When Groove Happens: The Art of Co-Creation

Recently, I keynoted the Ascend Creatives Conference in Ashland, Oregon. Sponsored by Masterpiece Christian Fine Arts Foundation, this conference gathers Christian visual and musical artists from across southern Oregon to share and hone their technique and clarify their vision. Now, whenever I gather with other artists of faith, I always feel like I’m with my tribe, so it was a wonderful time of encouraging others and also being encouraged by seeing how God is using talented artists for His glory.

I was invited to speak on the first night, which was open to the general public, and appropriately, I presented a talk titled, “Living an Artful Life.” Now, when I do these kinds of talks, I like to share the stage with another artist. Specifically, I like having a visual artist paint/draw next to me while I speak. It gives me an opportunity to speak to the creative process as people see it in action, and also I like to interact with the artist and discuss their process and their inspiration. In a sense, I preach with words and the artist preaches with their paintbrush. Over the years, I’ve worked with a good number of amazing artists—oils, acrylics, pastels, and mixed media.

This particular evening was a little different. When I requested that an artist accompany my talk, Masterpiece founder Jeanne Randall proposed an unexpected solution—sculptor Kevin Christman. Initially, I had some reservations due to the fact that I was only speaking for a half hour, and wasn’t sure this was a sufficient amount of time for a sculptor to create anything meaningful. But after speaking with Kevin at length, I optimistically agreed.

Kevin is an accomplished artist of faith, not only as a sculptor, but also with oil painting and stained glass. I highly encourage you to check out his online gallery.

Kevin’s creation is shown in the inset photo. Rather than a three-dimensional sculpture, he decided to do a two-dimensional relief. Now the piece itself is quite impressive, but it was the process that fascinated and amazed, inspiring a sense of wonderment even as I spoke on walking an artful faith, exercising an artful ministry, and living an artful life. In 30 minutes, Kevin transformed a plain slab of clay into the face of Jesus, perfectly capturing the essence of my talk. It was exciting working with Kevin, and I felt we were in sync as we co-labored together.

And this got me thinking about the act of co-creating. Being an artist is often times a solitary event—a painter at her easel, a songwriter in his bedroom studio, a writer at her desk. But perhaps we miss out on a blessing when we are alone in the act of creation. The best art I’ve ever created was done in partnership with other creatives. I’ve collaborated with tap dancers, songwriters, painters, script doctors, and even luthiers. And of course, as a musician, I perform and record and compose with others. In all successful collaborations, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.

In music, we talk about this thing called groove. Groove can be described as the rhythmic flow of a musical piece, defined by tempo, time signature, instrumentation, and human intuition. When musicians are playing in sync to a particular groove—whether it be jazz, latin, hip hop, or blues—we’ll use the term pocket to describe it. We might state that a drummer is putting down a deep pocket, which is a complimentary way of saying that his groove is easy of follow and play to. And if you’re a musician, you know: When everyone is playing in the pocket, all is right with the world.

Co-creation is like that. When we co-create with commonality of purpose and in sync to one another, great art can happen. Groove can happen. And when it does, it’s magical.

One other thing. For the artist of faith, we must remember that every creative act is an act of co-creation. We enter into the creative process with the Spirit of God, who comes alongside us, inspires us, and works through us. When we are in sync with the Spirit, we can hear His rhythm, sense His groove, fall into His pocket, feel His pleasure.

“Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” Matthew 11:29 The Message

[Banner photo by Artem Polezhaev on Unsplash. Top Inset Photo: Kevin Christman’s work. Bottom Photo: Me and Kevin.]