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Field Notes

  • Field Notes

    Prison Arts: When the Brushes Fell Apart

    By Jessie Nilo Have you ever watched a person’s expression crumble after they broke something accidentally? Nothing expensive or special.Just… a broken old paint brush. For eight years, I’ve been hauling the same 100+ paint brushes into various prisons to teach art classes. Eight years. That’s practically ancient in brush years. They look the part, […]
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    “I Made a Jessie” …a Story on Influence

    Ever feel invisible? Like you go unseen?  I’m here to attest otherwise. People see what you do and what you create. And it’s okay not to know it. Here’s a true story that happened last week. A little girl saw a doodle I made, and it sent her on a journey of her own. Earlier […]
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    Freedom in Worship: Jesus We Love You

    A few years ago, I heard a worship leader spontaneously say that worship lyrics can be compared to writing a love letter to God. When everyone sings the regular lyrics and the main melody, it can be lovely, like giving the receiver (God) a beautiful greeting card that we all bought from a store. But adding our own little variations within the song? When everyone hums their own tune within […]
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    Suffer the Little Children

    I really love the word invite. That’s what Jesus does.After church today we held our once-a-month gathering for VineArts leaders and their families. We all enjoyed a spaghetti lunch, then I took the studio floor and gave a couple of invitations.First I invited the Holy Spirit to manifest His goodness, truth, and imagination in us.Then […]
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    Art and Worship at a Local University

    What happens when you take: 4 VineArts artists, 3 Envision artists, and 3 Fresco Arts Academy high school artists …all of whom have faith in Christ, discipline in visual art, and a heart to serve others… And you set them loose on a college worship event? (see the video here) (p.s.- you’ll see in the […]
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    Open Eyes, Encounter God

    Praying through Art? I’d heard of different ways people do this, but my own experience did not include “Visio Divina.” That is, until last month! Have you ever heard of Lectio Divina? We recently discovered that awesomeness. But Visio Divina is not using your ears, but your eyes. To look at art. And experience God. How […]
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    “All In” (Art We Made at a National Worship Conference)

    I was delighted! A group of artists from my church had been asked to create live art at a national worship conference for training and equipping pastors. Yes!! Even so, the question was WAY bigger than, “What will we create at the service?” So we decided to start six months ahead of the conference. We […]
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    Plein Air Pause

    Sometimes the most meaningful art doesn’t happen in the studio but in the quiet of an open sky. A reflection on what I’m learning when I take time to slow down.
    Jessie Nilo
  • Field Notes

    The Night Hardly Anyone Came to the Art Studio

    (Some details have been changed for privacy.)Today I was privileged to host Open Studio. Sometimes we get around 15 people. But this time, God sent only four. 4:00 pmMichelle came in.I first met Michelle last year. She was asleep on the floor by the church receptionist desk, exhausted, forsaken by the world. Counseling with our […]
    Jessie Nilo

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