Makers & Mystics

Lowland Hum is the musical work of husband and wife duo Daniel and Lauren Goans of Charlottesville, Virginia. Their indie-folk sound is characterized by winsome haronies, poetic songwriting and raw, authentic craftsmanship. The band has spent the past eleven years touring the nation and sharing stages with artists just as Josh Ritter, Oh Hellos and Penny and Sparrow. Today on the podcast, Daniel and Lauren talk with Stephen Roach about their collaborative process, how changing seasons impact the creative process and our sense of self. LIsten on SpotifyListen on Apple Join Us on Patreon!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.

Artistic expression and the creative process profoundly shape our sense of self, culture, and belonging. In our first roundtable of season 12, author Rachel Kang, visual artist Corey Frey and podcast host Stephen Roach to explore the transformative relationship between between art and identity.Drawing from their own unique journeys with the written word and visual art, we discuss how these forms become powerful conduits for personal and collective narratives.Rachel Kang is an author, poet and founder of The Fallow House online creative community. A mixed woman of African American, Native American (Ramapough Lenape Nation), Irish, and Dutch descent, she is a graduate of Alliance College with a Bachelor of Arts in English with Creative Writing and a minor in Bible.You may recall our previous episode with Rachel on her book, Let There Be Art.Corey Frey s a visual artist, poet and musician. He and his wife Christy are the founders of The Well Collaborative, a community in Frederick Maryland, dedicated to wonder, hospitality and creativity. Corey works as the Exhibitions Manager at The Delaplaine Arts Center in Frederick’s downtown area. He is also the co-hosts of the Makers and Mystics podcast’s creative collective book clubs.Join us as we explore the intricate tapestry of human identity and gain fresh insights into understanding the transformative relationship between art and identity.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 role does the imagination play in shaping the identity of a culture? Our collective imagination provides metaphors, stories and symbols that bind people groups together and create a common understanding of the world. But what happens when those metaphors no longer carry the same meanings? Or even worse, when those stories and metaphors no longer create unity but bring division and harm? Professor and writer Karen Swallow Prior addresses these concerns in her book The Evangelical Imagination. She tells us, contemporary American evangelicalism is suffering from an identity crisis - and a lot of bad press. In this episode, Karen discusses what Charles Taylor called ‘A social imaginary’ and how artists and creatives can respond to the evangelical crisis of identity and bring healing to our cultural fractures. Hear an additional interview segment with Karen on Julian of NorwichJoin our creative collectiveKaren’s WebsiteFollow us on InstagramTranscriptSend 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.

Victory Boyd is a Grammy award winning singer/songwriter from Detroit Michigan. She is one of nine siblings who got her start singing in the Boys & Girls Choir of Detroit, founded by her father, John Boyd. Victory made her first solo recording on Jay Z’s Roc Nation label and went on to collaborate with Kanye West for his 2019 album Jesus is King. Her most recent album, Glory Hour is an inspirational 18-track collection marking her first gospel album. In this episode, Victory shares about her upbringing in a vibrant musical family, the discipline of spontaneity, along with the deep spiritual roots that inform her work as an artist. Speaking to our season theme of Art & Identity, Victory shares about the journey of finding her identity rooted in inheritance rather than in striving after acceptance. Join Our Creative Collective and take a deeper dive into the themes and conversations on the podcast. Victory’s WebsiteFollow us on InstagramOfficial WebsiteFacebookRead 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.

Like our art, our sense of identity is never static. It is ever changing, ever evolving, ever growing and ever becoming.  Our identity is composed of the heritage we are given, the relationships we foster, the places we live, our beliefs, interests and experiences. Our sense of identity is reflected back to us through the mirroring lens of what we behold. On one level, you could say identity is a library of memories and desires that form the narrative arc of our lives. But what are roots of identity? What is the soil from which it grows? Is there something deeper that constitutes a pure and unchanging self? One perhaps that has existed from eternity. And who are we apart from these outer layers that clothe the naked soul and form our personalities?  For the maker our creative works are intimately woven into the fabric of our being and for the mystic, the core of our identity is rooted in the unchanging love of God. What then is the relationship between our art and our sense of self? How does our art-making shape our sense of self? Does our well being depend upon the success or public reception of our creations? Does the praise or indifference of an audience determine our self worth?   For the artist of faith, what is the proper way to understand this relationship between our art and our identity? Is our art separate from our core, spiritual identity? Or is our art as an overflow of who we are, budding forth but attached like a flowering stem?  These are among the questions we will be exploring in Season 12 of the podcast.  We’ll be hearing from well-known artists and musicians, theologians, and creative thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines. Be sure to subscribe and follow along to be a part of the conversations.Series Starts Tuesday August 1stJoin The 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.

In this short summary, Makers & Mystics host, Stephen Roach shares his closing thoughts on our Season 11 theme of Art and The Urge for Transcendence. "Wonder is the poetry of God." he says. And as devoted artists of faith, it is our invitation to be the "custodians of wonder" re-introducing the world to awe and reverence. Music for this episode is provided by Glassea. Support the podcastJoin 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.

It's time for the Makers & Mystics Summer Book Club to begin! And we couldn't be more thrilled about the book we will be reading together. The Creative Act by Rick RubinStarting Wednesday night, July 5th, at 8 pm Eastern time, we will spend an hour each week discussing the topics of this book and how each plays out in our own creative practices. We will cover topics such as: MindsetsHabits Collaboration Experimentation SIGN UP FOR THE BOOK CLUB!This Book Club will be led by the Makers & Mystics podcast host, Stephen Roach (that's me) and our Art Collective Leader, Corey Frey.We would love to have you join in! This one is reserved for the Maker tier of Patrons, however, if you'd like to join and can't swing the ten bucks, send me a message and I'll sneak you in the back door. See you soon!Stephen 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 this concluding segment of our artist's roundtable on the Ordinary and Existential, Strahan, Josh, Ashley and Stephen explore the similarities and contrast between the glory of transfiguration and the humility of washing the disciples feet. Though different in expression, both acts hold a beautiful depiction of art and the urge for transcendence. Support the Podcast with a one time donationBecome a Monthly Patron 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 does transcendence look like for a “post-psychedelic” artist and seeker? How does the notion of transcendence differ for the Jesus follower? Is there a difference between “manufactured” transcendence and one brought about by genuine spiritual encounter? This Roundtable discussion brings together Canadian author, printmaker and clothing designer, Josh Nadeau, New Zealand folk musician, author and spiritual director Strahan Coleman, Mid-Western artist and writer Ashley Lande and Makers & Mystics host Stephen Roach to explore these questions. Listen to an early release of Part 2 on our Patreon. 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.

The pace of our modern culture doesn’t always accommodate the need for balance between work and rest. We praise the hustle and scorn the burnout the hustle produces and yet we rarely make room for reflection and rejuvenation. Author and creative coach Justin McRoberts tackles this issue head on in his new book sacred strides: the journey to belovedness in work and rest. In this episode, Justin discusses the importance, specifically for working artists to develop a rhythm between work and rest and how to cultivate healthy patterns of practicing meaningful rest. If you’re a patron of the podcast you can hear an additional clip from this conversation on what the hustle tells us about the things we build and how that impacts our relationship to our art. *Thank you for your support. The free book offer has ended but we’d still be grateful for a kind review! 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.