Dear friends,
We are thrilled to celebrate ArtWay’s new website! This is an exciting milestone, one that ensures that our work and mission continue to flourish.
John Ruskin wrote, “The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.” This is simultaneously a grand and humble call – not only for artists, but for all of us. And I think it captures well our vision at ArtWay. We want to cultivate, through a patient attention to art, the ability to see, and to tell of whatever truth and beauty is there in a way that is accessible to our readers. Our new website reflects this. The design is purposefully simple to keep the art central and the reading experience distraction-free.
In an article recently published on ArtWay, Ben Quash (Professor of Christianity and the Arts at King’s College) is quoted discussing the importance of initiatives in theology and art for promoting a richer engagement with the artistic heritage of Western culture:
"You can look at these [art] works and buildings as part of the story of art but they’re also part of the story of faith and if you’re not interested in that story, you’re only getting part of the picture."
For the past 16 years, ArtWay has been telling the story of art and faith together, presenting the “whole picture.” But ours is not merely a project that looks back at the art of the past and at Christian history. The story of art and the Christian story are unfolding around us every day. ArtWay bears witness to how the stories of art and Christianity interact and illuminate (and yes, stand in tension with) one another today. Furthermore, our concern is not limited to Western culture. We celebrate “art without borders,” fostering an interest in art from around the world. This is something that ArtWay has done well over the years, and which we will continue to do.
How can art help us understand the cultural and spiritual undercurrents of our time? How does art inspire us, expand our imaginations, and shape us to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness? How does the Bible inform how we understand art? What is the role of the aesthetic sphere in the life of faith? These are the questions we want to keep exploring with energy and rigour. Our new website provides the tools to do this more effectively.
Over the past month-and-a-half, during which we moved over to the new website, we temporarily halted some of our publishing activities. From this week onwards, we will resume our usual publishing schedule, and will increase our presence across social media channels (focusing on Instagram).
Alongside our articles and visual meditations, ArtWay offers resources for churches, and our new site helps to make these more accessible. On ArtWay you will find:
- Resources for the church calendar
- Art and the Bible
- Art and Scripture meditations (for Bible study groups)
Another important aspect of our work is building a network of practising artists who engage with themes of faith, as well as a global network of authors writing about the arts from a Christian perspective. On our new site, each author and artist featured on ArtWay has their own page with biographical information and all the articles published about their work or written by them. We are grateful to each author who has contributed to ArtWay, and we hope that the new website will in turn serve them in their own endeavours.
I want to thank you for your support, without which we would not have been able to reach this milestone, and I hope that what we do will help us all “to see something, and tell what [we] saw in a plain way.”
Otto Bam
Editor
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This project would have been impossible without the generous, voluntary help of friends and family.
In particular I want to acknowledge:
- Andrew Cloete, software engineer from South Africa and dear friend of mine, who has volunteered countless hours to help us transfer ArtWay’s library.
- Erich & Helena Bam, my parents, who spent multiple evenings last year combing through a spreadsheet to check that the article titles, authors, dates, etc. were correctly transferred.
- Marleen & Albert Hengelaar, who have persevered in their labour of love and have showed much patience during this transition.
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A message from Laurel Gasque, associate editor of ArtWay
"To remain the same is it necessary to change? Change can frighten, but it can be a golden opportunity to flourish for further development and enhancement of vision. ArtWay under the founding visionary leadership of Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker and now the far-sighted imagination of Otto Bam is perfectly poised to change in order for ArtWay to remain the same! And grow a whole new crop of subscribers to join its already loyal followers!"
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