Antelope Canyon
Oil on birch panel | 12X16
May 2024
Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ. is possibly the most famous and most photographed slot canyon in the west, maybe the world. Surreal and enchanting. The abstract symphony of shapes beckons one deep into the canyon’s serpentine walls and across the narrow sandy stage where time-sculpted stone twirls gracefully in delicate light.

Jason Bouwman is a familiar name to many of us from his devotionals Just Thinking (available as a free e-book here) and Still Thinking (which can be purchased here) that sit on our shelves. Then there’s his coin designs for the Royal Canadian Mint, to this very “Interview with an Artist” column where he’s profiled many other Reformed artists, Jason has had many projects we might have seen. But let’s get to know the man behind the work a bit better, as well as his latest venture, the Arabah project.

Jason Bouwman is an artist whose personal philosophy is to “live artfully.” He’s done that by working in visual communications, through his company Compass Creative, as well as through illustration, graphic design, and landscape painting. And it is the latter being featured in his latest series of desert paintings.

It can be challenging for a creator to decide what their next big focus will be, but Jason knew a project focused on desert landscapes was next after he realized he’d been returning to the southwestern landscape throughout his whole life. From a cross-country road trip with his sister and parents to his honeymoon in California and Arizona, the deserts worked their way into his consciousness and his soul. “I’ve been in a season of life for which the desert seems to be an especially fitting metaphor for what I’ve been experiencing,” he says, “and so I wanted to explore it for personal reasons too.”

He explains, “There’s a feeling one gets when staring out that horizon under an endless sky that I still can’t explain. The desert is a place of jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, otherworldly beauty. The plants and animals that inhabit this otherwise inhospitable landscape are some of the most inventive and resilient organisms you’ll ever see – as are the people who live there… I have also come to see the desert as a metaphor for certain seasons in my life – those seasons which have been disorienting, confusing, obscure, dry of emotion and seemingly directionless. Those times in life when I’ve been tested, challenged, humbled, brought low, brought to the end of myself so that I might experience more of God and His power and provision.”

Evening Drive with Mike
Oil on gessoed panel | 10X10
June 2024
I saw this scene on a road leading west out of Mount Pleasant, Utah early one evening. There was something nostalgic about it. It reminded me of photographs I used to see in National Geographic. It reminded me of a road trip our family took out west when I was a boy. It reminded me of Sunday evening drives down country roads with my parents. I shared some of that with workshop instructor Michael Workman and he said; “Paint that!” So I’m calling this “Evening Drive with Mike”

“Arabah” is referenced in the Bible. It describes a region of the Negev Desert bordering on present-day Israel, and deserts are a frequent landscape in biblical stories. The Arabah project mirrors the Exodus journey the Israelites took through the desert. The desert can be challenging, but it can also be beautiful, and Jason wants viewers of this project to be able to see both the struggle and the possible blessings found there. After all, as Jason says, not all wandering is a waste of time, and God’s own people were led through the desert, but not without purpose.

This project was also a little different because he has been collaborating with his daughter, Jamie, which Jason finds very rewarding. She brings a very different set of skills as a filmmaker, which gives this project a different dimension. “I’m often more excited about what she’s doing than my own work.”

The goal is to create an art exhibit, a coffee table book, and a short film. Jason and Jamie have already been invited to show a few sneak previews at various events.

A big thing Jason’s been thinking about lately is the role of community, and the role the support of others can have in an artist’s life.

“I’ve been blessed by a community of people and patrons who are willing to take risks along with me in creating something new…. They invest time listening to my ideas and concepts, providing feedback about what they think is valuable or not (to themselves and the rest of the community), and commit to purchasing work before they see it completed.”

Both the patron and the artist benefit from this connection, the artist from the support and the patron from being able to participate in the art’s creation. This is something all Christians might be able to relate to, even if we’re not artists – the support and feedback from brothers and sisters around us are so important in doing the work God calls us to do.

Learn more about the Arabah Project and Jason’s other works at: JasonBouwman.com and Instagram.com/jaybouwman.

Boundaries
Oil on canvas | 24″ X 36″ | 2023
Growing, maturing and healing necessarily involves establishing boundaries. But unlike physical fences, human boundaries need to be communicated and respected to be effective – not least of all by ourselves. “Shaken, pushed around and mishandled but still longing to trust. This is faith too” – Justin McRoberts