Makers & Mystics

At one time, religious identity and the Christian narrative formed the social imaginary of our western world. To be a part of a local church or to identify with some aspect of the values of traditional faith was an assumed part of American life. But today, autonomy, self-fulfillment and individual expression seem to have taken the forefront of how a generation defines themselves and lives out the search for meaning and deeper purpose. My guest today is novelist and prolific writer, Tara Isabella Burton. Tara Isabella Burton is the author of the novels Social Creature, The World Cannot Give, and the forthcoming Here in Avalon (S&S, January 2024), and the nonfiction Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World and Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians. She has written on religion and culture for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more. She received her doctorate in Theology from Oxford in 2017, and is currently a Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center. In our conversation, Tara shares about how modern society has not so much abandoned it’s yearning for transcendence in favor of a secular world view but has rather simply re-mixed the grand narrative to fit the values of expressive individualism. Tara also shares about fiction as a catalyst of embodying truth and how fandom, religious affiliation and art play into the shaping of identity.You can pre-order Tara’s upcoming novel here. You can join the Makers & Mystics creative collective hereYou can get tickets to The Breath & the Clay creative arts gathering here! March 22-24, 2024 in Winston Salem, NC. Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Hugo Ball was a German sound poet, theatrical performer and mystic. He and his partner Emmy Hennings were the original catalysts of the infamous Dadaist art movement which they started in Zurich, Switzerland around 1916. What may be surprising to learn is that Hugo Ball was a Catholic and his bizarre forms of art were deeply informed by his theology. Joining me for this episode is visual artist, writer and art critic Jonathan Anderson. Jonathan writes about Hugo in his book, Modern Art & the Life of A Culture. Join the Makers & Mystics Creative Collective Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

What do we make of the world we have been given? How do we bring order from chaos, beauty from ashes and flourishing from what is formless and void? Echoing the words first spoken by the Great Artist in the Genesis narrative, we, too, have been invited to bring forth, to give birth, to call life into being. At this year‘s The Breath & the Clay creative arts gathering, we are extending this invitation to you. Come. Participate in the unfolding of your creative inheritance. As artists and creators, we are called upon to be the architects of hope for our generation and for the generations to come. Lend your voice to the transformation, and liberate the creative spark. Let there be. Each year since 2014, The Breath and the Clay has gathered in Winston Salem, North Carolina for a 3-day experience curated to inspire, challenge and transform your creative and spiritual journey. The event consists of live performances, keynote talks, an immersive art gallery and instructional workshops. Whether you are a working artist, a curious observer, a newfound experimentalist or a lifelong explorer, this interactive environment will liberate the creative spark within you and set you on a course of creative discovery.GET TICKETSART SUBMISSIONSSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Tasha Jun is a Korean American melancholy dreamer, wife, and mom, who grew up in a multicultural and biracial home. She’s spent her life navigating the space between worlds: American and Korean, faith and doubt, family devotion and fierce independence. As a Korean American, she wandered between seemingly opposing worlds, struggling to find a voice to speak and a firm place for her feet to land.In today’s episode, as we continue our exploration of art and identity, Tasha talks with me about her journey from self-rejection to self-acceptance and how writing her memoir Tell Me The Dream Again served as a means of integrating the multi-faceted parts of her identity. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy a deeper dive into this topic with Tasha on our Patreon. Read The TranscriptSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

After accidentally fixing a broken guitar pedal in 2007, Joshua Heath Scott’s natural curiosity pulled him into the rabbit hole of electrical engineering and circuit design-- from this experience, his company, JHS Pedals was born. Today, JHS pedals has become one of the most influential pedal companies in the world, preferred by recording artists such as Beck, John Mayer, Madison Cunningham and many others. Josh’s YouTube series, The JHS Show, has garnered millions of views from audiences spanning the globe and often expands into documentaries on musical technology, invention and music history. Aside from his guitar-related work, Josh is an accomplished published photographer who focuses on photographic essays of Midwestern America. Much like his pedal company, Josh tells us he accidentally fell in love with photography, riding his bicycle throughout Kansas farmlands and documenting what he saw. In today’s episode, recorded live at the Loom creative arts event, Josh talks about the curiosity that drives his creative work as well as ‘the adjacent possible,’ a term describing creative and innovative possibilities that grow as they are explored. Following our theme of art and identity, Josh shares about finding reflections of ourselves in others and in the way we see the world around us. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Josh at patreon.com/makersandmysticsSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Qais Essar is a contemporary Afghan composer, instrumentalist, and producer who channels his melodic designs through the rabab, a 2,500 year old instrument from Afghanistan. He has toured extensively, sharing his new genre of music nationally and internationally. He has contributed original music to feature film and television also, composing for 2021’s Oscar-nominated film, Three Songs for Benazir. In 2017, Qais was recruited by director Nora Twomey to compose an original song for her Oscar-nominated film, The Breadwinner (produced by Angelina Jolie). He earned a Canadian Screen Award for “Best Original Song” for his piece, The Crown Sleeps. In this episode, Qais shares his deep connections to this ancient instrument and how the rebab has become an extension of his own voice. Following our theme of Art & Identity, this conversation offers a beautiful perspective on how culture, tradition and innovation shape the people we become. Hear Qais Essar’s latest release “My Whole Heart.”Join the Makers & Mystics creative CollectiveStephen’s Songs of Water music Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

In today’s episode we’re going to hear from a young adult fiction writer whose creative work is fueled by the inspiration of family and who gains tremendous creative energy both from his children and by writing for children.Our guest is S.D. Smith, author of The Green Ember Series, a bestselling middle-grade adventure saga. The Green Ember has reached hundreds of thousands of readers and spent time as the number one bestselling audiobook in the world on Audible. Smith’s stories are captivating readers across the globe who are hungry for “new stories with an old soul.” Enthusiastic families can’t get enough of these tales.In our conversation, S.D. (Sam) shares why family and community are important to him as a writer.This conversation continues the season 12 theme of Art & Identity, offering a meditation on how family and community shape the people we become and the art we make.We will be talking in greater detail about this relationship between art and family in the Makers and Mystics Creative Collective. If you’d love to go deeper with us in these conversations, I want to invite you to visit Patreon and sign up today.And since this episode features the work of a children’s book writer, it seems appropriate to tell you here that starting the first Wednesday in October, our collective will begin reading through The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Today on the podcast, we are continuing our discussion of art and identity by taking a look at the vital role of our relationship to our bodies. Why is it important that we honor and understand our bodies? Why is having a right relationship to our bodies imperative to the quest of art and knowing our true selves? Joining us for this discussion is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, David O. Taylor.David Taylor has long been a voice and an advocate for the arts within academia and faith contexts. In 2016, he produced a short film on the Psalms with Bono and Eugene Peterson. His previous books include: Open and Unafraid: The Psalms As A Guide to Life, and Glimpses of The New Creation: Worship and The Formative Power of The Arts.In this episode David discusses his latest book, A Body of Praise: The Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship.Support The Podcast. Join The Creative CollectiveSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Andy Squyres is a singer-songwriter born and raised in the mountains of Northern California but after moving east in the late 1990’s, he’s spent the last few decades carving songs out of the foothills of his North Carolina home. Andy is Heavily influenced by the poetics of Leonard Cohen and the lyrical tradition of artists like Bob Dylan and The National. His passion for words convey a raw and unmatched honesty that bring listeners face to face with overlooked parts of our own humanity and weave together a tapestry of heartbreak and hope. In this episode, Andy and Stephen talk backstage at the Loom creative arts gathering about Andy's creative process, confronting the empty page and what it takes to build a sustainable lifestyle of making music and making a living. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Andy of the making of his latest release Death Defying Joy which you’re hearing throughout this episode. Join the Makers and Mystics Creative Collective We have a special event coming up many of you have been asking about. Be the first to know. Click here. Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

When we think of identity, we often point to our distinguishing characteristics and individual preferences. But what about our sense of place? How does place impact the people we become and the art we make? In today’s episode, award-winning author and professor Esau McCaulley talks with me about the impact of place on his life and how growing up in a poverty-stricken Alabama town informs the writing of his upcoming memoir, How Far To The Promised Land. Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Professor McCaulley on finding your voice as an artist. Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.