A visit to the Hot Shops

The Christian Prayer class visited the Hot Shops in Omaha to experience artists and artisans in action. The Hot Shops is so named because the anchor tenants are those craftspeople who deal with heated materials to shape their products. The shops include welders and metal shapers, glass blowers, potters, paintings, weavers, digital artists, and sculptors.

Some of the take-aways from the visit are:

• Every thought we produce is an act of creativity. Our minds must be open enough to consider the possibilities, even if we are not the actual builder of the results. The artists must lead the way in society - in words, in expression, as a community, but first and foremost, in thought.
• We exists within and for community. An artist in isolation is not fed new ideas. Being together produces new imagination.
• We have to ask 'why' we are doing something. Then we pay attention to our desires and passions.
• One artist began with an idea to create funky looking, stylish glasses. Six months later, optometrists were intrigued with his ideas and he was able to retrofit his glasses for those children with facial and cranial abnormalities. Children are able to see because of his idea, and his patents are creating new technological advances - in only nine months.
• Art is an economic driver and it appeals to different people in distinct ways. Cities are investing in the arts as a way to make themselves distinctive so that they represent the identity of the residents. Sometimes art shapes and forms the identity of the residents.
• The class was able to identify city benches and artwork created by Hot Shops in other areas of town.
• Art is to be shared. Many artists are not self-indulgent and concerned only about their craft. They are expressing thoughts and feelings that result from interactions with others.
• Art lifts the spirits of people and helps them reconnect with a larger world, a larger message. We feel because of art, and the forces of social control often want us to feel a certain way.
• Have fun. Playing and leisure time is undervalued and we have to make our passions concrete.
• Style defines us. Who are we? 
• Life is much more fun when we become word artists. Leave vulgar words out of your vocabulary and think of a new way to choose words.

The Church

• For the church, if we want priesthood to be a certain way, we have to lead the way forward with our new thoughts and ideas, while maintaining continuity with our existing traditions.
• Architecture represents our theological perspective. Many of us operate within classical church structures that beg for us to think from a classical worldview. Our prayer is shaped by our worship space.
• What would a contemporary church look like? What statement is needed to see faith and culture intersect. For instance, would we have candles? Candles were once needed because we did not have lighting or electricity. How could a contemporary mindset shape our experience and imagination about church? What does church represent for us?
• A smile is a great symbol. What can a smile from a priest mean to the People of God?
• How can our homilies, our actions, our behavior convey both the sense of the sacred and secular at the same time? 
• Are homilists word artists? We need to ask the People of God if our homilies inspire.
• Music is crucial, and the lyrics reveal our worldviews. We do not leave church humming the homilies, so is our music good?
• How can our symbols, signs, our priesthood convey new thoughts to the people. What do the people need? What do they want? This involves dialogue.
• Dialogue in and of itself is art. How successful are our dialogues and conversations, most especially in times of conflict.