Ok. Before you press play take a moment and get an image in your mind of what it might look like for cellist Yo-Yo Ma and LA dancer Lil Buck to perform together. Got an idea? Watch this.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9jghLeYufQ

I ended up on an incredible new (to me) site today that I thought I’d share with you for a little inspiration. The main idea behind 20×200.com is that “art doesn’t have to be expensive to be good.” Amen. Love it.

Filter Samples from 20x200.com

While art should always be costly, it doesn’t need to be expensive. And even if it’s expensive, art is generally an investment worth having. That doesn’t mean you should throw money at every artist who asks you to buy their work. Think about your life and where you spend time – in your office, do you want to be inspired and reminded of certain things? Hunt for artwork that will lead toward that inspiration.

Day 114: Dice on 20x200.com

For me, I know that my brain really gets going when I can pull together a series of objects or moments and realize that they are part of a pattern or have some kind of commonality between them. I like uncovering relationships between events, songs, dates, whatever. I enjoy finding rhythms of continuity – it’s something that fascinates me. As a result of that, I enjoy artwork that shows pattern or sequences or collections. I’m not a fan of abstract – not because I don’t appreciate the aesthetic of it but because I’m not able to uncover any kind of relationships within the artwork itself.

Prairieside Forks from 20x200.com

This idea of uncovering and appreciating pattern comes out in how I plan and lead worship services for my church. Explicit or not, I want a thread of continuity running from the beginning of our time together right through to the end – even as a way of helping me lead people through the experience. Sometimes it is more evident, sometimes it’s more of a foundation to what we are doing. But usually as I’m planning our services, I’ve found it helpful to identify some of these commonalities for people as we’re journeying through the different elements. I’m sure you understand.

125 Swimming Pools at 20x200.com

For me, I want artwork that is going to inspire me towards this idea of uncovering pattern and relationship. I’ve put some examples in this post that reflect that and I’ll definitely be heading back to that site to buy one or two of these pieces to be included in my collection.

What’s the last piece of original art you bought?

More info here – Covenant Award nominees

Congratulations to all of the nominees – pretty incredible to see the amount of Canadian talent that is being shared with the world. Make sure you head over to the site and check out the full list of nominees.

Here are the artists nominated for Artist of the Year -

• Matt Maher
• Manafest
• Newworldson
• Greg Sczebel
• Starfield

“Whatever we do is pure invention.” What a statement for what is happening in the arts world right now. Incredible.

I love what Mr. Cameron has to say in this video – especially everything he says about the shift in the arts from consumption to participation.

And I love that he called Kirk Franklin a gangster rapper.

So.. who are the pro-ams that you have come across that have blown your artistic worldview away?

Last week I had the chance to visit Thisway Gallery in St. Jacobs, Ontario at the tail end of a great couple days away with some of our staff. We had spent two days together talking, laughing, dreaming, getting to know each other (and our Myers-Briggs uniqueness!) and trying to get a sense of where God is leading us and OBC over the next several years. On our way home, we decided to stop in at this gallery and we were all so glad that we did! The gallery was opened by Derrick Mueller and his son Caleb and is definitely a memorable experience!

Here’s what their website says about Thisway Gallery –

St. Jacobs’ new art showcase, Thisway Gallery, has a fresh take on an abstract world. And it’s exactly what the room needs.

Derrick and Caleb Mueller are pleased to announce the Grand Opening of this new studio and gallery, located in downtown St. Jacobs on 10 Front Street, in the Mill Shed and Studio buildings. This father-and-son endeavour stems from a thirst to promote and pursue the arts: Caleb is a professional graphic designer, recording artist and painter from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, while Derrick makes no secret of his love for the pure expression available through abstract art. The gallery is itself an art experience, showcasing original music, multimedia and paintings that flood the senses and satisfy the eye.

We had the opportunity to spend 30 minutes or so with Derrick and hear about his passion for art, the church, leadership and even ministry strategy. As we walked through his gallery and heard about different feelings or emotions he was trying to express through his work, I caught myself thinking about some of the same emotions that come up during different ministry experiences. He talked about certain frustrations or stumbling blocks within organizations and structures and how he wanted his art to reveal those in a new, fresh way to people in a way that would catch them off guard.

As he spoke, some of the things he said sounded very much like some of the things that we as a staff had been talking about and wrestling with during our long discussions the previous two days. Derrick’s willingness to explore new ideas, to try things that people say don’t work, to experiment with new materials or techniques is very impressive and the final result – although probably not for everyone’s taste – is definitely enhanced once you hear the artist’s vision behind the piece.

You can find out more about Thisway Gallery through their website and can even have an online look at some of the artwork they display.

Zack Arias calls this video ‘Transform’ – I would call it ‘An Artist’s Manifesto’

RSS peeps may need to hit the blog to get this one – it is worth it!

One of the things that I didn’t include in my worship confessional this week is that we did something a little different on Sunday and used a creed as part of our worship service. We have used creeds in the past but this time it was a little unique.

I wanted to lead the congregation to take some time to spend some time praising God for who He is and for what He’s done – it fit with the theme of our morning of trusting God in the midst of our circumstances and also played off the uncertainty that people are feeling with the economic and (in Canada) political situations.

If you’re familiar with creeds (no, not Creed) then you will know the Gloria Patri - 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Beautiful. Great words. I took some time in our service to explain the significance of these words in light of the beginning of the gospel of John and then played an audio recording of Bach’s Gloria Patri from his Magnificat. We put the lyrics – both english and latin – up on the screen so people could follow along.

Before the song started I encouraged people to spend time in prayer when it was finished – giving God praise after hearing these words and being reminded that as God was in the beginning, He is now and ever shall be. When the song finished we gave some silent time for that to happen and then closed in prayer together. It was a good element of our worship service and the whole thing took maybe five minutes.

Something a little different for us but sometimes different is good. Here’s a video of the Gloria Patri if you aren’t familiar with it - 

I’m doing some work off-site today and they had the Bryan Adams MTV Unplugged album playing and I was thinking about my favourite unplugged albums of all time. Here’s my top 3 -

1. Eric Clapton – Unplugged
   
   This was one of the first CD’s that I ever bought and I remember spending hours and hours with it playing as background music. Clapton’s re-working of several great songs and some new tracks as well. Everyone is pretty familiar with the brilliant version of “Layla” as well as “Tears From Heaven” which became a hit single and helped this album win SIX Grammy Awards, including Record, Album and Song of the Year. It still gets very regular rotation both at my home and office.
2. Nirvana – MTV Unplugged In New York
   
   The most intriguing thing about this album is that it was released after Kurt Cobain’s death in April 1994. It won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album in 1996 and was a commercial success. The contrast of this performance with the band’s reputation is what did it for me. Nirvana was generally known as heroes of the grunge movement – slackers, uncaring about appearances, rebellious attitudes, etc – but the presentation factor of this performance is incredible. The slacker attitude of the band in the midst of this beautiful stage and lighting design is really shown in their performance of “All Apologies” – check the video here. Of course having Dave Grohl playing drums adds to the “cool factor” of this album, too!
3. Bryan Adams – MTV Unplugged
   
   Ignore the fact that this guy is Canadian and just appreciate that this album is killer. He took a bunch of his rockin’, electric-driven songs and turned them in to a beautiful collection of songs presented in a unique, artistic way. The re-work of “Cuts Like A Knife” and “18 Till I Die” are my favourites on this album. To me this is the truest unplugged album of the three because of the way that the songs are arranged with a variety of acoustic instruments which wouldn’t normally be thought of in listening to the original versions of these songs. There is some really beautiful music on this album and you definitely owe it to yourself to check it out if you haven’t heard it.

RSSers – you may need to hit the blog to check out the video and before/after mp3′s!

Check it out for yourself at www.transposr.com. Sorry for the audio – my mic is crapping out on me and I really should get a new one.

As promised, the before and after versions of this mp3 file -

Before: “How Awesome Is Our God” in D -

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After: “How Awesome Is Our God” in E -

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As you can hear, it’s not exactly a picture perfect recreation of the song in the new key but if you are just looknig for a way for your band to play along with a chart you’ve given them that’s in a different key than the recording they’ve got then this is a really simple way to make that happen.

If you’d like to hear the whole song and download a chord chart, you can do that at this post here – http://www.chrisfromcanada.com/?p=734

Some of you have been asking about a new song that I wrote with my friend Craig from the Meeting House in Oakville, ON called “How Awesome Is Our God” – it’s shown up in my worship confessionals for the past six months or so and the song has become part of the worship repertoire at both of our churches.

Craig & his team did a live recording of the song and sent it on to me – it’s always cool to hear a song go through the progression from just a melodic or thematic idea to a chorus hook to an actual arrangement to a full band recording with lots of re-writing along the way.

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If you’re interested in a lead sheet you can grab the PDF here – How Awesome Is Our God – D.pdf