Makers & Mystics

26:47

Our Daily Breath: How Contemplation Feeds The...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/10/06

Contemplation is the inhale, and creativity is the exhale. Author and spiritual director Kayla Craig shares how we can make space for both. Her devotional, Our Daily Breath, guides readers through contemplative prayer practices designed to renew creative energy in a loud, distracted world. Stephen Roach and Kayla explore why cynicism comes so easily, and how stillness opens the door to compassion, nuance, and hope. Kayla shares the research behind mindful breathing and why it matters fo...

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33:49

Memory Is a Musical Place with Composer Michael Anderson

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/09/29

What if memories were real entities that inhabit places, and what if music could give those places a voice? In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach sits down with composer Michael Anderson to explore the strange and beautiful relationship between memory, time, place, music, and faith. Michael's latest work, Hallov, is a 24-piece musical journey through birth, pain, joy, death, and what might come after. Described by Michael as “a movie score without the movie,” the album follow...

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35:51

Art As a Spiritual Gateway: Classical Music and...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/09/22

What happens when the art form you once loved becomes a way of proving your worth? For oboist, educator, and author Merideth Estevez, classical music began as a source of joy and wonder. As a child, it was even a language through which she experienced God. But somewhere along the way, the pursuit of excellence became entangled with perfectionism, achievement, and the need to prove herself. In her book Art Is How God Loves Us, Merideth invites us to reconsider what art actually is. Rather than...

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39:05

The Art of Slow: Making Things That Last with Jake...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/09/15

We live in a world of fast content, instant communication, next-day shipping, and things designed to be quickly replaced. But what happens when an artist chooses to work against the grain of social norms? Jake Weidmann is one of only nine Master Penmen in the world, but his work extends far beyond calligraphy. A multidisciplinary artist working in drawing, oil painting, sculpture, wood carving, and bronze, Jake has devoted himself to the long process of mastering his craft. In this conv...

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56:22

Seeing Through The Tropes: How Art History Shaped...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/09/08

How do the images we see shape the way we understand ourselves and one another? In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach sits down with art historian and author Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt to explore her new book, Look Like a Lady: Five Visual Tropes of Womanhood and How to See Ourselves Differently. Drawing from centuries of art history, Elissa identifies five recurring ways women have been depicted and understood: Venus, Vessel, Maiden, Mother, and Monster. These aren't simply ar...

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25:42

Strange Glory: A Case for Unconventional Art

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/08/31

What does it mean to glorify God through art? For many artists, the desire to glorify God can become an expectation that their work should communicate an explicitly religious message. But what happens when that expectation begins to constrict the artist? What if our attempts to make art that clearly communicates faith actually prevent the art from becoming genuinely transformative? In this solo meditation, Stephen Roach explores the relationship between Christian faith, artistic freedom, and ...

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28:32

The World Needs Your Art: The Spiritual Roots of Why...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/08/18

Every great artist from Caravaggio to Frida Kahlo has fought the same invisible war, and Stephen Roach makes the case that it is not a coincidence. In this solo reflection, Stephen traces a decade-long question that has haunted him: why does creative expression seem to attract so much internal and external opposition? Drawing on scripture, church history, and the lives of artists who battled addiction, trauma, and mental illness, he builds a case for why creativity and faith are so deeply in...

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18:06

Evelyn Underhill: Mother of Modern Mystics

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/07/21

Evelyn Underhill: The Mother of Modern MysticsArtist Profile Series 40 Who was Evelyn Underhill, and why does her work continue to shape the modern contemplative movement more than a century later? In this Artist Profile episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach explores the life of Evelyn Underhill, writer, spiritual director, retreat leader, and one of the most influential voices on Christian mysticism in the twentieth century. Although she is often remembered for her landmark book Mys...

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49:46

Making Room at the Table: Art, Justice, and The...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/07/14

What if art isn't simply something we admire, but something that asks something of us? In this episode, Stephen Roach sits down with acclaimed printmaker, educator, and storyteller Steve Prince for a conversation about the vocation of the artist. Drawing from history, faith, family, and lived experience, Steve shares how his work seeks to preserve memory, confront injustice, and create spaces where genuine transformation can begin. From the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement to the powe...

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29:55

Missionaries of Beauty: An Antidote to a Cultural...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/07/06

Can beauty change a person? A community? A culture? Sacred artist Kate Capato believes it can. In this bonus episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach sits down with Kate to explore why authentic beauty has the power to heal, awaken wonder, and draw people into the presence of God. Together they discuss the modern crisis of beauty, the vocation of the artist, and how sacred art becomes an invitation into deeper communion with Christ. Kate shares why she and her family travel the...

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27:00

One Last Monster: Gene Kim on Animation,...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/06/30

Animation has a unique ability to carry profound truths beneath colorful worlds, unforgettable characters, and compelling adventure. Beneath the spectacle, the best stories invite us into questions of identity, grief, hope, and transformation. In this episode, Stephen Roach sits down with animator and storyboard artist Gene Kim, whose career has included work with Pixar, Blue Sky Studios, and major film and television productions. Together they explore why stories matter, how animation can co...

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40:44

Threads of Beauty: On Fashion, Fabric and Theology

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/06/09

In this bonus episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach revisits The Pace of Beauty series with artist and designer Jennifer Sturrock. Drawing from her background in couture, contemporary art, and theological study, Jennifer shares how fabric and materiality have become a framework for exploring deeper questions of identity, mystery, and communion with God. What begins as a conversation about textiles and clothing unfolds into a rich exploration of the Transfiguration, the symbolis...

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75:22

The Problem with Beauty: From The Grotesque to The...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/06/02

Beauty is one of the most celebrated words in art and faith conversations, but it may also be one of the most misunderstood. Is beauty simply what pleases the eye, or is it something deeper? Can beauty exist alongside suffering, loss, and the grotesque? And what happens when we settle for beauty that comforts us while avoiding the realities that transform us? What if beauty requires darkness, mystery, and even lament in order to reveal its deepest meaning? In this roundtable discussion,...

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27:40

The Beauty of Vulnerability | Zan Fiskum

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/05/26

What does it cost an artist to tell the truth? Singer-songwriter Zan Fiskum has built her entire creative life around finding out. In this episode, host Stephen Roach sits down with Zan to explore how her most personal songs, about a toxic creative relationship, a fractured friendship, and a complicated bond with her mother, became anthems for strangers carrying the same quiet weight. This is a conversation about the craft behind vulnerability: how to write specifically enough to be honest, a...

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39:44

Beauty As Survival: Breath, Embodiment, and The First...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/05/19

Beauty As Survival: Breath, Embodiment, and The First Instrument A conversation with Whitney Lynn In this episode, I sit down with embodiment coach, creative director, and longtime Breath and The Clay collaborator Whitney Lynn to explore the intersections of breath, beauty, embodiment, and the creative life. Whitney’s work centers on “returning the body to the body,” helping people come home to themselves in a culture that so often pulls us toward dissociation. Together, we explore how breat...

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41:51

Make Your Home In This Luminous Dark: Contemporary...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/05/12

Make Your Home In This Luminous Dark A conversation with James K. A. Smith In this episode, I sit down with philosopher and author James K. A. Smith (Jamie) to explore the mystical tradition as a living pathway into deeper faith, creativity, and presence. Jamie shares how his journey into mysticism began not through abstract theology, but through personal crisis, an experience of depression that exposed the limits of intellect and certainty. From there, voices like St. John of the Cross and...

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47:52

Taking Up The Tale with Malcolm Guite

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/03/03

What can ancient stories teach us about creativity, courage, and our own place in the modern world? In this episode, Stephen Roach welcomes poet and priest Malcolm Guite back to Makers & Mystics to explore his poetic retelling of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Malcolm reflects on how these stories shaped him from childhood and why myth still carries moral and spiritual weight in a disenchanted age. Together, they discuss the role of storytelling in recovering a sacramental vision o...

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48:47

Making Space for Meaning: The Renewal of Myth and...

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/02/24

In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach sits down with cultural critic, writer, and iconographer Jonathan Pageau to explore the state of contemporary storytelling and the enduring power of myth. Pageau, creator of The Symbolic World, explains how symbols operate beneath conscious awareness to shape imagination and culture. Together, they discuss why traditional narratives appear depleted, how propaganda differs from true myth, and why fairy tales continue to communicate truths ...

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50:25

The Ethics of Beauty with Dr. Timothy Patitsas

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/02/17

In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach continues the series The Pace of Beauty with Dr. Timothy Patitsas, author of The Ethics of Beauty. Focusing on Chapter Six, The Mystical Architect, they explore the inseparability of beauty and goodness, the cruciform nature of the artist’s journey, and how trauma has shaped modern art’s uneasy relationship with beauty. Together, they consider architecture as a foundational pattern of experience and the slow work of cultural renewal throu...

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22:37

REPLAY: Beauty As Prophetic Vision with Brian Zahnd

Makers & Mystics ·

2026/02/09

This replay episode features excerpts from a 2017 conversation with author Brian Zahnd, exploring his insights on Christian aesthetics and the role of beauty in faith. The discussion centers on Zahnd's book, "Beauty Will Save the World," and his argument for understanding Christianity through the lens of beauty rather than relying solely on truth claims and moral arguments. Send us a text Support the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon ...

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