Plenty of things can inspire art: The outdoors, a thought or feeling. For Christ the King Lutheran Church’s Pastor Tim Orlowski, inspiration can be found in the books of the Bible.
For the fourth year, the church will host its Art Gallery and Gala, which will be held Saturday.
This year, Orlowski challenged his congregation to create art inspired by the Book of Pslams.
“We invite folks to be able to think about a particular theme, usually it’s been a theme from a book of the Bible that we ask people to read, consider, pray about and then out of that reading and prayfulness, create some sort of art,” he said. “Any art medium of any skill level, it doesn’t matter, just create something based on that particular theme and bring it to the church and we put it on a display.”
And once the artwork arrives, the church throws open its doors to share it.
“We give people the chance to come and see what everyone made. We did this a couple of years ago on the Book of Jeremiah, which was our first art gallery we did, and I was just blown away by the amount of participation, first of all, but also the amount of artfulness,” Orlowski said. “The things that came out of that, between songs and dance and sculpture and some commissioned paintings, there were all kinds of things.”
Orlowski said this year’s gala will also feature work from outside Christ the King.
“This year, we are trying to be more intentional about making it more of a broader event than just our congregation, so we’ve been reaching out to other congregations in town,” he said. “We know that we’ll have some submissions from Har Shalom. It’s been advertised in other churches. I know that there are other people bringing some.”
The evening will be catered by Manna culinary students, who will be creating Pslam-themed appetizers.
Orlowski said there will also be an open mic for those who want to do a live performance.
The public is invited, and no tickets are necessary.
And for Orlowski, the challenge helps to serve a higher calling.
“I think this is important because for the art, people would have had to have read something, which is a good thing, but also had to have been able to process it enough within themselves to create something out of it, which I think strengthens faith,” he said.
katie@durangoherald.com
If you go
What:
Christ the King Lutheran Church’s annual Art Gallery and Gala.
When:
5-7 p.m. Saturday.
Where:
Community Hall, Christ the King Lutheran Church, 495 Florida Road.
