Breathing new life into a centuries-old folk art tradition
An Ontario artist is enlivening a Mennonite folk-art tradition that hasn’t been widely practised for more than 150 years. Meg Harder’s six-piece exhibit, “New Fraktur,” draws on the detailed, illuminated calligraphy that was historically produced by early Mennonites and Hutterites, including those who settled in Ontario. She uses fraktur art to bring together her ancestral…
Making art ‘like breathing’ for B.C. illustrator
For Dona Park, making art is the equivalent of eating, sleeping and breathing. She does it every day because she needs to. The 24-year-old attended Goshen (Ind.) College, from which she graduated with a double major in fine arts and history in 2017. She is now a freelance artist based in Abbotsford, B.C., where she…
Watch: “I Am a Mennonite” trailer
Winnipeg filmmaker Paul Plett has announced his next project: a documentary exploring his Mennonite roots. “I’m going to retrace the steps of my ancestors and find out where I came from,” Plett says in a video he posted online earlier this week alongside a campaign to raise funds to complete the film. “Along the way,…
Biography turns into Old Colony history
Although Bruce Guenther set out to write a biography of his grandfather, Herman D.W. Friesen, it turned out to be more of a history of the Old Colony Mennonites in the Hague-Osler area of Saskatchewan. Guenther had no diaries or personal letters to work with, and some of the relatives were reticent to talk about…
‘A relationship between colleagues’
Choir conductors Ben Pauls and his son Matthew share enthusiasm, talent and a passion for choral music. This fall, they had the unexpected opportunity to share the stage at a fundraising concert for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. The concert—the first they shared together as conductors—featured a joint performance of the Faith and Life Male Choir…
Journey with Alzheimer’s takes humour and resilience
Bird-Bent Grass truly is a “memoir, in pieces” as it explores the lives of Kathleen Venema and her mother, with anecdotes from the past, excerpts from old letters and reflections on the present, all mixed together. But the strength of the book is that the pieces fit together to tell the story of a mother-daughter…
‘This is a holy and good thing’
What does “turn the other cheek” mean when you’re abused by your pastor? What does “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” mean when you’re dealing with gendered power imbalances within your group of friends? What does “made in the image of God” mean when you’re an LGBTQ member of a church experiencing…
Is self-care selfish?
The phrase “take care of yourself” is often heard today, but how to find time to do that in today’s world? For many Christians, the idea of self-care sounds contrary to the command of Jesus to deny themselves and follow him. How exactly do believers balance these two seemingly opposite pursuits? Author April Yamasaki explores…