My Art Pieces from Ap(art)

Okay, if you want to own a piece of my art there has never been a better time. Here are four pieces from the Ap(art) event. All money from these pieces goes to scholarships for kids so they can continue in art programs at Jackson School of the Arts.

Get out your checkbooks people. If you want a piece, you can bid here on this site in the comment section or send me an email at john@westwinds.org. I will contact you with current bid status and answer any questions.

If you aren't an art person, do it for the kids. We'll give the art you win away to someone else.

You can pay by check, cash, or credit card through our PayPal account if you win the bid.

#28 is an oil abstract on a 4X4 piece of 3/4inch plywood. The "frame" was routed into the actual piece with a plunge router and the color gives it depth and the illusion of being inset in a frame.

#33 is a black and white abstract with oil and bondo on canvas. There is a thick wire running around the perimeter of the piece. The contrast is brilliant.

#7 was inspired by the series we are in at Westwinds. The writing on the painting says, "YOUR CITY IS SICK SHE'S HURTING" and the words repeat four times with a different word underlined each repeat for a different emphasis. Your city is SICK. YOUR city. Your CITY. Your city is sick, she's HURTING.

#41 This is oil and bondo on ply. A boy kneels and ponders how he might shadow God in the redemption of the world.

Art from Ap(art)

Go online to the Ap(art) site and place your bid on any of this art. Click on a piece if you like it and place your bid in the comment section. We will update the site later today with the bid status. Every piece of art is at least at $50.00 currently. Some are over $150.00. All the money we raise goes to art scholarships for the Jackson School of the Arts.

Ap(art) 105.3 Interview

More on Ap(art)

On the day(s) of the Ap(art) [say Art Apart] event, we will be streaming live from the Armory Arts Village on the Ap(art) site found here.

If you see a piece of art you like on the stream, take note of the number the art is labeled with and submit your bid to art@westwinds.org. Make sure you give us your full name and contact info. We DO take VISA and MASTERCARD and, if you win a bid and prefer to pay that way we will send you a request for payment through PAYPAL.

We will be checking online bids every hour until the close of the event at 4:30 on Saturday.

If you would like to check on the status of your bid, please email art@westwinds.org and put the word status and the number of the piece of art you are inquiring about.

Example: Status 25

We will reply with an update and a chance to raise your bid.

On a personal note, I will be doing some artwork at this event and my medium will be oil, acrylic, and bondo on canvas. I can't wait. If you win a bid and you are a Vertizontal follower, we will donate 10% of the cost of your artwork to the charity of your choice.

Today I met with artists from Jackson who are NOT part of Westwinds and we talked about what it looks like to breathe life and hope into our community. It feels good to be part of an event that is not church specific but rather shows love in a tangible way to our community as we pour time, energy, and money into the artists who are making our community a better place.

Ap(art)

When I first moved to Jackson from California, I was very surprised at the low opinion Jackson had of itself in many circles.

Sure, there were and still are people who were doing great things to promote community awareness and love this place (such as the staff at JTV and Bart Hawley in particular, the folks at Art 634 and the Armory Arts Village, 105.3, Home.fm, many churches and schools, etc.) but when I talked to many of the folks I was meeting around town it was a different story.

It became common for me to hear things like, “Why would anyone move from California to this place?” Or, “Hope you stay for a bit . . . last one out of Jackson turn out the lights.”

That mentality is very sad to me. I understand where it comes from . . . businesses closing, not a lot of night life, depressed economy . . . I get all that. But whining and apathy will not change the face of Jackson. We need to breathe life into this community. Picasso said, "Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life."

It was out of this desire to change Jackson’s opinion of itself and to breathe life into the community that Ap(art) was born. Art is a wonderful way to engage in a dialogue, process feeling, commune with one another, celebrate life, work through tensions, co-create with God, tell a story, raise issues and awareness, and respond.

Thomas Merton said, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” At this time in our confused and volatile community art is one of the things that cannot be taken away from us.

Unfortunately, though art cannot be taken away from us in a spiritual and metaphysical sense just as our dreams cannot be robbed from us, the sad reality is art IS being taken away in that schools, students, and resident artists are finding it harder to purchase materials they need and keep programs alive and/or make their way.

At Ap(art) [say, “art apart”] artists will create works that will be auctioned to the public in order to pour money back into the community. This is a missional effort. Money will be given towards scholarships for art students, expenses for artists in residence, and grants for art programs here in Jackson for underprivileged students.

Check out our site here. You can apply to take part as an artist here. You can support the event by becoming a sponsor here. The event will be streamed LIVE here.

Because Jackson is worth it.