“Now those altars in the wilderness tell the story of His faithfulness.” (Phil Wickham, “This is our God”)
The art of a songwriter is to capture a world in a line, to allude to so much in few words. It’s a skill I admire but don’t possess. This song means so much to me, but I return each time to this line. The Old Testament stories come alive again; I remember all those altars, apparently piles of stones, but places that marked people’s encounters with God. From there, I remember my own altars and look with awe on the things God has done.
Each community art project is, for me, far more than a piece of art. It’s the story of God’s whispers to me and of His provision. It’s the story of what God can do when He gifts people with talents. I have my own list of Bezalels and Oholiabs: Ruth Waterworth, Lydia Caprani, Rebecca Dye, Anita Heatherglen, Pete Davies, Julia Williams, Jayde Bell. I have so many people who bless me with their talents, who have taken my dreams and breathed life into them.
But each art project is ultimately also the story of God’s faithfulness. I pray one day when people ask why there are photo boards and colourful shutters and murals and sun bears and elephants and mosaics in Goldthorpe, this testimony will remain. God cares about our community and creative people reflected that.
The community art project in 2024 is to create beautiful works of art on shop shutters in Goldthorpe. Here is artist Jayde Marie Bell working on the first shop in the project, ‘Millennium Cutters’.
