R5
Call for Applications
A
Visual
Arts
Seminar and
Studio in
South Africa
Organized by the Nagel Institute for the Study of World
Christianity with the endorsement of the Council for
Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and The Lilly
Fellows Program National Network of Church Related
Colleges and Universities
Seminar locations:
• Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa
Seminar leaders:
• Artistic director: Rachel Smith, Taylor University
• South African artistic coordinator: Charles Nkomo of
Johannesburg
• Group visits and dynamics: Robert and Alice Evans,
Plowshares Institute
• Administrative director: Joel Carpenter, Calvin College
In 2008, ten North American art professors from churchrelated colleges and universities met ten Asian Christian
artists and participated in a visual arts seminar and studio
project in Indonesia. This cross-cultural team produced
40 fresh works of art and a highly successful traveling
exhibit, Charis: Boundary Crossings, which was shown in
university and divinity school settings across the nation
and featured in a number of arts publications.
Now we are inviting a new team of artists, from North
American faith-based universities and from around
Southern Africa, to do it again. There is a remarkable
visual arts renaissance taking place in South Africa and
it is a prime location from which to launch a visual arts
project. Therefore we propose a second seminar and
studio project in for Christian intellectuals working in the
visual arts, while encountering the nation of South Africa,
where art, says one of Africa’s most eminent art critics, is
“not just an interpretation or facsimile of history, but a
moral force in the production of a new reality, and hope
for a damaged society.”
Calvin College
Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity
3201 Burton Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Faculty Development Seminar
May 31–June 15, 2013
Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity
A Visual Arts
Seminar and
Studio in South Africa
May 31–June 15, 2013
Paintings in this brochure by Charles Nkomo — http://www.kuabagallery.com/GalleryMain.asp?GalleryID=112058&AKey=TJ6SYEK8
Call for applications
We are now inviting applications to participate in
PROJECT R5, an arts-focused encounter in South Africa.
Why “R5”? Artists in South Africa wrestle with five critical
issues, involving:
• Remembrance: the intertwined and contested
histories of varied people groups.
• Resistance: the old, vivid, and continuing tradition of
prophetic artistry.
• Reconciliation: persistent questions over how to justly
reconcile aggrieved people.
• Representation: in a post-colonial, multicultural
society, who may represent whom?
• Re-visioning: how does hope factor into artistic
imagination?
This project will convene North American and Southern
African artists in a two-week seminar and studio event to
engage these questions with their South African hosts,
see how they have created art in response to them, and
ask how their struggle might inspire and reorient their
guests’ work.
Who can apply?
• Professors of art in member colleges and universities
of the CCCU and the Lilly Fellows National Network
who are also working artists in a variety of media,
such as painters, sculptors, weavers, potters,
photographers, and other modes of visual artistry
Why might you want to do this?
• To re-vision Christianity’s cultural message:
Conveying Christian angles of vision in the arts has a
long tradition in Europe and its overseas settlements,
but in an increasingly post-Christian West, the faith’s
artists face a huge challenge to do something fresh
and potent. There are signs among some western
artists, a New York Times reviewer recently said,
that “Christian faith and artistic ambition can still
be a combustible mixture,” but the Christian artistic
community in the West cannot help but wonder
whether the old wells of inspiration are running dry.
Their faith tradition has lost much of its prior hold on
their culture’s imagination.
• To see Christianity in fresh ways: Christianity has
become a world religion, with the great majority
of its adherents living outside of Europe and North
America. Christians in Africa, Asia, Latin America
and the Pacific region are producing fresh artistic
vision and achievements. “The Christian Story:
Five Asian Artists Today,” an exhibit in 2007 at
the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA) in New York,
offered powerful expressions of Christian vision by
creatively combining Asian traditions, western artistic
languages, and a biblical imagination. The visual
arts have become powerful means for Christians
worldwide to express heartaches and hope, justice
and reconciliation, and the gospel’s witness for
peace.
• To experiment with new themes and material:
What might it mean, then, for Western Christian
artists to discover that their faith is predominantly
non-Western? Might Christianity’s creative interplay
with African art, religion and culture excite some
new approaches in the West as well? That is what we
hope this project can do. We are looking for some
adventurous Christian artists and art educators, who
are eager to see new things, experiment with new
approaches, and become stronger agents of renewal
in the North American and Southern African art
worlds.
What qualities do we want to see in applicants?
• Openness to new thinking, to being challenged, and
to gaining new perspectives.
• A clear sense of what one hopes to gain from a crosscultural encounter.
• Commitment to collaboration as a mode of creative
work.
• Influence and credibility within the artistic community
or at least the promise of becoming influential.
• Verbal communication skills, especially regarding art.
• Commitment to follow-up work: via teaching, exhibits
and other communications.
• Plans by one’s home college or university to support
the project’s follow-up work.
• One or two gifted writers on the arts to publish a
creative essay on this project.
How does someone apply?
Please email the following documents as one letter with
attachments, PDF format only
• A letter of interest;
• A curriculum vitae or professional resume;
• A brief (1000 words) explanation of how this project
would help advance one’s plans to grow, learn,
produce outstanding new art, teach, and promote
new perspectives;
• Three letters of reference, including a letter pledging
support from one’s academic officer; and
• 8–12 slides or a web page depicting one’s recent work
If sending a paper application is preferred, send to
Donna Romanowski, program coordinator
Calvin College
Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity
3201 Burton Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Application deadline: Jan. 15, 2013 • Notification: Feb. 15, 2013
Additional background information is available at www.calvin.edu/nagel • Questions? Contact us at 616-526-7155; drom@calvin.edu