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Reaching out with art

By Claire Carlson '12
August 11, 2011

Emilie Bouvier '12 knows from experience that art can be a powerful tool for outreach.

While working at Calvary Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis this summer through the Lilly Vocational Internship Program, Bouvier participated in the congregation's annual partnership with the Urban Arts Academy. The academy camps offer free and low-cost arts education, mentorship, and academic tutoring to children who often have few opportunities to participate in such programs.

Bouvier helped lead hands-on projects that touched on elements of science, language, music, and drama. Academy participants also took part in such diverse camps as Art Pirates, Rocket and Robot Designs, Stiltwalking 101, and Vivan los Animales.

"Working at an inner-city church site is giving me an entirely new experience with visual art as ministry," Bouvier says. "Using art to reach out to those children who may not go home to a stable household every night is powerful."

Her work with Calvary Lutheran Church is just one way that Bouvier has combined her love for art and passion for service. She created a major called Christian Worship and the Visual Arts, and is using what she's learned in the classroom to fit the needs of her community.

Visual worship
Bouvier completed a very different internship this spring with Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minnesota. There, she worked with the church's artist group on an Art on the Cross exhibit, and created her own photography exhibit titled God's Light, My Lens. She also worked on a series of collage images that were used on the screens during worship, in printed worship materials, and on the church website. All of these images were created with the intention of tying together and enriching various elements of the worship service.

Emilie Bouvier '12 created this collage — which she says demonstrates that "we run into crosses everywhere we go" — as part of the Art of the Cross exhibit at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.

"The visual art that Prince of Peace uses is about the community, by the community, and for the community," she says. "It allows people to make connections and reach new insights that they couldn't have come to otherwise."

Bouvier's work at Prince of Peace helped her better understand the complexity of the visual element that is a part of a church's ministry. She learned how various members of the worship team collaborate to reach final products, and the different ideas and talents that everyone contributes. To articulate all that she learned and experienced, Bouvier created a web portfolio that reflected her spring semester at Prince of Peace. "Using the web to present these two components seemed the most logical, both to present various artistic mediums and to effectively integrate word and image," she explains. The web portfolio is also a practical creation — one that can be presented to future employers.

Core components
Although the settings were diverse, the core of Bouvier's internships remained constant. "It all comes down to the way that art creates meaning in people's lives, fostering spiritual connections
both within themselves and with others," she says. The experiential component of these internships has been key, allowing Bouvier to engage with two specific communities and delving deeper than theoretical studies allow.

Both of Bouvier's internship experiences have helped to discern her vocational desires, mostly by encouraging her that she is working in the right direction. She can see herself working in a congregation like Prince of Peace as a church visual artist, but also at a church like Calvary Lutheran, using art as a tool for outreach. Ultimately, Bouvier's vocational goals are simple: to find work that uses her artistic drive to create meaningful ministry in a community that needs it.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.