THE GLEN WORKSHOP

Each summer, during the first week of August, Image Journal magazine sponsors the Glen Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As their website describes it:

"Classes (in writing and the visual arts) at The Glen are led by nationally known authors and artists. Small class sizes allow the faculty to give close attention to each participant— whether he or she is a beginner or well advanced in his or her craft. The Glen is also an illuminating conference on the relationship between art and religious faith, where participants practice and strengthen their craft and vision in community. "

Community is the single most important reason for my return to the Glen year after year. Whether being reunited with old friends or making new ones, the Glen provides me with an opportunity to share my vision of my faith and my creative skills with others who bring great spirituality and talents to the table.

On Sunday, July 29th, we began gathering at St. John’s College for a week of living in community with fellow artists. Each Glen has its own particular character, so as I sat at the Peterson Student Center coffee shop watching participants arrive, I tried to anticipate what this year’s Glen would look like:

Familiar faces, others who soon will be.
An air of anticipation, eager artists
gearing up for performance; energy
overflowing, kept in check by fear.

Fear of rejection, that same emotion
that drives us to create; that healing
balm that soothes those ancient wounds
and brings us closer to the One.

One who’d love us even if we never
wrote a word, painted a stroke, or
played a note on a piano; but One
who humbly smiles because we do.