lord’s Prayer below it. This print is available through Society6.com.

Secondly, you can buy one of the original paintings or a print of one of the paintings from Society6. The link to buying a painting or a print appears below the painting.

our father in heaven

buy original painting

buy print

hallowed is your name

buy original painting

buy print

your kingdom come

buy print

your will be done on earth as in heaven

buy print

give us this day our daily bread

buy original painting

buy print

forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

buy original painting

buy print

lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

buy original painting

buy print

for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever

buy original painting

buy print

amen

buy original painting

buy print

thanks everyone. let me know if you have questions: artvoxlive@gmail.com

(*All paintings will be wrapped and shipped by me. the shipping cost is included during paypal checkout)

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Spent the last couple months painting and speaking at different conferences around the nation.Here are some highlights….

CATALYST | DALLAS

Fun to be a part of the whole event. Got to see a lot of old friends… and made some new ones.

Anders and Lecrae

Chris Seay hosted Catalyst. Josh Shephard was at the event with Smilebooth… always a good time.

Me, Propaganda, Anders, Bobby, DJ Promote

Imago Dei,  Portland | Artist Retreat Speaker

Maybe one of the best things I did this summer was hang out with 70 artists from Imago Dei church in Portland, OR. I got to be their speaker for the weekend and it was a great privilege to hang, encourage, and become their friend and fan during the couple days in the beautiful Northwest.

I also got to see my friend Stan Patyrak who has started a Living Water Intl. office up in Portland.

Warm Beach Camp, Washington | Speaker

Got to speak for 5 days at the youth church camp i grew up going to.

My friend and former high school dean, Tony Karlik,  was the evening speaker. One evening I got to paint with his talk… which personally was awesome and amazing.

NYC2011 | Kentucky

Nazarene Youth Conference. Only there for a couple days but had a great time.

Old friends Starfield and new friend Reggie Dabbs.

YOUTH2011 – Purdue/Sacramento

National Youth Convention for the Methodist Church – broken over two separate weeks  with one at Purdue U’s campus in Indiana and the second in downtown Sacramento. Had the best time and worked with great friends.

Got to work with Kristian Stanfill and his band again and had a blast.

friend Fred Lynch

um… it was bound to happen sometime. this picture cracks me up endlessly….

friend Jared Hall is a fan of this one. He’s actually planning on stealing it in this picture.

Zach Hunter, Gracie Schram, Pastor Matoe, and me…

This woman won one of my paintings in a silent auction. She was stoked….

UPCOMING…….

Sept 10 | Jesus, Bombs, & Ice Cream | Philadelphia

Write up: ”Jesus, Bombs, and Ice Cream” is a 90-minute variety show. Activist and best-selling author Shane Claiborne is joining forces with Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. The show will be on the eve of the 10th anniversary of September 11. It will be a multi-media presentation [i will be painting at this] raising questions of violence and militarism, and sharing stories of reconciliation and grace. A variety of testimonials together with visual art, music, and good fun will provoke the audience to imagine a world with fewer bombs and more ice cream.

BUY TICKETS

visit Facebook page

STORE….

My friend Frodo is modeling a shirt of one of my original designs that you can purchase on Society6.com.

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This is a video recalling the Good Friday service I did in April 2011. It was a multi-media meditative art piece depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ while being narrated by the music of Radiohead. Using the Stations of the Cross as my narrative arch, I used a different Radiohead song for each statio as well as a video piece to coincide with it… all the while creating a live painting depicting the crucifix. This video shows the video I made as well as a taping of one of my performances.

Radiohead playlist

Please support the work of Radiohead.

Purchase playlist on itunes – click here

How this came about….

This started about a year before. Anytime I would hear certain Radiohead songs (the ones in this performance) I would have this vision that in some way these songs were telling a story. As the year progressed the visions became more and more clear. By the beginning of January 2011, I could see that these were to be in a depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Being an artist for a number of years now, artmaking comes in a few forms. Sometimes making art is putting together aesthetical pieces to accomplish your envisioned goal. You know what you want to make and you do the hard skillful work of putting that together. But other times, ideas/songs/images come to you and ask you to bring them into reality. So artmaking is really about listening. This is the case with this project. It was a lot of listening. Listening to the Great Muse. This has many names. For me and my own experiences, I believe this voice is from the Almighty and I believe He was asking me to bring this into reality. It was simply follow directions and it was one of the easiest things I’ve ever put together. It’s really hard to explain but everything just fell into place so easily. I knew exactly what songs were suppose to be in there. I knew what order. Gathering the videos took me an afternoon. I could just see it all.

This really hit me when I found myself in Jerusalem for 3 days with some friends on a work/mini-pilgrimage. This idea had been mulling around and I was wrestling through if I should do it or not. Then I realized I was in the actual place where Jesus walked to the cross, died on it, was buried and laid in a tomb. And I had video cameras with me. So some of the footage you see in the video is actually from my trip to Jerusalem.

You obviously lose a lot of the experience of being in the moment where you are hearing the music loudly, watching the video, and see me create the painting in person when you watch this video on-line. But it only happened once at Ecclesia in the city of Houston. So here it is for you too see what it looked like.

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It’s February! and I’m way behind on posting some stuff. The truth is I became a dad in December and that’s been taking up my time like nobody’s business. So here’s a quick update with some pics of things I’ve been doing.

NYWC – Nashville

Always a joy to work with my friends at YS.

Tic Long - a gem of a man

working with Shane Claiborne

at WOW2011 Student Conference

Fun to work with Shane again. Love his heart and hanging out always challenges my faith and life. We had a good time chatting and expect some collaboration later on this year.

Other things….

This is one of my latest paintings that I’m proud of.

Optimus Prime Saves African Orphans

acrylic on canvas

We spend millions of dollars creating heroes that never save the world from anything we really need saving from.
It would be nice if some of those “heroes” could actually help with some real world problems… like the massive growth of orphans in sub-saharan Africa.

Prints available here…..

Upcoming events:

- Tour with Derek Webb coming this spring.

-”The Crucifixion According to Radiohead” – a performance meditation art piece I’ll be doing at Ecclesia Church on Good Friday. If you live in Houston, come on out.

And here’s the new edition…..

Anders Indiana Erickson.

Have a good February!!!!!

Scott

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My friends at WorldVision ACT:S asked me to help modify their “Lives On The Line” program this year. Usually the cards that people take have photos of people who are affected by AIDS. The cards are hung on a campus, church, some kind of public thoroughfare and are to be taken by individuals for prayer & contemplation about their response to the worldwide AIDS pandemic.

This year, instead of having photos, they wanted to have something a little different and they asked me if I could paint portraits of 8 different individuals. Here’s a little video about what that looked like….

Lives On The Line | Making of the Cards from scott erickson on Vimeo.

It was an awesome project and I’m thankful to have been invited to participate in the telling of important stories.

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Derek Webb just released a new album called “Feedback”. This album is an instrumental electronic album based on the Lord’s Prayer…. as you can see above. Derek contacted me a few months ago and talked with me about the project. He said he was a fan of my work and wanted to know if I would be interested in adding a visual element to the project. It didn’t take much persuasion and I accepted the invitation. What you see below is the product of my labors.

The “Making Of” Video

Here’s a video explaining the whole journey….

The Lord’s Prayer

So each one of these paintings coincides with one of Derek’s songs that coincides with a phrase from the Lord’s Prayer. The paintings are meant to be a partnering with the words and the music:

our father in heaven

hallowed is your name

your kingdom come

your will be done on earth as in heaven

give us this day our daily bread

forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever

amen

Thank You….

I’m really proud of these paintings. It was a great invitation by Derek first of all and I’m thankful for the consideration. Secondly it was a great subject matter and I felt deeply blessed to go on the journey of creating these images. In the video above I talk about how creating is about listening and helping to make the art what it wants to be. I can’t prove this to any of you, but the art took me on a journey. It wanted to be something and it was a wrestling match to bring it out… and when it did it blew me away. Really listening to what the images wanted to become in this case was prayer…. and the journey deeply  impacted me.

Thank you Almighty for giving us this prayer. Thank you that prayer is not just a series of words that we say… but it is an opening to your presence, your character, your will, and your love. Thank you that you allow us to connect with you with our words, our music, our creations, our service, and our hearts.

I hope these images partnered with the album allow you to go deeper.

Scott

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Of late I’ve been painting at a few large conferences as the artist in residence. The idea is that art takes time and comes from experiences. So instead of having just an inspirational short art piece, why not have an artist in the mix making art out of everything that is going on. This is a better model for church leaders at least of how the visual arts can be a part of our corporate gatherings. Not just having inspirational 4 minute painting pieces (most art is not created that way), but giving at least an hour or so for the artist to create something.

Up above is a shot from Catalyst, the largest church leader conference in the U.S.

My friend Caitlin Beidler and I were the artists in residence at Catalyst this year. You can see our little art cubby in the stadium over to the left… the yellowishly lit area. We had a great time and got to make art to some really cool presenters: Scott Harrison, Seth Godin, Daniel Pink, Francis Chan, Christine Caine, Andy Stanley… just to name a few.

Here are a few pics of some of the paintings I made there. Remember, these paintings are 3ftx4ft acrylic on canvas and they were all made in less than an hour… in front of 12,000 people.

The other conference I was recently the artist in residence at was the National Youth Workers Convention in San Diego, put on by Youth Specialties.

Man I love the people at YS. The NYWC is a conference that seeks to celebrate the most under-appreciated workers in the church – the youth workers. This 4 day convention is chalked with training seminars, soul care, thought provoking subjects, and just a lot of laughter and good times. I have such a great time and I’m glad I got invited back for a 3rd year. They told me I was even family this year. (sniff sniff).

Above is me painting with Brenton Brown and band… who are great and there will be more about some future collaborations later. Below are some of the images I made throughout the conference.

There is so much more going on that I reveal in the next coming weeks…. projects with Derek Webb, prints for raising money for clean water pumps, etc…..

I’ll get to all that soon. I just wanted to give some photo updates since my last entry was August.

til next time

make more art!

scott

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