*A note before you read: I have migrated to Substack, hence the updated appearance of this letter for some of you! For a while I kept my art letters and writing letters separate, but the time feels right to merge them now, as you’ll discover from reading this letter.
This is still the place to hear updates about art collections I’m working on, first access to sales, discount codes, and so forth. In fact, there is a long-awaited shop update coming VERY soon, which you’ll be first to hear about right here.
Friends, it’s been a long while since I’ve written you! There has been a lot going on behind the scenes in Found in the Fields – and in my life in general – and I’ve been absent for better reasons than my usual excuses!
But first, a story.
This year I’ve been part of a yearlong spiritual formation program through Coracle, an ecumenical Christian organization in my home city of Arlington. One Saturday a month, we have a day retreat focused on an aspect of life in Christ.
June’s retreat was on vocation – our lifelong work in relation to our unique skill sets, circumstances, and God’s call on our lives. It’s about the paid jobs we work, but it encompasses a greater purview to include our relational and spiritual work too, and the understanding that it’s all spiritual work – whether our work is at a desk job, or as a student in medical school, or parenting. The priest who leads our program, Chris, spoke about how work existed before sin entered the world as a gift of high goodness from God. Vocation belongs to the Lord, he said. God did not curse the work itself as a result of the fall, but the ground that will be worked upon.
We all must work difficult ground – and you feel that, yes? – but in Christ, we can redeem the work that we do, and partner with God as he breathes life into a dark and difficult world.
If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a True Reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavor, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God's calling, can matter forever.
Timothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor
I’ve been thinking about this perspective in light of my own vocation, which has sometimes felt like a game of musical chairs. I’ve been a flower farmer, a retail cashier, a teaching assistant, an editor, an artist. There have been many uncertainties, many murky years, and times of discouragement. What do I want to do with my life? How can the dreams I have actually come to pass?
But it wasn’t a waste – it never is in the kingdom of heaven.
And I’m also thinking about it as I begin direction-full years, and a new season of an open door and the start of a dream fulfilled.
I am very, very pleased to share with you that next September, I will begin a PhD program at the University of St Andrews in Scotland at their Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts. This is a dream seven years in the making, and now it’s really happening!
In 2015, back in my undergrad days, a new friend at CNU spoke a prophetic word over me shortly after we met: “You will be a bridge between the arts and the church.” I had never received a prophetic word before, so in an attempt to see if it was real, I prayed, contemplated, and paged through years’ worth of journals, only to find echoes that same common thread – the intersection of faith and art was never far from mind as evidenced by pages and pages worth of ideas, to-do lists, and prayers. What does it mean to live out an artistic calling as a person of faith? How can I help people in the church embrace art? How can I love and serve other artists in spiritually nourishing ways? What are we to think about iconoclasm, deconstructed musicians, or cheesy Christian art?
I discovered St Andrews and the Institute shortly after this. I instantly knew that I wanted to attend, but for many years I talked myself out of applying. There’s no way this could happen, I would think to myself, and besides, I can’t get married if I do this – who would want to uproot their life to move to Scotland with me? Anyways, I can live out this calling where I am.
That last statement was true, to an extent. I’ve had the opportunity to bridge arts and the church in some beautiful ways in the past five years (which I plan to write about in a future post), and developed life-giving friendships that have helped me think through my own place in the art & faith movement. I even had an unexpected, pandemic-induced season of working for my church where my boss allowed me to experiment with creating devotional art for the congregation and let me use my professional development stipend to attend art & faith conferences.
That stint of working at the church also led me to Jake, who wasn’t fazed when I shared this idea with him early on in our relationship, suggested that I set up a meeting with a professor at St Andrews while planning our honeymoon, and talked me back into applying for the program every time I tried to talk myself out of it. It was really Jake who encouraged me to finally go for it, to not let this dream stay a dream.
So I knocked on the door, and God opened it wide. I have been slightly hesitant to share this news, because it’s still a year away and a lot can happen in a year. We have to get many things in order before we go – figuring out our jobs, applying for scholarships, visa things, etc. I’m trying to keep an open hand with it all. But if our remaining questions turn to yeses, Jake and I will move to Scotland next September and I will begin my research (which I’m looking forward to sharing more about soon!).
I am really excited and really grateful. Even with the uncertainties, we’re walking into the future with a lot of joy and anticipation. I see this as a great kindness of God and I hope I can steward the gift well.
What’s next?
There’s a lot to share. Here’s what you can expect from me in the year before we go, and beyond!
1. More Words
First, you’ll hear updates from me here on Substack. There is a lot for me to do before we go, including applying for scholarships and preparing academically by following a DIY syllabus I’ve made for this next year. As I make an independent study of theology and art and work through the logistics of planning an overseas move, I’ll be sharing about all of it.
2. More Art
After a long hiatus due to wedding, job changes, and PhD applications, my monthly art letter is coming back, now hosted on this platform! In addition to this wild open door of St Andrews, I am also making art full-time right now, which feels simultaneously like a blessing and a giant leap of faith as we prepare for what’s next. The rest of this year will hold collection releases, a very special shop opening, and many other things that I can’t wait to share.
3. A New Subscription Model
I will begin offering paid subscriptions on this platform starting next month. This is one of the ways that I will be funding and supporting my PhD, and it also provides a way for me to create longer-form content for you! I will still offer free articles as well, but posts for paying subscribers will include deeper dives into topics in arts, culture, and theology that I’m studying, as well as more personal updates on the PhD journey.
For example, this summer I’ll be writing about: comparisons between the Barbie movie and Ecclesiastes! My experiences with building creative community in a largely uncreative locale! Why art and faith need one another! An inside look at my DIY syllabus (and how you can make your own)!
I’m also offering a fun art-related perk for one of my paying subscriber tiers. (I can’t help it.) If you become a Founding Member – a yearly subscription of $150 that breaks down to $12.50 a month – I will send you a free surprise art print each quarter of the year!
Here’s how the options break down:
Free: My monthly art letter, first access to collection releases/shop updates, and occasional other posts
Monthly ($5/month) or yearly ($50/year – best value): Deep dives into topics in arts, culture, and theology, personal updates on the PhD journey, and access to my full post archive
Founding membership ($150/year): Access to everything listed above, plus a quarterly free surprise art print
Please don’t feel pressure to become a paid subscriber – this is simply an opportunity to support my work! If you do, it will certainly mean the world to me. :) But if not, you’ll still receive my monthly art letter, email-only discounts, and the like. I am grateful for a place where I can offer words and readers can offer support.
And I am grateful for you, the reader, whether you’ve been reading my words for a decade or if this is the first post of mine that lands in your inbox today. This journey is just beginning! Thank you for being here for it.
With love,
Ellie
Ellie, this is wonderful!!! I am so thrilled for you and for this exciting next step! It must feel pretty surreal to be finally preparing to move to Scotland after dreaming about it for so long. You are going to do wonderful things in the art and faith world!
So exciting! Will be praying for you!