Defining "art" as "the conscious use of creative expression," participants at the leadership event:

1. Explored the theological basis for how women give voice to their understanding of God through art.
2. Experienced empowerment through art in the sharing of their own stories.
3. Expressed their understanding of art to include a commitment to social justice.

The time together was facilitated by Becky Bane, a theologically trained visual artist. She has led workshops on visual faith expression and visual arts and worship and has coordinated events on worship and drama, dance, and music.

This event was an exploration into the many different ways that art can inform our faith. We were led by Becky Bane through several different activities that helped us to reflect upon biblical texts, poetry, and music in a faithful way. The art that was produced ranged from torn-paper collages to painted "quilts" to plaster masks of our own faces. The mask-making was a favorite activity, as it allowed us to get messy and also encouraged us to think. We separated into pairs for this activity, relying on one another to make the masks with damp strips of plaster gauze. The goal was to think of a woman from the Bible and "give" her our face in the form of a mask. The mask was then decorated with paints, feathers, ribbons, and other materials in order to further develop the face of this biblical woman. We used the masks in our closing worship ceremony, accompanying them with our final mask-related assignment, a poem describing the woman whom each mask represented. The poems were to be cinquains-simple, 5-line poems with very strict forms. The following are some that emerged from this activity:

Strong
Brave and Bold
Standing, growing, speaking
rising above and overcoming
Beautiful

Deborah
True
Always clear
Listening, Speaking, Doing
Inwardly rising up
Prophet

Miriam
Strong woman
you who kept the children of Israel together
The prophetess
spirit filled
Strong! Rich with mind
spirit
and truth

Another poetry activity was led by poet Marilyn Sewell, editor of Cries of the Spirit: A Celebration of Women's Spirituality. She handed out poems by famous authors and asked us to produce our own poems following their form. An example follows:

Meditations with Julian of Norwich (excerpt)
Julian of Norwich

God wants to be thought of
as our Lover,
I must see myself so bound in love
as if everything that has been done
has been done for me.
That is easy to say,
the Love of God makes such a unity
in us
that when we see this unity
no one is able to separate oneself
from another.

The following poems were produced by NNPCW women based on the one above by Julian of Norwich:

God wants to be thought of as a mother to
an innocent child.
Trust in Her as if we know no other way.

God wants to be thought of as
a star in the black night
swirling like a violent ballet
too small for anyone to see,
yet too large to comprehend.
outside of time.

God is often hidden by the too-bright light of day
and the artificial bulbs of night
that confuse and falsely represent truth.
God can only be found in darkness,
away from light pollution in the
too-busy city and extended day in the forgetful country.
God is waiting for you to look inward, and up.

God is in so many places