soupablog

All 4 in one place at one time...

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re:form confirmation curriculum launches

 In 2009 Augsburg Fortress Publishers launched sparkhouse. This new Minneapolis-based resource design group was formed to “reimagine resources like VBS or Bible study in a way that creates new vitality, change, and relevance in Christian communities.”

This month, sparkhouse launched a new curriculum called re:form – the only confirmation program that offers innovative resources for pastors, youth pastors, volunteer teachers and parents who want to radically empower youth to tackle the powerful ideas of faith and theology. re:form makes confirmation an interactive experience through creative, culturally relevant and provocative videos, illustration, humor, and activities that speak to kids on their level and encourage them to explore and make their own personal discoveries about their faith journey.

Its first edition recently rolled off the presses and into our hot little hands. It features books and videos chock-full of thousands of intricate, hand-drawn illustrations, each rendered in the quirky style of our creative director Paul Soupiset. Those pen and ink illustrations were watercolor painted, scanned, color-adjusted, and fed into a production workflow that simplified our client’s video and print production processes. Several main pieces work together to create the re:form curriculum:

* re:form two-DVD Set — We hand-illustrated forty hilarious animated short videos which frame and begin each lesson, framing the tough theological questions that kids are really asking, like “Who wrote the Bible?” and “Why does God let bad things happen?” The Two-DVD set is rooted in historic Christianity yet speaks to kids in their own voice.
* re:form Anti-Workbook—A hands-on 192-page Anti-Workbook is the centerpiece of each kid’s confirmation experience. It’s a sturdy, full-color, wire-O bound journal chock full of activities and ideas for groups and individuals, with space to journal and doodle, and extras like pullout cards and cool stickers. re:form Leader Guide quickly preps teachers for each lesson and activity.
* re:form Gallery—re:form prompts kids to make videos, take pictures, interview people, and create stuff. Then they can upload all of their artifacts to an online portfolio at the re:form gallery, where they can share with their local congregation what they’ve been learning. re:form empowers youth to discover for themselves what they believe. 

Here's one of 40 videos produced for the first edition:

via blog.toolboxstudios.com

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iPhone DSLR: the next generation (video) -- Engadget

via engadget.com

"Everything you know about awkwardly attaching SLR lenses to iPhones is wrong. This is how you do it. What started out as a quick and less-than-perfect mod of OWLE's Bubo iPhone mount by one Jeremy Salvador (pictured above) has turned into a collaboration between production company Vid-Atlantic and OWLE itself on a more finely tuned, iPhone 4-friendly prototype that delivers some truly impressive results. Sadly, the actual iPhone 4 version of the rig won't be available for a while yet..."

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Retreat: Culture Making out at Laity Lodge

As I mentioned previously, this weekend I witnessed a lot of creativity at a small two-day arts workshop I facilitated at the Cody Center in the context of a larger four-day retreat at Laity Lodge in Leakey, Texas. The edenic surroundings provided a dream venue for any artist — a quiet, contemplative space surrounded by nature.

“The Cody Center opened in the spring of 1999 and ... is equipped for music, film, and dance performances, and includes two gallery wings for exhibits. Also, two outlying art studios remain fully stocked for all types of visual artistic workshops in two- and three-dimensional form.”

In the process, I found some new friends — many from other states, though quite a few live just up the road from me. Somewhere in between eating amazing food and making art and lying in hammocks, we listened to Andy Crouch and D. Michael Lindsay speak about culture, power, privilege and their implications within the Christian gospel. We hung on every note from talented musicians Sara Groves and Melody Olson.

I learned a little about birding from Mike Lundy, nabbed two new books to read, and did some much-needed soul-searching. I’m still unpacking the spiritual lessons from the weekend, and will certainly carry them in my hands all the way to Colorado next week.

And some constants revisited me: I was reminded that people surprise me. I was reminded that, for me, the Eucharist is the most beautiful, life-giving, tear-wrenching recurring ritual in which I participate. I was reminded that all of this life is brief and fragile and precious. I am reminded of some of the reasons why we people make art and sing and do the things we do. I met educators, leaders, a documentary filmmaker, engineers, publishers, and many more.

Facilitating the art workshops was fun.

On day one, we created redaction poetry, very much in the tradition of Austin Kleon’s now famous Newspaper Blackout Poetry.
 This practice tied into the weekend’s theme, theologically: When thinking about “power & privilege” I was interested in working with the idea of subverting texts of power (in this case, mediated, modern, Western, privileged newspapers) by creating art from stories; “speaking oneself into the story” and creating poetry from a “bound” (limited) position (working with extant texts) rather than from a “free” (unlimited) position (starting with a blank slate). But the activity also hinted at finding God in the mundane, letting the Spirit “show up” in the work, and challenging our notions of what The Word is/can be.  

I must say, it’s a great form of poetry to teach because it offers a level playing field, and wonderful serendipitous results can ensue.  I took a story about a pacemaker for our former vice president and carved out the following:

A new kind of people
    powered by and connected by
    the heart’s own pulsatile beat
They replace implanted belief
    with a road

On day two, we became medieval scribes, transferring (re-membering?) our new poems, word by word, into watercolor Moleskine journals, and then illuminating the poems with pigment liners and watercolor. Later that evening, many of us read our poems aloud to the whole group.

I came home newly inspired to do some new art. I’m also reading Andy Crouch’s Culture Making with great interest.

Anyway. It’s good to be home for a few days.

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A prayer of waiting

I recently illustrated this prayer-poem by one of my dear friends. I hope it meets you where you're at as well.
Somehow I lost the higher resolution scan, but this is still a good representation.

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cartoon from my cousin William P. McLemore

via facebook.com

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[Art+Pace] taco truck! Semper Fri

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IMG_0010.MOV (954 KB)

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I'll be facilitating an art workshop at Laity Lodge Retreat July 22-25

What an honor! In a little more than a week, I’ll be guiding folks in a visual arts workshop at a Laity Lodge retreat.

Speakers Michael Lindsay and Andy Crouch will be exploring the challenges and opportunities of cultural power and privilege; critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Sara Groves will be the musician-in-residence. I’ll be handling the artist-in-residence role at The Cody Center (I’ve been prepping for a poetry+sketching workshop I’m dreaming up, one which ties into Lindsay/Crouch’s themes) while Mike Lundy will concurrently be leading afternoon outdoor activities. The long weekend is full, but there is a waiting list.

http://www.laitylodge.org/laity-lodge-retreat-with-andy-crouch-and-michael-lindsay/

Laity Lodge is an amazing place; one of the top Christian retreat centers in the country, from my experience. It draws thinkers and artists like Lauren Winner, J.I. Packer, Makoto Fujimura, Linford Detweiler / Karin Bergquist [Over The Rhine], Marva Dawn, Gordon MacDonald, Mary C. Earle, Jeffrey Overstreet, David Dark, Sarah Masen, David O Taylor, Michael Card, Gordon Atkinson, Ashley Cleveland, Charlie Peacock, and Cynthia Clawson.

Anyway, I’m extremely excited and am very much looking forward to the opportunity. Having been out there to the property several times this year, I’m eager to give back a little.

explore: http://www.laitylodge.org/discover-laity-lodge/the-setting/

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Man painting manhole covers today on St. Marys Street, San Antonio.

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Standard Grill | 848 Washington Street at 13 Street (Under the Highline), New York City, Meatpacking District

IPhone photo montage

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HT Tim Keel's -- Daniel Pink quote

If the Industrial Age was built on people’s backs, and the Information Age on people’s left hemispheres, the Conceptual Age is being built on people’s right hemispheres. We’ve progressed from a society of farmers to a society of factory workers to a society of knowledge workers. And now we are progressing yet again – to a society of creators and empathizers, pattern-recognizers, and meaning-makers.

via timkeel.com

Tim Keel's blog is now one of my favorites to read.

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A Musical Message Discovered In Plato's Works : NPR

via npr.org

"…Looking at Plato's works in their original scroll form, Jay Kennedy noticed that every 12 lines there was a passage that discussed music."

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We went to the zoo today!

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High Line Panorama #2

Shot with the iPhone 4. The original is 54” wide at 300 DPI.

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Empire State

IPhone + Tilt Shift Generator

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3 Brooklyn iPhone Panoramas

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i tried shooting and editing a video on the iPhone. [Big Bambú]

So I tried shooting and editing a video using the new iPhone 4 interface. The video quality itself was great; in fact, I had to substantially rez this version down. The original filesize was 239 MB, and I ended up changing both the size and the framerate.

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BigBambuTwo5.MOV (90443 KB)

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