Fine Acts of Junk & Our Creative Spirit
God cares creativity and especially His children that are creative.
God is infinitely creative as we see starting in Genesis 1. If we just look briefly at the variety of even one species like insects in the United States only.
"The largest numbers of described species in the U.S. fall into four insect Orders: Coleoptera (beetles) at 23,700, Diptera (flies) at 19,600, Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) at 17,500, and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) at 11,500." from The Smithsonian
The creativity of God extends to the micro and the macro.
We as finite being have a limited amount of time, energy, and ideas.
Some people have been able or have been determined to live out their art in their life. One such person is Blair Somerville of New Zealand.
He is an artist, an inventor, a philosopher and a curator!
For many years now his Lost Gypsy Gallery has amazed people around the world.
Our creativity needs a daily relationship with Jesus.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27)
Our deep yearnings of creativity can and will be connected to the transcedent reality of Christ if we place him first in our lives.
God stands over our creativity.
Your creativity will always be an instrument of worship.
As you are made more Christ-like God re-creates all of you so that every aspect of your life including your creativity is from Christ, through Christ, and to Christ.
We can make our art, our creativity an idol if are not careful.
Creativity has both a vertical and horizontal orientation, for God and the people around us. Our creativity works best when it turns our eyes toward transcendence and forces the world to acknowledge its Creator.
Our creative freedom then is energized by the gospel. Creative freedom is not about doing whatever you want, but about you wanting to do what God made you to do.
Learn to lay your creativity at the foot of God's throne!
Lost & Found - World's Largest Collection of Rustic Automata
Video from The Documentary Network
"Oct 1, 2013
Take a peek into Blair's bizarre and beautiful world. In a remote corner of New Zealand's South Island, tucked away among the last remaining tracts of native forest, lies a little-known place of wonder. It is the life's work and extraordinary creation of inventor, artist and self-confessed tinkerer, Blair Somerville. For over ten years Blair has single-handedly owned, operated and ceaselessly expanded the Lost Gypsy Gallery, his wonderland of homegrown wizardry and a playground for kids and adults alike. Using only recycled materials, Blair takes DIY to artistic extremes. His creations are ingenious, interactive, and often hilariously impractical. They take many shapes and forms and share an uncanny ability to amaze, entertain and inspire." from video introduction
Local hero: Blair Somerville, The Lost Gypsy Gallery
From the outside, The Lost Gypsy Gallery might just look like a house truck parked up on the side of a road in a tiny coastal town.
January 2019 "From the inside, though, it looks like a leap into the endlessly active and utterly fascinating mind of artist and inventor, Blair Somerville.
Originally from Auckland, Somerville has lived in The Catlins for a bit more than a decade and over that time he has gradually developed and expanded his magical gallery. Initially, the truck itself was home to his collection of hand-cranked automata machines made of found materials and other curious objects.
Since then, the collection has expanded and he's developed the Winding Thoughts Theatre of Sorts in the garden at the back of the truck, and there's now also the Little Rocket caravan cafe serving good strong coffee, which your brain might need after having been slightly blown.
There's no charge to wander through the truck, which is home to numerous small automata made from found and salvaged materials. While many people might see junk, Somerville sees potential in all sorts of objects.
A small train runs around the roofline of the truck, while the walls abound with things you can wind and watch.." from the article: Local hero: Blair Somerville, The Lost Gypsy Gallery