Christian In the Visual Arts
This is an American visual arts organization and it’s mostly referred to as CIVA. This organization mostly works to discover and enhance the relationship between visual arts and the Christian faith. In the past, most Christians who were into visual arts faced several difficult situations. One of the big problems that they faced was the failure of the art world to respect their faith. Also, their vocation was not valued by the church. These made situations difficult as it was not easy to be a serious artist and a serious Christian.
In the year 1977, Eugene Johnson came up with a vision. Gene, a preacher, ceramicist, and professor served in the facilities of Bethel College. By gaining enthusiastic support from his art colleagues, he held a Christian artists conference which attracted more than 150 participants to St. Paul Minnesota. Most of the participants were from across North America. This did not stop since, after two years, another conference was done at Calvin College. This resulted in the Christians in the Visual Arts becoming an official organization.
Ed Boeve became the first president of CIVA in the year 1979. Other artists who took their lead on inventing and developing CIVA’s identity, as well as the young organization’s program were Don Forsythe, Ted Prescott, and Alva Steffler. In the year 1993, Sandra Bowden, an entrepreneur as well as an artist, was elected as Board President by CIVA members. CIVA enjoyed remarkable growth in its membership and influence during Sandra’s reign which lasted for fourteen years.
The first CIVA’s organization Executive Director was Dan Russ who was invited by the Board of Directors. This resulted in the relocation of the CIVA office to Gordon College, a Christian liberal arts college located in North Shore Boston. This occurred in the year 2002. During his serving term, Dan got an invitation from Gordon College to serve as the Director of Christian Study.
CIVA was later moved to East Washington Avenue as it was found out to be a suitable place where strategic and collaborative meetings could be held.
Mission and Vision
CIVA as well as its members are called to creative work. This is because artists create culture. Therefore, the Christian community is meant to contribute to the greater good because they are responsible for bringing their new skills to the organization as well as passion. Also, they are the ones who actively participate in most of the activities. As we bear God’s image, CIVA works hard to ensure that visual arts are flourished in their holy vocation as well pursued with excellence.
Devotion to the Church. These visual arts are very important since they help in the rehearsal and remembrance of the Biblical story. They also help Christian communities in building a bridge to the non-believing world. Visual arts play an important role during personal prayer and devotion. Churches have expressed their need for art as well as artists who make it, therefore, CIVA has taken this opportunity to deploy its resources as well as expertise to help the Church in embracing the visual arts.
