A new art exhibit, “Adrift,” paintings by church member Chris Willcox, is on view in the Social Hall gallery space January 6 through February 10.

Chris’s Adrift paintings deal with human migration and, in particular, the global refugee and migrant crisis. She felt morally obligated to create work that might add to the compassionate and sympathetic viewpoint supporting refugees seeking asylum and safety. Media sources have provided a steady stream of now-familiar imagery showing groups of people kept behind chain link fencing, incarcerated children in detention centers or figures in life jackets crowded into flimsy, inflatable rafts. Chris has used media photographs as inspiration and in some cases, actually fixed them directly to the canvas, allowing her to work within the conversation that already exists. The large painting of the sea is meant to disrupt the picturesque ideal of ocean panoramas where the viewer is in the water as if swimming (or drowning.)

Chris was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. She earned degrees from the Ontario College of Art and Design, a BFA from the University of Guelph and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She moved to the Twin Cities in 2000 to accept a position at Macalester College where she is a tenured professor and chair in the Art and Art History department.

Chris’s exhibit will be on display January 6 – February 10. She will be available to discuss her work after the 11:15 a.m. service on Sunday, Jan. 13 at an Artist’s Reception.

Read this week’s newsletter: The Weekly Liberal Jan. 3

Read this week’s newsletter: The Weekly Liberal Dec. 20

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Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Dec. 6

December 2018 Update from Rev. Jen Crow:

For several years now, we’ve experienced the needs for a more inclusive and welcoming building:

• The space is hard to navigate if you have any temporary or permanent mobility challenges, hearing is difficult in the sanctuary and other spaces with and without hearing loss, the space is not intuitive, the balcony and arches room are not accessible
• We’ve experienced the drag of the mortgage on our operating budget
• We’ve needed more space for religious education – we have one of the largest RE programs in the country, with over 550 children and youth registered

In response to these needs, we launched our capital campaign, Not for Ourselves Alone, Building an Inclusive Future, in the fall of 2016, and many of you were among the first contributors. In the fall of 2017, we closed our capital campaign with over $5.5 million in promised gifts, and several of you have paid your gifts off in full already. Thank you! read more

Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Nov. 15

In this week’s newsletter (read the full issue here), Rev. Jen Crow writes: read more

In this week’s newsletter (read the full issue here), Rev. Jen Crow writes:

I’m reeling again this week, as many of us are every week these days. In particular, I am feeling disheartened and angry as the current administration moves to eliminate protections for transgender individuals by attempting to erase their very existence. I am angry, and my heart is with my transgender friends and family and community.

And I remember. read more

In this week’s newsletter (read the full issue here), Rev. Justin writes:

We are living in a time of incredible upheaval, a time when short sighted and immediate political gains are prioritized over a healthy future and the wellbeing of future generations, a time when our President regularly uses language that disparages, disregards, and insults women and people of color, a time when the media is labeled “An Enemy of the People,” and a time when scientists are clearer than ever that we must act now to avoid the worst of climate change. read more

Read this week’s email newsletter here. read more