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Artist Archetypes with Adrienne Reedy
134 Plays2 days ago
"And I think God is moving all the time in those areas, and we miss it. I don't want to miss it." Adrienne Reedy.
In this episode of the Be. Make. Do. podcast, Lisa talks with Adrienne Reedy, a multi-talented artist and mentor. She discusses her journey in art and music, emphasizing the transformative impact of visual arts on her life. She stresses the importance of recognizing God's guidance and maintaining joy and positivity, despite challenges. Reedy's motivation stems from a deep sense of being loved and supported, which she aims to instill in others. Join us for this challenging and encouraging conversation.
The Maker, The Mystic, The Soul Healer, The Imaginative Visionary, The Prophetic Critic or the Storyteller? What's your archetype? Take the quiz here!
Learn more about Adrienne on her website: https://adriennereedy.net/about/
Get more inspiration from Adrienne's monthly Artscape to Heartscape conversations with artists on YouTube.
Learn more about Convergence at https://www.vergenow.org
Stay in touch and share your thoughts:
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Facebook: @bemakedopodcast
YouTube: @BeMakeDoPodcast
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Transcript
Welcome to Be Make Do Soulmakers Podcast
00:00:11
Speaker
Hey, it's Lisa and Dan. Welcome to the Be Make Do Soulmakers podcast, where we explore art making and creativity from a place of deeper calling and encourage you to become who you were created to be, make what you were created to make, and do what you were created to do.
Season's Theme: Motivation and Success
00:00:28
Speaker
And for this season, we've been talking about motivation, success, and fulfillment by exploring the six artist archetypes, which are the maker, the mystic, the imaginative visionary, the storyteller, the soul healer, and the prophetic critic.
00:00:44
Speaker
You can take our quiz and find out which archetype you are at soulmakers.org backslash quiz or hit up our show notes. In addition to exploring the archetypes, we've been talking with creatives about how their unique motivations help them overcome challenges and create a fulfilling life in the arts.
Guest Introduction: Adrienne Reedy
00:01:04
Speaker
In this episode, we'll be speaking with Adrienne Reedy, a speaker, songwriter, and visual artist who's an active member of Greenwich Pen Women, a national group of writers, musicians, and artists, as well as the Connecticut Pastel Society, a board member of Kids Empowered by Your Support, a nonprofit that provides free music lessons to children in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
00:01:25
Speaker
Adrienne and her husband Steve live in Wilton, Connecticut, where they raise their three adult sons. She's also a community activist and serves as a police commissioner. Plus, she was ordained in June of 2022.
00:01:37
Speaker
She's a part of the Convergence Community, which is the sponsor for Soulmakers, and she's actually on the board. She leads a monthly group called Artscape to Heartscape, which is a time of deep conversation with artists.
00:01:51
Speaker
Adrienne is intentional and passionate about her faith and lives it to the fullest. She's a really great friend and an amazing artist, and I can't wait to get into this conversation. And she's also super, super nice.
00:02:05
Speaker
All right, let's get started.
Adrienne's Creative Journey
00:02:17
Speaker
So welcome, Adrienne. Hey, Lisa. Good to see you You too. Thank you so much for sitting down and talking with me for the podcast.
00:02:28
Speaker
I wanted to do this for a long time. And thanks for having me. Yeah. So, okay, Adrienne, you are um obviously you're no stranger to Convergence and the Be Make Do podcast and Soulmakers. You've been with us since before our but for the podcast's inception and you've um been traveling with us on this journey, but, and now you're on the board for, for convergence as well. So you're very intimately involved with what we're trying to do here. But today I want to talk to you as an artist, as a multi-talented
00:03:03
Speaker
creative. And as I was telling you before, I asked you here specifically, because I think when it comes to motivation, you're you're really an interesting person with with a lot of clarity and a lot of joy. and I feel like you inspire and encourage, especially young people people in ways that they just really need to hear. So I i'm i just kind of want to pick your brain absolutely and hear what you have to say.
00:03:29
Speaker
Okay. Here we are. Here we are. So by way of kind of starting the conversation and telling the audience a little bit about your work, um let's start with this question.
00:03:41
Speaker
I thinking about this. um Some people, some, especially creators, but some people... follow just a straight path in their career. And that's more typical in non-creative careers. But, you know, you get get this job, you do this, you go to school for this, this, this, this this happens. There's a straight path.
00:03:59
Speaker
For others, it's a long and winding road. And for other people, there's lots of pit stops or, you know, crashes off the side of the highway or whatever. How would you describe your journey as an artist and as a creative?
00:04:14
Speaker
You know, um that's a good question. um For me, my journey, when I when i look back, it's it started ah a long time ago. It started probably when I was a kid, but I didn't realize that.
00:04:28
Speaker
um I was fortunate to have a neighbor who I used to
Discovering Passion for Visual Arts
00:04:32
Speaker
babysit for. And i was 12 years old and I asked her if she would teach me how to sew because she was such an amazing tailor, seamstress, whatever you want to call her. And and and she was she was great.
00:04:48
Speaker
And so the summer when I was 12 years old, we went on this journey and she taught me how to sew. And i always enjoyed art.
00:05:00
Speaker
ah When I was a kid, I always enjoyed coloring and all of that good stuff. But something happened to me when I learned how to just create out of fabric and just literally out of nothing. Because she taught me how to look at the ah body. and she taught me how to look at fabric and and how it laid. and So that's when it started.
00:05:24
Speaker
But when I really look back, it's it's been a part of my journey. But as I always tell people, um being a visual artist didn't hit me, hit me until Christmas Day of 2018.
00:05:40
Speaker
twenty eighteen Yeah, not that long ago. You were on a i mean it ran a completely completely different... Because I have always, in addition to liking art, I've always been a musician.
00:05:53
Speaker
Yeah, so you're you are a very successful... singer gospel artist, recording artist, and just would travel. I was with several groups and traveled, um did a lot of just wonderful work with with ah being a ah gospel artist, solo artist, and then also a worship leader for some major evangelists where I would travel with them. And so music was my thing.
00:06:25
Speaker
And I just tell people now, it's like, wow, art was the missing link. It was the missing piece for me. Visual art. Yeah. The visual arts. Because...
00:06:36
Speaker
It showed up on my lap Christmas morning,
Artistic and Spiritual Interconnection
00:06:41
Speaker
2018. And I will never forget how when I got these pastels in my Christmas stocking, how it literally, like, all of a sudden, I just, like, at first I was a little annoyed. But then i realized that, wait a minute, these pastels are showing up on my lap.
00:07:00
Speaker
Like, they came to me. And I literally, I remember like the next day when I took them out and started messing around with them, I realized that there was something more going on. And i that's the only way I could explain it.
00:07:15
Speaker
There was something more going on with these pastels by showing up at my door in my lap. I didn't go but out and buy them. they were My husband purchased them for me, gave them to me in my Christmas stocking along with some other things in a gift.
00:07:29
Speaker
you know a giftf and i I knew that this was more than it it it was more than a gift. Like I was opening up something that was way bigger than well what I was seeing.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. it's ah It's so incredible because I met you when you were in this pastel phase of exploration and then there's iconography and there's other forms of painting. Like you are just this creative person. you There's this curiosity and exploration of the tools and materials that Does it feel like, I mean, is there connection for you? It's not like you, did you stop kind of stop being a performer and a singer when you picked up? Oh, no. No, no.
00:08:14
Speaker
I'm still, I perform every week. Yeah. I have several churches that I that i work with. I'm i'm i'm singing and and ah I still, music is a huge part of my my life.
00:08:26
Speaker
ah I take piano lessons. I'm writing songs. So, so but But I feel now what what has happened inside in my soul my so um i spirit is I know that i there is something that I have to say that I feel that God wants me to say. And he continues like...
00:08:52
Speaker
Every time if I'm outside or if i'm if I'm doing something and I come in contact with some new form of art that I haven't tried, I mean, because I don't even know if you knew this about me, Lisa, but I used to have a ah um calligraphy business.
00:09:09
Speaker
Oh, i didn't know that. Way back. Like i was a calligrapher and I i had an invitation. i was Adrian's Inc. I-N-K. i n k And i had my invitation business and I was doing ah calligraphy.
00:09:23
Speaker
So all of these things now are like, I see that there's something that is brewing inside. I i i am anxious to see how God is even going to use this for the greater good.
00:09:43
Speaker
i know that it's, yeah I know it's not just because, oh, you know, i like, I like calligraphy or i like watercolor, which I do, or I like icons and I like iconography I,
00:09:55
Speaker
No, there is something that that God is doing, and I know it's him inspiringly inspiring me and motivating me because there's something that he has that that that I am to say, I'm to to be able to use all of this to speak into what is unfolding in front of us as we even speak.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah. I just, I, I know that's what's happening. And I, so I'm just having fun. Yeah. am just having a good time because, you know, as I'm doing all of this, this, this work, as I'm doing the writing and as I'm doing the music and as I'm doing the artwork and it keeps opening these doors for me to be able to speak and to share ah my work.
00:10:55
Speaker
i I just am in awe that he keeps using me and I keep feeling like, and there's even more and there's more and there's more.
00:11:06
Speaker
So I i love, um you you talk all the time about just having fun, you know, and you're just having fun with it. And I'm so, ah the contrast between what you just said in um kind of like, okay, I've got these pastels, I've got these icons, I've got this. ah What has God got for me here? What is it that God wants me to And I talk so many creatives who can get paralyzed a little bit because because they have so many interests, feeling like maybe that's a bad thing because maybe I shouldn't, you know, i need to to pick a lane or I need to do one thing so that that's my thing that I do.
00:11:52
Speaker
Or how do I decide between all of these different things and and really kind of get, um kind of stuck in a knot because I think they have feel like they have to make a choice.
00:12:02
Speaker
um Obviously, you know, you have to make choices with your time, but right it's really an interesting perspective to not make it be so like, I have to make the right choice to go down the right path to fulfill the destiny that God has for my gift, but to be able instead to say, I have a basket full of all kinds of goodies and I'm just going to, I'm going to commit to playing and I'm going to play with these things and and allow God to do whatever God's
Openness to Divine Guidance in Creativity
00:12:27
Speaker
going to do.
00:12:27
Speaker
what he's going to do. yeah And I really, I really feel that way. It's, it's, it's at the end of the day, it it honestly is not about me. And I realized that because what for for me, what is about me is to recognize when he's doing something.
00:12:47
Speaker
Right. And, and, and for me, that's where I, ah I always want to be in that space where I'm not taking myself so seriously, but I'm taking him real seriously.
00:13:02
Speaker
What is it that you, God, want me to do? And so if he gives me, I never know when some of the things that I do, when it's going to pop up, but it's always seems like,
00:13:15
Speaker
He doesn't waste any of it. um It always seems like when i have the opportunity to do something, when I mean do something, let's say if I have ah an opportunity to do like a couple weeks ago, I did a pastor's retreat.
00:13:31
Speaker
I had no idea that um some work that I did a while ago would be apropos for what was needed Right there at the moment. And and so every time when when that happens, it makes me realize that my ah job as an artist, my job as a creative, my job as a steward of the gifts that he has given me is to always be ready to to say yes
00:14:07
Speaker
when that, when he asks me to do something. And so at this, at this pastor's retreat, I was really surprised because it was, it was work that I did.
00:14:21
Speaker
um it was a piece that I, that I did that um I called your hands. Well, they were, it was a piece that I did for Lent thinking about Jesus's hands and how,
00:14:36
Speaker
I never thought of his hands as of being dirty. And this particular painting was about that. Jesus's hands got dirty.
00:14:50
Speaker
But at the same time, that piece was used for this particular, um you know, I do what I call the Art of Re. And so I call this the Art of Re 2.0.
00:15:03
Speaker
And one of the words that I use in the Art of Re 2.0 is release. And this these hands was, you know, a reminder of release.
00:15:16
Speaker
how God calls us to release certain things in our lives, you know, release these ideas that negative thoughts that I could have about myself or what have you. and so I just really get a kick out of, you know, just do the stuff that, that all of a sudden i get this function, this, this, this thing like, oh i I got to paint that or I got to do this. I got to do that. I got to try this.
00:15:43
Speaker
And then just sit back and I'm not doing it because, you know, I'm looking to sell anything or I'm not, I'm i'm just trying my best to be a good steward.
00:15:57
Speaker
and And then when I'm doing that, I just want to let let that work speaks for itself. speak for itself. And so when the opportunity comes and God says, okay, want you to look over here because there's something I have for you over here, here Adrian, you've been looking over there.
00:16:15
Speaker
I want you look over here. And then be ready to do that, whether it's with my music or whether it's with my writing or whether it's with my art, visual art. Right. Well, so, okay. Talk a little bit about that then. you You were saying being really good at or being really aware of when God wants to do something. Right.
00:16:35
Speaker
like How do you do that? how do you How do you pay attention in that way? How do you develop the ability to to really listen and pay attention in that way? To know, like this is something God is really like opening up for me.
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah. but For me, um every every morning when I get up, because I've had my time with him before I went to bed, see, my day starts the night before.
00:17:05
Speaker
So by the time I get up, I'm already expecting God to to speak to me. i'm already I'm anticipating that the different things that are are going to happen sometime today throughout the day, I want to make sure that my antennas are up, that I'm listening beyond what's being said.
00:17:33
Speaker
You know, i am just taking that time to say, all right, you know, um someone said something to me or or someone showed up that I wasn't expecting. See, um I don't think that it's a coincidence.
00:17:48
Speaker
I see these these moments or these conversations or or different things. You know, i'm im I'm constantly asking, okay, God, where are you?
00:18:01
Speaker
trying to get my attention yeah right now, today, you know, like in this particular situation. I'll give you an example. Although this this was not me per se, but my husband, there was this young young ah man that my husband, he had met at the supermarket during COVID.
00:18:21
Speaker
And the young man, for some reason, they got into this conversation. and Steve told me about this young man. um Yeah, Memorial Day, we were we were out.
00:18:32
Speaker
And the young man saw us in a distance. And he called, Mr. Edy, Mr. Edy. He was so excited. And so I looked at Steve and I'm like, I said, is that the young man that you would tell me about at the supermarket?
00:18:44
Speaker
He was like, yeah. I said, right then and there. I was like, the way this young man was so excited to see us, to see Steve. I said, don't mess around with this. I said, this is serious. This is one of those God ordained moments, Steve. Don't miss it.
00:19:00
Speaker
Wow. Wow. And He has been mentoring this young man ever since. Now, here's the thing that blew my mind. The day that happened when he met, when he just like really connected and they they they went and had lunch was the same day five years ah ah ago that that young man's father had passed away.
00:19:22
Speaker
m And he had been really struggling. I mean, we don't know what God really wants from us, but if we're aware and just stay aware in tune to to what he's doing, you know, question it.
00:19:39
Speaker
and and And then all of a sudden you see the confirmation. i mean, he has been down meeting with this guy every Wednesday. ah They have lunch and he's been mentoring and helping this guy who's, I think he's he's maybe 27 years old.
00:19:55
Speaker
But I knew it wasn't, I i knew Lisa beyond a shell of a doubt, that was not a coincidence that we ran into this conversation. yeah just Just by what was going the way he responded. I look for things like that all the time.
00:20:08
Speaker
All the time. And I think God is moving all the time in those areas and
Maintaining Joy and Expectation
00:20:12
Speaker
we miss it. I don't want to miss it.
00:20:15
Speaker
That attitude right there is, I think, a key piece of of what makes you you. that i don't want to miss it. I don't want to miss it. i You have this sense of expectation that God is moving. Expectation God's gifts are available to you. Expectation that there is joy and there is something good that's going to come out. And you genuinely do approach the world every day in that way. and Every day. That's not all that common, Adrienne, I have to say.
00:20:47
Speaker
I mean, it's a real gift. And that's why I always say it's such a beautiful life. it's so you know like I'm not saying it it doesn't go without you know trials or anything or or sorrows for that matter. But I mean, I i just i look for that.
00:21:04
Speaker
I look for it. I anticipate and I expect it. That's probably it You know, like that's a big part of the practice is that you are and choosing to enter the world with a sense of expectation, with a sense of curiosity, where you are looking for what God is going to do. You are expecting as opposed to the alternative which is expecting to be disappointed, expecting it's probably not going to work out, expecting, which I think a lot of ah a lot of us can get into ah you see the difficulties in the world and you start to expect instead of, wait a second,
00:21:42
Speaker
you know, this grounding in the larger truth and the bigger reality and the the power and the authority of God, you know, and then walking, really, that's what it looks like to walk in that way is that maybe that sense of expectation.
00:21:59
Speaker
I love that. No. and And for every, I mean, and i I have the, I'm blessed. I have so many people, young people that I get to mentor and people that I get to work with. And and and that's what I will always share.
00:22:12
Speaker
You know, don't be walking around and expecting the shoe to drop all the time. It's like, right. And like you said, it's not like bad things don't happen. It's not like life isn't hard. It's not like you haven't been touched, but your it's it's your attitude and you are kind of your compass that's very, very firmly focused. And that is that changes, though it's like a lens yeah that you see the world with.
00:22:44
Speaker
Yes. i I choose to see... see Even in the in the trial, even in the storm, I choose to see where God is doing something.
00:22:58
Speaker
mean, show me something that you're, that youre yourre yes because he promised that he would be with us through the storms.
Navigating Unforeseen Opportunities
00:23:05
Speaker
Yeah. You know, not take it away like or or so I'm um' i'm going to say, where are you showing up today, God?
00:23:12
Speaker
How are you showing up for me today? Whether it's my my my my music is it going to be my writing yeah or is it going to be my to my art? what what What do you want me to do? So i I really try to make sure that I'm making sure I i balance it all.
00:23:27
Speaker
Yeah, you've really modeled that for me. And it's it's really inspired me to to lean more into that. So i I love watching you because it reminds me to be in that space.
00:23:39
Speaker
and ah So I'm wondering, just i think this is a really interesting conversation that because i I think a lot of creatives, as well as people, but creatives um yeah have trouble sometimes discerning what is the thing to take, the opportunity to take, or what's the decision to make. So,
00:23:57
Speaker
Looking at, you're talking about um being open and expecting where God is going to work. And then you were talking about when ah an opportunity that presents itself seems like more than a coincidence.
00:24:09
Speaker
There seems like there's something there. And then you said, so test it and see what the what the fruit, see what comes out of that. what Are there any little like pings or things that that you sort of pay attention to that tell you this is not ah and um this is not something I need to be involved in?
00:24:30
Speaker
See, I'm one of these people who probably drive a lot of people crazy because are well our culture, our society right now is is saying things like, you know,
00:24:43
Speaker
no is a good word. Like just say no. and And in some cases, yeah, you you just say no. But like right now, I i feel that I'm in the season of saying yes.
00:24:57
Speaker
Now, maybe I'm in the season of saying yes, because I can. yeah i am so blessed that I have... My my husband is is extremely supportive of the things that I do.
00:25:09
Speaker
Now, if someone was asking me to... Gosh, if it was... something that I just absolutely hated, I would even question if an opportunity came up, I would even question, okay, if I hated it, like, God, is but is there something that you want to work in me about, you know, in this area of something that I absolutely hate?
00:25:32
Speaker
That's what happened. i mean, and one of the things that I do, I'm a police commissioner in my town. I have to be honest with you. If someone would have told me five years ago that me, that I would be a police commissioner in my town, I would say, first of all, that's impossible. And and second of all, I can't stand them.
00:25:53
Speaker
Wow. Right? But God, in his infinite wisdom, when that opportunity was presented to me, initially I said, no way. And then I sat down with my husband and we talked and he was and he was like, are you sure? Yeah.
00:26:08
Speaker
And then I felt like the Lord was giving me an opportunity to resolve some some some wounds that were that were there and to also give me a ah platform to be able to make some so major changes in my community.
00:26:29
Speaker
Now, I would have never guessed that in a million years. I mean, could have said no, but God, like I realized, he said yes.
00:26:39
Speaker
And I'm so glad that he did because, you know, now that's not art, but i i'm ah I'm able to use my creative, yeah you know, ways of of helping are are our men and our women here in our community and make decisions and do things creatively.
Art as a Tool for Racial Reconciliation
00:26:57
Speaker
um It's been an um amazing, unexpected experience. Wow. Wow. Well, that reminds me on your website, it you it says, through her faith, she lives at the intersection of art and reconciliation.
00:27:18
Speaker
Tell me more about what that means for you. Well, fact for me, ah it's it's really reconciliation for race itself.
00:27:31
Speaker
Racial reconciliation. and And that's, i'm I'm really hoping that that racial reconciliation and the work that I do, um especially in churches, like I like to help churches have the hard conversation on race.
00:27:52
Speaker
I mean, ever since, ah well, even before George Floyd, but I mean, I've been working in this Ministry of Racial Reconciliation for maybe the past 15 or even more years.
00:28:08
Speaker
Because I think that if there's anyone who was who should be able to speak into the racial stresses that we see happening in our country day in and day out, should be the church.
00:28:25
Speaker
And so i have made it my business to make sure that everything that I do, I'm always looking at it through the lens of how can I show up and how can I help people who don't even know how to have a conversation about race?
00:28:45
Speaker
and People talk about they can't have a, you can't do things you can't talk about. Can't talk about politics. Right. Can't talk about religion. So there's three things and you can't talk about race. Right.
00:28:56
Speaker
And I believe that people of faith, if there's anything that we should be able to talk about, it's race. Right. And so um my my work, I really like when I have the opportunity of sometimes having Jesus show up in brown skin.
00:29:18
Speaker
Mm hmm. And in a lot of ah circles that I get to go into, lot of spaces, that could be a trigger for some folks. Mm-hmm.
00:29:31
Speaker
But then I love to be able to help guide the conversations. I mean, my husband and I, we have something that um call racism to gracism. So actually it's gracism.
00:29:42
Speaker
it's It's being gracious, like helping people to understand the importance of being able to extend grace wherever they go and whatever whatever the situation is.
00:29:55
Speaker
And so i have these, we would open our home for people to come in and to be able to have those conversations.
Vision for Transformative Art
00:30:05
Speaker
It's such a beautiful and generous way to be and come at all kinds of things. I think this gets to the core of when I think about you and your motivation. You've and you've already talked.
00:30:21
Speaker
you You are so deeply grounded in your spiritual life. And you're so your artwork connects to your spiritual life. So in one sense, I could say, oh, she really seems like...
00:30:34
Speaker
she's got this mystic thing going on or this, she wants to help people. So it's the soul healer kind of aspect. And then you bring in the the race piece and then it could be the prophetic critic thing because you do have this desire.
00:30:49
Speaker
But then, ah you know, we talked, your your score is an imaginative visionary. And I think, you know, when you talk about the gracious stuff, that's where it all just, centers in and zeros that yes, there's all of these pieces, which of course we all have different pieces and different flavors, but it, it it all comes out of this bigger, it seems to me, and you tell me, you tell me if I'm wrong or right expand on it, but this, you have this sense of ah vision for what could be.
00:31:23
Speaker
i really do. And it kind of brings all those pieces together. Yes. Yeah. What motivates you? Yeah. What really motivates me? You're such an interesting person.
00:31:34
Speaker
What really motivates me is because, first of all, You know, this this this last vision, the the the the visual art came to me in, you know, 2018 and all. And so I've been working hard. But what I realized, because I feel like I'm just Adrian trying to live out my life to the fullest.
00:31:56
Speaker
This visual, it's changed me. It changed me. Like the visual arts gave me eyes to see in a way that... you know, really like it it just did like my heart, like I could start to see in a way that I just was not able to see.
00:32:19
Speaker
So now I feel like, are you kidding me? Like i have the opportunity to change through through through art and music and writing.
00:32:33
Speaker
If we, if, if someone that I come in contact with, if I can help that one person see in a way that like my vision has changed, like my, my vision has changed in my heart, I feel like I have at my fingertips, at the tip of my tongue through my music and through my writing, had the opportunity to change the world.
00:33:06
Speaker
and Like God would want to use, I believe, to use us as artists to literally change the world.
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah. And that's what that's what motivates me because I see. My language. I see what happened. Like, it happened to me. Like, i will never be the same.
00:33:32
Speaker
Even like when I was doing my music and and doing that was great, but it was not until the the visual artists came out and rose up in me that has it's changed my perspective in life.
00:33:49
Speaker
And I now know that could literally happen if it happened for me. I would just like to just grab all of the people, especially like those who are hurting and those who who feel lost. Like, I feel like I can help them see that there is a God who is so...
00:34:12
Speaker
so big and loves us so much that he could take ah pastel in someone's hand or he could take, you know, just beautiful music and and literally change a person's life.
00:34:27
Speaker
I've seen it. I've seen it happen in my music. I've seen it happen with my art. I've seen it happen like when I had an art show and and what happened, literally...
00:34:40
Speaker
a person walks in who I don't know. They don't know me. and they see a cardinal that, that I painted and just cry. wasn't, it wasn't because the cardinal was painted so beautifully. Like, yeah, that's not me.
00:34:56
Speaker
I'm not like one of these, I'm not Van Gogh. I'm not like one of these famous artists, but God could use even my art
00:35:09
Speaker
I feel like just like he did that for me, he can do that for for for anybody. Yeah. I feel it's it's it's there for for all of us.
00:35:20
Speaker
And your enthusiasm and passion is so invigorating and catching. And I i i really hope that that people, especially those who kind of identify with the imaginative visionary, can hear that and embrace that, to just embrace the passion, embrace the vision, and that that fire in your belly that that drives you. And don't worry so much about...
00:35:46
Speaker
the end goal or what it all looks like, or I have to specialize in this, that, or the other. Because, again, you're talking about, you were just talking about a painting of a cardinal. You paint all kinds of different things. You sing in all kinds of different environments. You lead all kinds of different workshops. It's not like your work is all evangelistic or devotional or you know has a specific mesh.
00:36:08
Speaker
you You're just bold. doing your thing, whatever it is you happen to touch, whatever's the right thing at the right moment, trusting that all of this passion and energy match with this really surrender submission to God's will in your life will result in something
Protecting Positivity and Motivation
00:36:27
Speaker
good.
00:36:27
Speaker
And you just don't really, you're not worried about the results because you know, it's going to be good. Right. yeah Freedom. Because what I'm always trying to do is if if I can, it's so, it's so freeing. And if I can capture joy and capture beauty and, you know, whether it's, you know,
00:36:44
Speaker
a tree or um a leaf or a frog or, or, or, you know, capturing a little kid laughing or blowing bubbles, whatever.
00:36:57
Speaker
just want to capture it somehow just capture. If I can capture just the essence of, of this, this marvelous thing that's happening that I'm seeing or, or, or experiencing. Yeah.
00:37:13
Speaker
ah change somebody that, you know, that can change. It it changes people's lives. Absolutely. Okay. Let's look at the other side of that then. What do you have to guard against? What do you have to do?
00:37:24
Speaker
What structures do you have to build? Or what do you have to do to protect that piece of of you that motivates you? What can kill your motivation? And how do you protect yourself from that? I have to be very, am i am a gatekeeper to the joy stealers or killers.
00:37:45
Speaker
Like i refuse. I cannot, I cannot, you know, waste my, I can pray for you, but I cannot allow, you know, when I realized that, Oh, you know, so-and-so so is not interested in changing.
00:38:06
Speaker
So-and-so is just interested in staying in that negative situation. horrible space. now I will pray for them and I will, you know, I don't, I try not to write people off, but I know how to distance myself so that I'm not being drained by people who are not interested and changing or they're just not interested in, in, in, in seeing the joy and living the joy.
00:38:36
Speaker
That is, I, I just, I can't. How do you do that? How do you, how do you, so you pray, because I'm, you know, I've certainly been at points in my life where i think, well, but it's not the right Christian thing to do. It's not, you know, you gotta give all of yourself until there's nothing left, because they'll take it all.
00:38:56
Speaker
So how do you do that gracefully? How do you do that well? Yeah. I'm just not available. But I explain it to them. You know. Yeah. I know. And I have no problem, you know, asking what is it what is it that you need? What is it that you think you need? What is it that you want?
00:39:15
Speaker
And we can pray and I will do my best to to help you. But I am available. the one who will, you know, if you want to hang out and if you're constantly, I'm not saying, you know, when I leave people when they're, yeah no, but I will not surround myself with a bunch of negative Debbie Downers or, you know, just won't do it. it I think that's so important. and And again, that's another thing that I see modeled from you. You are completely full of joy. You are completely filled with like, yes, and let's try that. Let's do this.
00:39:51
Speaker
But you have no problem. at the same time, in the same way, you're completely honest with this is what's going on and this is what you know i accept and this is what I don't accept or this is what I question.
00:40:03
Speaker
and And I think that's that's a piece that is something that a lot of people, a lot of us have to learn ah over time how to do that because that is that's another piece of that, well, just like you said, of maintaining that your sense of yourself and your sense of joy is not letting
The Role of Love and Support
00:40:23
Speaker
it be stolen. And there's nothing wrong with not letting it be stolen.
00:40:26
Speaker
There's nothing wrong with being honest. All of these, you know, the joy and the freedom and the, you know, full of passion for what God is going to do in your work and in the world and through you is very different than being nice.
00:40:39
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like nice is not always the most appropriate response to think. we're at you i Not kind, but I mean that like appeasing. Right.
00:40:52
Speaker
I mean, you know, you can... I'm just, you're looking at me like, yeah, duh. Of course. but don't have time.
00:41:03
Speaker
Why is this? a lot yeah I don't have time. I don't. I love that. And I really feel that I can love at a distance and, and, and I will, I will honestly will pray. And I will honestly do my best to,
00:41:18
Speaker
to, you know, if God is bringing someone into my life, I take that very seriously. But if they are just not interested in, you know,
00:41:33
Speaker
if If every time, if every time I, when I walk away from somebody and if I'm to the point where every time I walk away from that person, I'm, I'm depressed. look Right. let's take Yeah.
00:41:46
Speaker
And then you're closing off those gates for what God is doing. Right. Right. And, and, and they just choose, they just continue to choose, you know, to not see any joy or have any joy.
00:42:01
Speaker
Again, I'm not talking about someone who's, Yeah. You know, that they're clinically depressed. And I'm not I'm just there are some people who joy killers. Right.
00:42:11
Speaker
Right. And I and I and I just know. and Just know. ah found Well, let's let's talk about young people in the arts or people who are kind of emerging in the arts, regardless of what age they are.
00:42:27
Speaker
hmm. What do you, you've you've talked about mentoring young people. I know that even within your own family, you're mentoring and people and and young people in the arts as well.
00:42:39
Speaker
um What, what, what do you tend to say to them? What, what's, what's the, the most often piece of advice that you end up giving? Here's, here's what i learned I've learned. Okay.
00:42:52
Speaker
Okay. huh I have learned that because I am so loved, I am so so loved by God, I'm so loved by my my husband, that that is enough to...
00:43:11
Speaker
make me pursue and be all that I can possibly be, make all I can possibly make. didn't didn do but right
00:43:23
Speaker
And so like when I am mentoring, like I, that's what I always try to make sure they understand how much they are loved.
00:43:37
Speaker
you know having a having a i have two artist sons. I have three sons, but two of them are real artists. And think that they're real artists because they know how much they are loved.
00:43:54
Speaker
And I feel that I am who I am to today because I know how much I am loved. And so when I'm working with people, you know, i I, I want to help them get that understanding under their belt to realize how much they're loved.
00:44:16
Speaker
And it sounds corny. Like it can sound corny to some people, but I'm telling you what I know. I, I think More than half of the reason why I was willing to take risks in life is because I was loved.
00:44:34
Speaker
I am loved. And I'm not only loved by my family, i'm I know how much I am loved by God. Yeah. that ink Does that – you understand what I'm saying? Yeah.
00:44:48
Speaker
and i And I'm thinking when somebody would say, like you said, the corny or or like, well, ah but I don't have that. But I don't have it. That's the key then. it It makes me think of the be, make, do stuff. Yeah.
00:45:00
Speaker
you think your your success or fulfillment as an artist, then, okay I don't have that. I don't have time for for the relationship stuff. i don't have time to get, I need to do this stuff to become successful. i put all this energy into either my craft or to making that into something that's marketable or people see or successful, or I'm trying to prove myself.
00:45:22
Speaker
When the reality is what you really do need to do first is to to build that foundation. and it doesn't have to be you know anything in particular. It needs to be the the spiritual connection with God and and connecting with a group of people, you know a faith community, a small group of friends you know who who really, really are. Really, really care about you Yeah. So that you have that foundation.
00:45:49
Speaker
And understanding that that is not just something that's nice, but that's actually the soil for everything else to grow.
Joy in Aligned Creative Work
00:45:57
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Literally. and and And more and more each day, i'm i I think about that I'm like, wow, I'm i'm so fortunate.
00:46:06
Speaker
Yeah. I'm so fortunate because i know that I'm loved. I don't think I'm loved. Right. I know that I'm loved.
00:46:19
Speaker
And there's something that that happens when you when you when you know that I am willing to take risks because I don't. Yeah. What do I?
00:46:30
Speaker
what What do you have to lose? but What do I have to lose? little risky. Right. Exactly. So that's why I'm just having a good time. Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:40
Speaker
Well, speaking of that, speaking of having a good time, this is going to be my my way to kind of close this out. What I want to ask you for you, what does it feel like when you've created something or you're a part of something that just sort of fits right in the center of everything that motivates you and makes you tick? what Describe for me what what it feels like. What is that? What does that look like?
00:47:05
Speaker
This is what it looks like to me. and it And it happens. and And I feel like i am have this audience of one where I see like God looking down and just being like, you did good.
00:47:26
Speaker
it's Well done. You did good. Yeah. You did good. when i when I get that, whether it's like when I'm singing and, um you know, because when you're doing art, you don't get the same.
00:47:43
Speaker
it's It's like, yeah like after I sing a song and some and yeah you get that. so on you had that Right. But when I am working and doing, honestly, it works the same way. It's like,
00:48:01
Speaker
I feel like literally that God himself is just saying, look at my girl. Like you, you done did it again. wow Good for you. You did it again. Yeah. And it's like, it's, it's, it's a cool, just funny, fun thing.
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It just feels, it feels really good. and And I can always tell when when I get in the way. I can always tell when I get in the way. Because then I'm like, oh, I get all moody. And you know it's like, no, no, no, no. Yeah.
00:48:40
Speaker
Just, it's not yours. Just like, get out there and just do it. and and And just have fun. And let it be. Let it go wherever it it goes. Like,
00:48:52
Speaker
I'm not in control of that. He is. And so I just feel really good and happy that i that I did what I felt was required of me for what I'm capable of doing for this time.
00:49:08
Speaker
Next year, I hope it's even better. And if the Lord tarries and I have 5, 10, 20 more years to do all of this, wow, I can't wait to see I can't. I just can't. I can't wait to see what he'll do with it, what he'll do with me. And and I just hope I just keep getting better and better and better and better.
00:49:31
Speaker
Yeah. I love that. I love thinking about... thinking about five years from now or 10 years from now with that sense of expectation again, would God do with me? Like, it's so different than, oh I got to get there or what am I going to accomplish or whatever. But to be like, what's God going to do next?
00:49:50
Speaker
Yeah. What's he going to do next? Like, oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. So. Wow. Thank you so much, Adrienne. This has been such a great conversation. and I've gotten a chance to ask you some questions I've wanted to ask you too.
00:50:04
Speaker
So thank you so much for sharing this. And thank you for your work too, behind the scenes with Convergence and Soulmakers and Be Make Do. We really do appreciate you and everything that you give. Well, let me... Thank you, Lisa, but let me really just thank you because thank you for allowing me be me this space of convergence.
00:50:26
Speaker
I mean, it's like so good be in ah family where people allow you to be who you are.
00:50:41
Speaker
And not only that, and understood. It doesn't happen everywhere I go. Yeah. And so this has this has been so rewarding and just so amazing for me because I feel like, and I always tell people, I found my peeps.
00:51:03
Speaker
And thank you for thank you for um allowing me to participate and to show up. As Adrienne. Yeah.
00:51:14
Speaker
Truly. Thank you. Thank you. we wouldn't want it any other way. Absolutely. Thank you.
00:51:35
Speaker
Join us in our next episode when we explore our final artist archetype, the prophetic critic.
00:51:44
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Be Make Do, a Soulmakers podcast. All links and resources are located in our show notes. Want to know your artist archetype? Take the quiz at soulmakers.org backslash quiz.