Shawna Bowman is a Presbyterian Pastor and a Theological and Liturgical Visual Artist. She pastors a quirky and radically gracious community called Friendship Presbyterian Church that meets in the Norwood Park Metra Station in Chicago IL.

Shawna works with churches, faith communities and not-for-profit organizations to help them tell their story through visual arts. She also paints, builds and invites others to encounter God through art-making during worship and other events.

Shawna is passionate about empowering others to integrate visual-arts in their spiritual and worshiping life. She teaches workshops and leads retreats in order to provides space for artists to integrate their spiritual and creative selves as well as learn how to incorporate the arts in their worshiping communities.

You can find Shawna’s work and words at artforgodsake.com and her sermons and lectionary reflections at shawnabowman.com. Her church is also on the web at fpcchicago.org

Her recent collaborations include:
Artist in Residence at Next Church Conference, Minneapolis
Faculty at UMC Iowa School Of Ministry. Southeast Iowa
Visual Notes at the Progressive, Youth Ministry Conference, Chicago
and coming up in August: Speaking and art-making at the National Church Leadership Institute, Atlanta

2014 Talk Description – Art For God’s Sake: Integrating Visual Arts in Worship Life & Faith Community
I make art for God’s sake. As a spiritual and holy practice. I appreciate the creative process and images in and for worship as a way of knowing God more fully. As a way of experiencing God with all of my senses. I believe art-making pushes us into an experiential, messy and risky way of participating in our faith.

Join the conversation on the many ways in which visual-arts and art-making can be incorporated into your worshiping life and faith community. Learn how to find, empower and collaborate with the artists in your communities. Come and experience the creative – process as a form of worship!