Jul 4, 2012

COMPASIÓN



11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 



Each time I'm doing an artist-in-residence or being in another place while laying my creative eggs, I choose a word from Col. 3: 12. It's an ungoing process. Already I have Gentleness, Humility and Kindness. In Madrid I chose the word COMPASSION and I made it in Spanish. I will go later in the afternoon, to see if it's still there!






Jun 29, 2012

Mission Madrid

Hi folks!
This is the second and last newsletter from Madrid.
Tomorrow I will be making little videoshots during the Serve the City Madrid projects, and Noemi Mena will interview.
We actually made a promotion movie for Serve the City Madrid a month ago. It's this funny stop-motion short that tells the story of how people can make the day of homeless man, just by being nice to him. He also gets encouraged to do nice to others and before he knows, he is off to his brand new job...We shot this short with friends and all the spanish people that participated were willing to make free time and were super enthusiastic. 

I have to say that during my entire stay in Madrid so far, not one single setback has occurred. Except for one: I accidentally dropped my laptop and the screen broke (again). Although I was devastated, it's just a laptop, and I remembered a preaching from a pastor in the International Baptist Church saying: also at setbacks praise God! For He does turn all the bad situations into opportunities. It's an exercise though, it doesn't come naturally to us to praise God when uncool things happen.
Starting the day with God led me to many encounters with the people of the neighborhood.
One day as I was sitting on the bench reading a chapter out of 'Walking with Gay Friends' (highly recommended!) a man approached me and introduced himself. He said he is a Gipsy and had had a Dutch mother. He started singing beautiful flamenco songs to me, one entitled 'Flaca' meaning 'skinny'. He saw how my nail-polish was all worn off and he said: "I'll go home and get you some nail polish remover. I'll be right back, give me 20 minutes.''
He did return with the nail-polish remover and a whole beauty box with nailpolish and he polished my nails dark purple, to my choice. 'But,'he said, 'the middle finger you should give another color, in case you meet rude people, you can give them a very subtle hint'. Also another gipsy joined us, his name is Louis. Louis made me choose of colored paper and then he made me paper flowers. During the process he said: Remember the thought you have while I make this. After wards he told me to close my eyes and choose a parfume as he sprayed to different kind of scents on my hands. I chose a parfume which he sprayed on the flower he made and he gave it to me. 'Now, go to my facebook page PapelFlores and write down the thought you have'.
I spend the entire afternoon with these gipsy men, as they sang and we ate sunflowerseeds and tamarind juice, to celebrate the Caribbean. They invited me to go to the beach in Valencia, which I politely declined.

I also met an old man with superlong white hair and a beard like Santa Claus. But he was very tall and skinny. He didn't speak. He wrote down his thoughts and referred to himself in the plural form. We had a very interesting conversation, he has some interesting wisdom and we shared a very nice self made lunch together, including saliva as we shared 1 calebas cup with chai tea, that afternoon. I felt so Jesus-like. But each time I brought the subject to God or Jesus, he reacted very angry (although not with words, but with body language). He was very busy rejecting God and I'm afraid something terrible happened to him that he blames God for and won't speak again. However, he was referring his hatred with bible texts and such. Being so busy hating God is also a good thing,  ánd reading the Bible, cause he is busy with God still. I shared this encounter with Kelly and he had tried to have conversations with him too, but the man always reacted very aggresive towards him. Which must be spiritual battle, because Kelly here is one of the most humble caring people walking these Malasañan dog-peed streets I know.
I continued to meet René, the guy who felt sharing whatever was on his heart every time we met. His friend has a drug addiction and gives him also financial problems. I would just listen and pray for him, which he highly appreciated. The next thing was to introduce him to Kelly and April, so they can continue this friendship. They are looking forward to that.
Meeting people went all automatically some days. Just sitting on a terrace with potential missionaries from the US who came to ask Kelly questions (for God called them to Burgos, the north of Spain) led to 2 Americans joining our table and later on also 2 Indonesian girls. In the end I was with one American girl who is from Austin, Texas and the two Indonesian girls of which one is also an artist. We went out that night to dance reggae and next thing I know I met the coolest reggae band on a personal level ever. With some people you just know the friendship is long-term, although you met very shortly. That's how it felt with Seedee (Senegal) Seb, Lif, Fred and Leo (France), Matt (UK) and Xavi (Spain), who all live in the south of Spain, Almería. These guys were very dedicated to their music and very laid back and friendly. Of course this is very normal attitude in the reggae scene, and I wish their type of kindness was also so automatic in the christian scene.

Meanwhile back in Madrid it is very nice to be connecting and catching up with the Spanish friends I already have, like Noemi, Ana and Nuria. I am also learning a lot about church planting  and mission from Kelly from Decoupage. I guess I do feel called to start a similar group in Curacao. I have friends there who each time I go back ask me: Is the Zolder coming to Curacao? Yes? Will you start the Zolder here? To which I always react like: whah? me?! who am I to start a church. I have totally other ideas for Curacao (see previous posts), but then again: why not? and how about a home church with an art ministry focus?? Involving my christian art friends, Operation Mobilisation, the art and reggae scene... Hmm, something is brewing here...

Being in Madrid has been a lot about the people and their stories. I have this also re-occurring in the drawings I made here. Together with Chris I spread my drawings guerilla style. I was very happy to be able to exhibit my paper installation cloud during the Sofa Underground (an underground living-room concert organised by Chris and Gloria, changing living rooms each time in the city) It's a nice concept: you make a list, and everyone wants to be on that list. But it's a limited number, so then people want to be part of it even more. Nice idea for ArtSpace50, which also has underground aspects. 

people could write down their wishes, desires and new starts
of the Single Cloud series
I am also glad to have met Miguel from espacia Islandia. He has an art space where he organizes micro artists-in-residences of 2 hours and gives a 2 euro grant :) The space was beautiful to exhibit my drawings in, and make once again the one single cloud. The cloud refers actually to God and that with Him there is a new fresh start after a very dry season. And then he pours blessings abundantly. If you see just one single cloud in the sky, remember this. And be ready to be blessed in a crazy abundant way.

Miguel is an architect/artist and has studied in Rotterdam, so he has fond memories of Holland and was happy to host me in his art space. I will be taking his drawing workshops just before my return to Amsterdam. Decoupage community that invited me over here, has also learned from me, as I have from them. They also desire to have more encounters with their random neighbors, of all sorts. They also learned about being pro-active and self-initiating when it comes to being a professional artist, but still knowing that God is the true manager and provider of work.
during one of the microResidencia's we went with the community Decoupage
I have had a super blessed time here and God's presence was with me 24/7 as he gave me rest (Exodus 33:14). A great part of this I have you to thank for, your good will, prayers and financial help has made it a carefree stay in Madrid, without all kind of struggles or setbacks. It was merely about God's presence, and me calling on to his presence for each day, and the peace he gave me. As he told Moses:
 ''My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest''
I am also very inspired to continue with installations and guerilla art. I will take this new inputs with me to Amsterdam. I see you all soon again in the near future! thank you for reading.

in Him,
Avantia

May 28, 2012

A.I.R Madrid

Hi guys!
Here is an update of already 3 weeks in Madrid! At first as I arrived, you can imagine, I'm immediately falling in love with the neighborhood Malasaña. Everything is just around the corner. The grocery shop, the 1 euro shop, the post office etc. I walk everything and as much as I can and get pleasantly lost every day. I take photo's, as a way of collecting, of streets and houses. Today I decided to collect the artificial flowers i keep seeing on the floor and start a new collection for possible work. I have a lovely apartment all for myself where I do my drawings, but I also have a favourite square where i sit and draw buildings called Plaza Dos de Mayo. When I arrived I started drawing right away and I want to draw at least one drawing a day, but that's not happening in the second week already. That's because social life is also catching up here! Also: I want to draw with content, something meaningful. So I started placing God in the center on day 1 and that took effect right away: God gives me something to draw about if I start and end the day with Him, awesome. It gives meaning, cause now I feel I'm on to something, together with God and that's exciting. The drawings are in that way prayers or discoveries with Him.
Decoupage I met Chris and Gloria, Kelly and April and their 3 kids, and the other members of the community Decoupage: Paz, a Spanish girl who lives a street away, Adriana, a lady from Colombia who is of course very warm, enjoys hugging type of person, and Alejandra and Johnny, a Colombian/Spanish couple, all supernice folks. The theme they are discussing is homosexuality. We are all reading a chapter a week from a book called Walking with Gay Friends, by Alex Tylee. As Christians in general we haven't pulled it off so well how to deal with this theme towards homosexuals or towards Christian homosexuals. The author of this book is a lesbian christian. The community feels like the art community back in Amsterdam: we eat together, pray together and after discus a theme. But before that we go to the Plaza 2 de Mayo (square) where we pray for the neighborhood on the spot. The rest of the week is not necessarily about connecting with people and eventually pull them into the Decoupage group to expand the community, but it's the other way around: the connecting happens where the people already are. Seeing each other regularly at the park, cafe, club etc. This is for me a new approach I'm learning from. Kelly Crull has introduced me to the neighborhood by taking walks and showing me all what's going on here, while giving me also historical and demographic background information. Last weekend he took me to the community garden where I had a nice talk pulling out weeds, until my violent hey fever forced me to leave the place.
Meeting new people I keep running into René who lives in the area i like to sit and draw at the Plaza 2 de Mayo. He is an American with most family in Panamá, and he travels and lives here and there. He has two funny Jack Russel dogs always with him. He shared his concern for his housemate and friend who is hooked on cocaine and wasting hundreds of euros per week, also the rent. Would be nice to connect him to Decoupage or other christian friends I'm meeting here. (I still work like that ;)
One day I locked myself out and I had to get a copy of the keys at a friend of the girl's apartment i'm staying in. This girl Maria is such an open and nice person and we were just talking and talking that she almost forgot to give me the keys. I might invite her for something too, but she already suggested to have coffee in June. Also one day late, on a Saturday, on my way back home, I passed a catholic church that was open at 2 am in the morning on a very busy square where all the Spanish were partying the weekend. I walked in, curious, how late it was open. A friendly girl told me all about how they just were open so people could have a quiet time and pray. And so I told her what I am doing here and she prayed for me and was very excited that we both wanted to share about God's love to others. We were saying how much we have the same God, same Son and same Holy Spirit and how He works thru us. I could grab a folded colored paper with a bible text inside and open it at home (as a fortune cookie message kind-of-thing). The verse is in Jeremiah 29:13: If you seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. Me buscarán y me encontrarán, cuando me busquen de todo corazón.  

Guerilla art
I'm doing 3 things here: spreading my drawings in an guerilla art way, exhibiting work where possible and doing an drawing event during a 2 day concert of the music band of Chris Peterson. The drawings I make, I copy and spread as gifts thru jars or in big ziplock bags and leave them behind on benches or on walls for people to take with. Guerilla art works excellent for christian artist: you spread your message, anonymously and as a gift in the environment that you would like to influence. Anonymously: The glory goes to God and it's just about planting a seed at that instant. I am reading a book about this that inspired me alot: The Guerilla Art Kit by Keri Smith. A lot of her ideas i have actually been doing since years.
I also once as I am working a lot in cafés (no internet at home) was in a art café and I asked the owner if I could exhibit. She pulled out her agenda and said: yes, i have a spot in March 2013. Well, I'm not that long in Madrid (or AM I...?) so I suggested if I could screen my animations since they also have a screen. She agreed ant the 2nd of June I get to show my animations in the heart of this neighborhood. Great! Besides that I'm making a promotional short movie for Serve the City Madrid and all friends (the new ones and the old ones) are involved in the making of. It's very short notice but very much fun to do. I'll post the end result as soon as it's done. Tomorrow I'll give a workshop 'Praying in Colors' to the Decoupage group, this is also something new for me, so I'm happy to get more into this way of praying. Decoupage is very interested in the art ministry as a whole, as it's not happening anywhere in Spain yet. Finances I reached 95% of the target raised money for my stay here in Madrid and calculated that I spend like a 80 euro per week on daily expenses if I watch it. So that's just 40 euro more then budgeted. Because the social life takes merely place outside in cafes and restaurants, my wallet fills up quickly with receipts :) Any support is still possible (A.M.A Damberg ING Bank 9242014) til end of June.
Thank you for all sorts of support an prayers so far! I feel super blessed where I am at because of you. your servant artist reporting from Madrid, Avantia