Engage Art

Engage Art Engage Culture, Engage Scripture, and Engage Art. Visit engageart.org to learn more about Engage Art. Engage Art seeks to transform culture through art.

We showcase original Scripture-inspired art from artists across the world to inspire everyone to take time to Engage Culture, Engage Scripture, and Engage Art. More specifically, we want to support artists, both personally and professionally, and we want to shift the culture from division to unity both inside and outside the church. Four big goals power this vision:
• To reintroduce artists to Scr

ipture as a source of inspiration;
• To transform people through art as it portrays Scripture in ways that touch the soul;
• To remind the church of the value and purpose of artists and their art; and
• To encourage people to establish a lifelong daily habit of reading, reflecting on, and responding to Scripture.

"Man, where are you? – Plate"By Ivan Kanchev"Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9)This monumental ceramic vessel by finalist Iv...
06/12/2026

"Man, where are you? – Plate"
By Ivan Kanchev

"Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9)

This monumental ceramic vessel by finalist Ivan Kanchev visually explores the very first question God asks humanity after the fall. Featuring scenes shaped with clay and fire, the piece depicts the fragility and confusion of human existence in a fractured world. It is a powerful reminder of Christ's call—uttered with love, anxiety, and deep concern—reaching out to a humanity lost in the maze of life.

✨ View this striking ceramic sculpture and more in the 2026 Finalist Gallery. https://engageart.org/gallery/contest/2026/

"I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH HIM – Triptych"by Ain Vares | What does true strength look like? In this stunning triptych,...
06/10/2026

"I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH HIM – Triptych"
by Ain Vares |

What does true strength look like? In this stunning triptych, finalist Ain Vares explores Philippians 4:13, showing that Christ’s strength doesn’t always promise the removal of hardship—it gives us the inner capacity to endure it.

Through flowing fields of green and earthy brown, small figures are held steady within a protective sphere. A continuous golden line runs through all three panels, symbolizing the unbroken lifeline of God's sustaining power infusing human weakness.

✨ Discover the profound message of this piece in our Finalist Gallery. https://engageart.org/gallery/contest/2026/

We’re honored to welcome Kristy Moeller Ottinger as the featured artist for this month’s Engage Art Bible Cluster.Kristy...
06/09/2026

We’re honored to welcome Kristy Moeller Ottinger as the featured artist for this month’s Engage Art Bible Cluster.

Kristy is a narrative quilt artist whose work grows out of prayer, storytelling, and a deep life of making. Raised in a family of makers, with a cabinetmaker father and a dressmaker mother, she learned early to create with her hands and has carried that spirit with her ever since. Today, she is best known for richly layered art quilts that bring together found objects, mixed media, embroidery, paint, and writing in ways that feel both visually intricate and spiritually alive.

For Kristy, making art is an act of worship. She describes each bead, stitch, and attached object as part of an ongoing prayer, a spiritual conversation that unfolds as the work develops. That perspective shapes the depth and texture of her practice and makes her work especially meaningful to encounter in community.

Facilitated by Ranika Chaney, this gathering will be a meaningful evening of Scripture, creativity, and community as Kristy shares her 2026 Engage Art Contest Honorable Mention work, “Elijah and the Ravens,” and reflects on the story, symbolism, and process behind it.

🗓️ Tuesday, June 30
⏰ 8 PM ET | 🔴 Live on Zoom and Facebook

Save the date and add it to your calendar.
https://engageart.org/event/bible-cluster-featuring-kristy-ottinger-june/

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT ✨ "Sharper Than Any Double-Edged Sword" by Jim Baker Jim Baker’s "Sharper Than Any Double-E...
06/06/2026

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT ✨

"Sharper Than Any Double-Edged Sword" by Jim Baker

Jim Baker’s "Sharper Than Any Double-Edged Sword" takes up Hebrews 4:12 with striking conceptual clarity.

The power of the piece begins with its reorientation of familiar symbols. The sword is not presented as a loose emblem of force or conflict. Instead, the cross becomes the structure that holds it, functioning almost like a scabbard. That decision changes the meaning of the object. Power here is not detached from surrender, sacrifice, or submission to the Word.

The work also refuses a simplistic reading of Scripture as a weapon to be turned outward against others. Baker’s own framing is important. The Word of God is living, active, and piercing, exposing hidden motives and inner realities, but it is meant to be received humbly within ourselves. The materials deepen that reading. Wood, metal, and the Bible-like form at the front carry both symbolic and physical weight, and the craftsmanship gives the piece a sense of gravity and purpose.

Our jury responded to the conceptual strength of the work and to the way its material choices support its theology. This is a piece about reoriented power.

Swipe through to look more closely at the details of this honorable mention work.

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword." - Hebrews 4:12

Create consistently. Stay accountable. Don’t create alone.Join our Engage Art Accountability Art Lab, a live, welcoming ...
06/04/2026

Create consistently. Stay accountable. Don’t create alone.

Join our Engage Art Accountability Art Lab, a live, welcoming space where artists gather to make progress together, share what they’re working on, and stay encouraged in community.

Whether you want to paint, write, compose, design, dance, journal, or just use the time to organize your creative space and refocus, you belong here.

🗓️ Thursday, June 25th
🕛 12:00-1:30 PM ET | 🔴 Live on Zoom

✨Create alongside a global community of faith-rooted artists
✨Make real progress on your work
✨Get real-time encouragement on your art
✨Create. Connect. Stay accountable. We’re better together.

Save the date and add it to your calendar:
https://engageart.org/event/120306/

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT ✨ "Elijah and the Ravens" by Kristy Ottinger Kristy Ottinger’s "Elijah and the Ravens" is a...
06/02/2026

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT ✨

"Elijah and the Ravens" by Kristy Ottinger

Kristy Ottinger’s "Elijah and the Ravens" is a work of strong conceptual clarity, rooted storytelling, and material intelligence.

At first glance, the piece presents a clear biblical narrative from 1 Kings 17:2-6: Elijah in the desert, sustained by God through the ravens. But what makes the work so compelling is the way its meaning is carried through the medium itself. This is not simply an illustration of the story. It is a textile work that uses the language of quilting, stitching, found objects, and domestic craft traditions to embody provision, obedience, and care.

The structure of the piece matters. Elijah appears within a doorway-like opening, while the smaller quilt squares of his garment and the bordered composition create a strong formal order. Then the ravens break that order. Their movement interrupts the grid and pulls the work into a more contemporary space. That tension between the formal quilt structure and the mixed-media disruption is one of the work’s greatest strengths.

The details deepen that meaning. Scrabble tiles form the Word. Buttons become bread. Texture is not decorative here. It becomes narrative. The work carries the warmth of a craftsman space shaped by women, community, sewing circles, and care, while also bringing contemporary language into that tradition.

Our jury responded strongly to the piece’s grounded storytelling, conceptual clarity, and thoughtful use of medium.

Swipe through to look more closely at the details of this honorable mention work.

"Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food." - 1 Kings 17:4

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT ✨"Native Tongue" by Steve Prince | In "Native Tongue," Steve A. Prince creates a work that o...
05/27/2026

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT ✨

"Native Tongue" by Steve Prince |

In "Native Tongue," Steve A. Prince creates a work that operates across multiple layers at once: craft, community, history, and Spirit. At the center of the composition is a mother and child, held within the larger rhythm of a congregation alive with motion, call-and-response, and shared attention. The work honors the visual and spiritual language of the Black church while asking how faith is heard, embodied, and carried forward.

Prince’s linocut technique is central to the work’s impact. Every line is carved through removal, and that discipline gives the image both precision and movement. The dense black-and-white composition holds together generations, histories, and acts of worship in one unified field. The result is not simply a church scene, but a portrait of communal formation. "Native Tongue" shows faith as something lived and transmitted through posture, practice, and response.

Our jury was moved by the richness of the work’s craft and by the way it holds together tenderness, responsibility, memory, and worship. The piece invites viewers to consider what shapes their responses, what traditions formed them, and what they are carrying into the future.

Swipe through to look more closely at the details of this honorable mention work.

"Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble." - 1 Peter 3:8

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT: ✨ "Ad Imaginem Arboris Vitae – In the Image of the Tree of Life" by Tatiana Nikolova-Housto...
05/22/2026

HONORABLE MENTION SPOTLIGHT: ✨

"Ad Imaginem Arboris Vitae – In the Image of the Tree of Life" by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston

In this visually rich honorable mention, Tatiana Nikolova-Houston draws from Byzantine and South Slavic sacred art to create a contemporary tree of life filled with movement, symbolism, and theological depth. Built from ink, acrylic, gold, and Swarovski crystals, the work moves upward from Scripture itself. Psalm 1:3 forms the ground and root system, while streams of water, intertwined human figures, and a descending dove gather the imagery of growth, Spirit, and divine life into a single vertical composition.

One of the most compelling things about this work is that it does not simply decorate a biblical idea. It structurally embodies it. The figures do not stand beside the tree. They form it. Their bodies bend into one another to create the trunk, and their outstretched arms become branches reaching upward. The result is a piece that links Scripture, growth, and shared spiritual life into one ordered whole.

Our jury responded strongly to the work’s conceptual integrity and to the way every visual decision reinforces its theological vision. This is a piece that invites sustained looking.

Swipe through to look more closely at the details of this honorable mention work.

"That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither." - Psalm 1:3

05/22/2026

As we head into the weekend, know that we’re praying for you. Comment below with any prayer requests.💛

And join us this upcoming Tuesday at 8pm Eastern for our Bible Cluster featuring Barbara Bjelland | May as we go deeper into God's word together and engage in art inspired by the Scripture. Register today to join the discussion, and invite a friend. All artists are welcome.

Have a great weekend!

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