EDITOR'S NOTE: This week we welcome singer/songwriter Staci Frenes as a guest blogger. Staci is a singer/songwriter whose music has been heard nationally on CCM radio, major TV networks, and in feature films. She tours nationally, singing, speaking and leading worship, and has released six CDs on her own label, Longshot Records. Join me in welcoming Staci to RealFaithArts.com.
—Cam Sobalvarro
As a little girl I used to love to watch my Grandmother, a professional seamstress, alter and sew for the women in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Women came to her from all around, from all walks of life. She tailored their pantsuits, hemmed their dresses, sewed their prom dresses, Easter outfits, and even their wedding gowns. And she did all of this with the precision, professionalism and panache of an artist, leaving her imprint on every piece that left her little shop. She was the first portrait I had of a working artist. I wore the outfits she made me with the proud and delightful sense that they were one-of-a-kind, and made just for me, lovingly by my Nana. She gave herself to me—to all of us--in those pieces she sewed, and we felt richer for her gifts of beauty.
Two generations later, I too find myself a “working artist”; my tools are a guitar, a piano, and the melodies and words that I try and harness into songs. Songs are the language I speak, the thoughts I think, the way I receive and give back to the world around me. In each one I know that like my Nana, I leave an imprint of myself and hope those who hear them feel richer for their beauty.
I believe each of us is a “working artist”—like Nana at her sewing machine or me sitting down to the piano. We need to know how we are uniquely gifted and what our tools are, and we need to be ever connected to the Holy Spirit who breathes into us the secrets of the heart and mind of God. I believe this creative life looks not so much like a list of accomplishments or failures, but the pouring of our very selves--heart and soul--into the life we’ve been given.
As each of us lives out our creative calling, we reflect God’s glory and thus point a hurting world to Him. We fulfill our deepest purpose when we share our unique expressions of God’s love, bringing wholeness and completeness to both ourselves and to others. That’s the unique and beautiful divine work that art does in those of us who create it, and in those who experience it.
The other work of art, though, is our investment into our creative life. It involves uncovering our distinct areas of giftedness, developing and nurturing them with passion and discipline, and then investing them back into the lives of others, as seeds into the fields with which we’ve been entrusted.
For me, those seeds include the songs God gives me to share with others. In fact, I’m getting ready to record a brand new album called Everything You Love Comes Alive, and many of the songs I’ve written for it touch on these same themes around The Divine Work of Art. My deepest prayer and hope is that this new music will stir up passion in the hearts of all who hear it to pursue and invest in their own creative lives, and into the lives of others. This is my 8th independent studio album, and I’m excited to offer folks the opportunity to join with me in the process of helping give it life! I’d be honored and grateful if you partnered with us in this new creative endeavor. Here’s the video and a link to the project on Kickstarer where you can help make it happen!
View on Kickstarter.com
—Cam Sobalvarro
As a little girl I used to love to watch my Grandmother, a professional seamstress, alter and sew for the women in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Women came to her from all around, from all walks of life. She tailored their pantsuits, hemmed their dresses, sewed their prom dresses, Easter outfits, and even their wedding gowns. And she did all of this with the precision, professionalism and panache of an artist, leaving her imprint on every piece that left her little shop. She was the first portrait I had of a working artist. I wore the outfits she made me with the proud and delightful sense that they were one-of-a-kind, and made just for me, lovingly by my Nana. She gave herself to me—to all of us--in those pieces she sewed, and we felt richer for her gifts of beauty.
Two generations later, I too find myself a “working artist”; my tools are a guitar, a piano, and the melodies and words that I try and harness into songs. Songs are the language I speak, the thoughts I think, the way I receive and give back to the world around me. In each one I know that like my Nana, I leave an imprint of myself and hope those who hear them feel richer for their beauty.
I believe each of us is a “working artist”—like Nana at her sewing machine or me sitting down to the piano. We need to know how we are uniquely gifted and what our tools are, and we need to be ever connected to the Holy Spirit who breathes into us the secrets of the heart and mind of God. I believe this creative life looks not so much like a list of accomplishments or failures, but the pouring of our very selves--heart and soul--into the life we’ve been given.
As each of us lives out our creative calling, we reflect God’s glory and thus point a hurting world to Him. We fulfill our deepest purpose when we share our unique expressions of God’s love, bringing wholeness and completeness to both ourselves and to others. That’s the unique and beautiful divine work that art does in those of us who create it, and in those who experience it.
The other work of art, though, is our investment into our creative life. It involves uncovering our distinct areas of giftedness, developing and nurturing them with passion and discipline, and then investing them back into the lives of others, as seeds into the fields with which we’ve been entrusted.
For me, those seeds include the songs God gives me to share with others. In fact, I’m getting ready to record a brand new album called Everything You Love Comes Alive, and many of the songs I’ve written for it touch on these same themes around The Divine Work of Art. My deepest prayer and hope is that this new music will stir up passion in the hearts of all who hear it to pursue and invest in their own creative lives, and into the lives of others. This is my 8th independent studio album, and I’m excited to offer folks the opportunity to join with me in the process of helping give it life! I’d be honored and grateful if you partnered with us in this new creative endeavor. Here’s the video and a link to the project on Kickstarer where you can help make it happen!
View on Kickstarter.com
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