Makers & Mystics – Details, episodes & analysis

This episode offers a preview of the types of panels we'll be hosting at The Breath and The Clay 2025. It includes a live conversation with Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Victory Boyd, gospel recording artist Leeland Mooring, visual artist and curator Corey Frey, and podcast host Stephen Roach.

This conversation was recorded live at the Resound Creative Arts event in Boulder, Colorado.

Reserve Your Spot at The Breath and The Clay March 21-23 in Winston Salem, NC.

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In this series of conversations, Makers and Mystics will highlight several of the presenters and themes for the BC25 creative arts gathering, March 21-23, in Winston Salem, NC. 

Today’s guest is Theo-poet and mystic Dr. de’Angelo DIA.  The conversation explores the intersections of poetry, theology, and personal experience. DIA discusses how his early exposure to literature and comic book mythology shaped his understanding of sacredness and black charismatic spirituality. Stephen Roach highlights BC25 themes of fragmentation and wholeness, the search for the divine in secular spaces, and the influence of neo-Appalachian art on DIA’s work.

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Makers and Mystics has teamed up with New Zealand's Sunday Sanctuary Podcast for a special collaborative episode.

For the November 10th episode of Sunday Sanctuary, Stephen Roach joins host Petra Bagust for a chat about poetry, creativity, and the different ways that noticing the small wonders of the world can reopen, restore, and change our lives.

In this segment of the conversation, Petra and Stephen discuss the wonder found in Maori culture, storytelling, and the gift of our elders.

Petra Bagust is a multi-talented Aotearoa, New Zealand media personality, writer, and advocate. Her passion for creativity and ethical living resonates with a wildly diverse audience, making her one of New Zealand’s most sought-after radio and television hosts since the nineties.

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Canadian-born Erika Lemay has become a beautifully disruptive icon in the world of live performance, using her body in ways that defy both gravity and human possibilities. Her journey has taken her from her first ballet class at the age of four to worldwide success and accolades.

As the creator of Physical Poetry, Erika believes that ‘Poetry doesn’t have to be expressed with words’. Her TV performances have been seen by more than 400 million viewers worldwide, and her talent has been featured in international media, including Vanity Fair, Glamour Magazine, Hello Magazine, Le Figaro and La Repubblica. She has performed extensively as a soloist guest star with Cirque du Soleil whilst developing the unique artistic language for which she is famous today.

In this episode, Stephen talks with Erika about the importance of discipline, developing a moral compass, dealing with the imposter syndrome and stories from her book Almost Perfect: The Life Guide To Creating Your Success Story Through Passion and Fearlessness.   

*Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with Erika including her thoughts on how to handle the down times after a heightened creative experience.

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Episode Sponsor: Brightbell Creative. Meaningful Marketing for the Creative Artist.

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Bette Dickinson is a visual artist, writer, and speaker who invites audiences to connect with God through visual parables of the spiritual journey. Through creative communication, she helps her audience awaken to the beauty of God and His Kingdom and see more clearly the eternal realm in the heart and in the world. Through her work, Dickinson helps her audience connect the inner life of spiritual formation with the outer life of mission.

Bette earned her Masters of Divinity with an emphasis in Pastoral Studies, is ordained in the Reformed Church in America, and serves with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Spiritual Formation.

In this special bonus episode, Bette shares about her new book, Making Rood in Advent: 25 Devotions for a Season of Wonder (IVP, 2022).

Bette will be hosting an online “Visio Divina” with the Makers & Mystics collective on Sunday, November 27th at 8 pm EST. Register to attend here.

Music in this episode is provided by: Caroline Cobb.

If you'd like a deeper experience with this Advent meditation, Bette is offering an audio guided Visio Divina practice of one of the paintings from her book.

Text "WONDER" to 55444 and follow the prompts. You can get the image of the painting and audio guide in your inbox.

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YOUNG OCEANS is a neo-alternative worship project that evolved from a gathering of musicians, re-imagining hymns in a New York City apartment.

Untethered from the expectations of a traditional congregational format, these artful re-renderings gave birth to a sound that is at once familiar and refreshingly innovative. The musical ethos of Young Oceans emerged as more a companion to reflective prayer and meditation than to a typical church experience.

In this episode, Stephen Roach talks with Young Oceans founder and songwriter, Eric Marshall about his latest project, Subjects In Motion. This full-length album features an all-star line up of artists such as Amanda Cook, Josh Garrels, Molly Pardon, Liz Vice, John Mark Pantana and many others, each singing new versions of previously released Young Ocean Songs.

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy further discussions with Young Oceans on motivations in art making, radical individualism and collaboration.

SUBMIT YOUR POEMS to The Bright Wings Poetry Contest (Deadline November 25th 2022)

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Sponsor: Brightbell Creative: Meaningful Marketing For The Creative Artist.

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The Welcome Wagon is a musical duo comprised of married couple, Vito and Monique Aiuto. heir musical style is steeped in sacred song traditions presented with minimalist Alt-Folk sensibilities.

Their musical journey began with Asthmatic Kitty Records in 2008 with the debut album, Welcome To The Welcome Wagon produced by Sufjan Stevens.

In this bonus, album drop episode, Vito and Monique share with me about the creative process behind the making of their latest release, Esther.

*Patrons of the podcast can enjoy an additional interview segment with The Welcome Wagon on balancing art and family.

See Monique’s Art.

Music Video For Matthew 7:7

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Blaine hogan is a writer, film and creative director and actor. He is the former creative director for Willow Creek Community Church and is currently a full-time filmmaker living in Atlanta, Georgia. 

His recent memoir titled Exit The Cave: Embracing A Life of Courage, Creativity and Radical Imagination is a brutally honest recounting of his struggle with addiction and the unexpected gift of hitting rock bottom. 

In this episode, Blaine and I talk about his background as an actor, the relationship between creativity and his journey of recovery and the ongoing process of finding wholeness. 

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy additional interview segments.

Submit your poems to the BRIGHT WINGS poetry contest for a chance to appear on the Makers & Mystics podcast and publication in Ekstasis Magazine.

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Michael Hayes is the founder and director of Umoja Health, Wellness, and Justice Collective. He is a visionary agent of change who has found powerful ways to infuse the art of storytelling and the science of resilience into opportunities for healing and recovery.

He is the author of the HOPE module (Healing Our Past/Personal Experiences,) a Certified Peer Support Specialist, a Wellness Recovery Action Plan facilitator and a Reconnect for Resilience Skills Educator.

Michael is also the founder of the Urban Arts Institute and continues to provide opportunities for healing and growth in the arts.

In this episode Michael and I discuss resiliency and the role of the arts in healing from past traumas as well as our collaborative work with the Institution of Regenerative Design and Innovation’s Seed Project.

Submissions to the Bright Wings Poetry Contest are now open until November 25th. Winner receives a cash prize plus publication in Ekstasis magazine and opportunity to read the winning poem on an episode of Makers and Mystics.

To learn more about and follow the progress of the NC Solutions Tour's SEED projects please visit IRDI’s Patreon here:

Please consider supporting the campaign here:

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Malcolm Guite is an English poet, academic and priest in the Church of England. He is a fellow of Girton College in the University of Cambridge and has published widely in the field of theology and literature. 

His research interests include the intersection of religion and the arts and the examination of the works of J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

In this episode Malcolm and I discuss what I’ve termed as the poetics of restoration and how poetry and literature hold keys to understanding and even bridging the gaps between tradition and originality. 

Patrons of the podcast can enjoy three additional interview segments with Malcolm, one on the moral imagination (which members of our creative collective will recall from discussions in our last book club.) also Malcolm’s thoughts on imagination as empathy, and practices to can we establish to achieve longevity for the artist and writer.  

Bright Wings Poetry Contest!

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