Living Creativity

You may have noticed the image at the top of the Chaplain’s Corner representing the Center for Spiritual Life at Lynchburg College. When I was asked to describe or explain my process for creating this painting, I realized how difficult it would be to explain. So much of my process is spiritual in nature. I oftentimes go to a place that is within me, a place that is meditative and unexplainable.

I began by thinking of ways I can create an image that represents the interfaith and ecumenical nature of our mission on campus for an upcoming Christmas card last year. I was given a picture of different symbols of different faith traditions. Each symbol was painted inside a white circle including a circle that was left blank to leave room for faith traditions not yet discovered.

The next challenge was developing a way of allowing each symbol to represent its own identity/individuality as well as being part of a cohesive community – the community for Spiritual Life at Lynchburg College. I painted a tree with strong roots and arranged the different symbols on the branches of the tree. In the bark of the tree I incorporated the words Lynchburg College and Spiritual Life in the school color red. I believe a tree is a great symbol to represent the sheltering, comforting presence we wish to offer students, faculty and staff on this campus. It is also a symbol of a rootedness in providing pastoral care to all regardless of their understanding of God. It also provides a safe place to practice those religious traditions that are a part of a person’s heritage or perhaps a new awakening.

Describing creativity is like describing air. Some days it is free flowing and nurturing and some days it is not flowing at all. Tapping into creative potential can be challenging. Sometimes I jump out there with my imagination and try a new idea and it falls flat in the implementation only to lead me to a great, totally different, result. At times reaching deep into my soul has led to an interesting painting. I have a memory of a painting class at UNC Chapel Hill. My instructor came up to me while I was painting something random and said, “You don’t seem like yourself today, is something wrong?” It was the day war broke out in Iraq and I expressed my sadness over the loss of life and destruction. He responded, “Paint it!” I began to paint those images and feelings and ended up with a very expressive and poignant painting. He asked me to paint it again and I never could repeat it satisfactorily. The original painting came from a place in my soul that was not reachable in the same way again.

I truly believe we are all intrinsically creative. Our Creator has ordained it in each of us, although we all express it in different ways. I believe we are each gifted, whether through music, painting, drawing, dancing or a myriad of other human expressions. There is that place within ourselves that nurtures us and sets us free. I encourage you to explore, discover and tap into that potential to nurture yourself as well as others so all will be blessed.

Kay Higgins, Pastoral Associate