Gallery Exhibits

The Third Annual Sojourn Artist Showcase /  by Jordan Lienhoop Crump

by Jordan Crump

The Sojourn Artist Showcase has a long history at Sojourn Midtown, popping up periodically throughout the church’s history (see here and here). This year marks the 3rd consecutive row of hosting the Showcase in the summer, celebrating the artistic work of Sojourn Midtown and our extended church family through the visual and performing arts.

Above: Photograph by Allison Rushing. Below: 3 Photographs by Fred Games.

47 artists from Midtown and our extended church family submitted to the Showcase this year, with almost 100 pieces of artwork shared for consideration across multiple mediums: fiber arts, paintings, photography, sculpture, pottery, drawings, and illustrations.

The gallery features artwork by Jon Abreu, Jagur Allen, Melanie Harding Bates, Isabella Cape, Jordan Crump, Kelly Davenport, Camille Davis, Amanda Galloway, Alex Gerwe, Karen Grantz, Casey Hamm, Olin Hamm, Rachel Hamm, Savannah Harper, Brandon Hochhalter, Abigail Irving, Tasha Irving, Brittany Anne Jennings, Sylvan Jennings, Hannah Johnson, Elisabeth Kennedy, Jennifer Kramer, Deborah Leach, Skylar Mason, Sarah Mayer, Will Meadows, Ashley Miles, Jane Petry, Katie Petry, Marigold Petry, Sarah Ritz, Ian Robertson, Owen Robertson, Tim Robertson, Brian Rodman, Rhonda Rose, Allison Rushing, Thomas Sandlin, Asia Sloan, Suyun Son, Crystal Sridhar, Everly Sridhar, Meridian Sridhar, Daniel Vance, Dani Wallace, Annalee Weeks, and Maddie Wyatt.

Throughout the evening in the back of the sanctuary, we heard poetry, prose, and spoken word, songs and comedy. It was an evening full of enjoying the good gifts God has given us in creativity and community.

The Open Mic featured performances by Asher Chavez; Jonathon Crump with Dave Swanberg, Will Meadows, Chris Millett and Danley Pyles; Andy Fillebrown; Alex Gerwe; Rachel Hamm; Payton Harris; Nadia Irving; Skyler Markwell with Rachel Hamm; Christopher Owen; Tom Sandlin; Paul Sridhar with Michael Butterworth and Payton Harris; Sam Stevenson; Josiah Williams, Drew Dreher, Jonathan Shoemaker and Asher Chavez; and Annalee Weeks.

Photographs above by Allison Rushing.

The Showcase is on view through Sunday, September 6, 2026. We hope sharing our creative work inspires others in our community and beyond to make and share their own creative projects too!

Recorded Wanderings /  by Jordan Lienhoop Crump

by Jordan Crump

Recorded Wanderings opened last week at Sojourn Midtown. The exhibit features artwork by Daniel Buffenmeyer, Young-Ly Hong Chandra, Julia Hendrickson, Jocelyn Mathewes, Matthew Whitney, and Michael Winters.

Throughout Scripture we read that God leads us in paths of righteousness, makes known to us the path of life, and makes our paths straight. He records our wanderings and bottles our tears; He sets the boundaries of our time and place; His presence is with us in the heights and depths. 

The artists in this exhibit have recorded their wanderings, whether paths and places intentionally set down or ones they come upon. They have taken note of their places. 

Matthew Whitney and Michael Winters walk or bike particular paths in their cities, recording their movement through the places they live by drawing maps and making photographs. 

Julia Hendrickson and Jocelyn Mathewes create paintings and cyanotypes, respectively, from the regional nature surrounding them, from recording particular California raindrops to the seasonal flora of Appalachia.  

Daniel Buffenmeyer seeks out God’s presence in wild woods, places untouched by human hands, and Young-Ly Hong Chandra’s pieces remind us of God’s presence wherever we go, placemaking in the midst of migration.  

Much like God knows our daily wanderings, trials, and joys, these artists are intentionally attuned to the places and paths around them. May we also seek to be present to the people, places and paths God leads us to as well.

Daniel Buffenmeyer earned a BFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art (Temple University) in Philadelphia. Some of his past involvements include: Curator for Lebanon Valley Council on the Arts and adjunct professor at Lebanon Valley College. Currently, Daniel exhibits throughout South-Central Pennsylvania, and works both on location and from his studio in rural Pennsylvania. See more of Daniel’s art at Buffenmeyer.com.

Middle Creek Preserve, Pennsylvania, 11-03-2022 by Daniel Buffenmeyer

What Upholds Us by Young-Ly Hong Chandra

Young-Ly Hong Chandra is a Seoul born, interdisciplinary artist. With her roots across multiple cultures and countries, she explores layered  boundary crossing in physical, cultural, material and spiritual realms through making soft sculpture, painting, drawing, experimental filmmaking and site specific installations.

Her work-process engages contemplative gazing at her environment and her mediums and ushering their own stories out, through her bodily labor. It often involves repetitive acts of cutting, stretching, wrapping, squeezing, stroking and knotting. See more of Young-Ly’s work at younglyhongchandra.com.

Julia Hendrickson is a practice and process-based visual artist and theologian. She lives a Covid conscious life, as a mechanism of inclusion and care, in the Los Angeles Plain ecoregion. Julia works serially with watercolor and salt, digital formats, and relief prints. She expands the Benedictine tradition of ora et labora to opera Divina, daily work as prayer, with each artwork being a manifold conversation with the Divine. As a professor, Julia facilitates reflections about the role of art in the world and self-filmed digital studio visits she models this on social media. Julia has an M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Print | Media and an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary. These dual degrees distinctly inform her thought and studio practice. She is a Fujimura Fellow and strives to be generative in acts of Culture Care. While waiting for paint to dry, she takes long walks, documents flowers, and reads a lot of books. See more of Julia’s work at juliahendrickson.com.

Hedgerow by Julia Hendrickson

From The Harvest by Jocelyn Mathewes

Jocelyn Mathewes is a mixed-media interdisciplinary artist living with her family in rural Appalachia in East Tennessee. She earned a B.A. in Studio Art and English Literature from Messiah College, and her work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, and community spaces across the United States and internationally. Working primarily in alternative photographic processes—especially cyanotype—alongside film photography, collage, and mixed media, her practice investigates the unrepeatable moment: what it means to document time passing through a body, a season, a place.

In 2020, Jocelyn founded EAT/ART space, a dining room pop-up gallery in Johnson City that celebrates hyper-local Appalachian artists and culture, and has hosted 19+ exhibits since its founding. She is the current executive chair of her local public art committee, and releases a monthly newsletter featuring arts events across the Southern Highlands, connecting creatives throughout East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, and Southwest Virginia. Her work has appeared in publications including The HAND Magazine and Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice by Christina Z. Anderson, and has been collected by the Reece Museum. See more of Jocelyn’s artwork at jocelynmathewes.com.

Matthew Whitney (he/his/him) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and pedestrian. He works between drawing, painting, photography, collage, video, performance, and group facilitation, with a focus on the metaphorical and spiritual power generated through the everyday rhythms of walking, making things, and stillness. He has a BA in Art from Whitworth University and an MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of Fine Arts. See more of Matthew’s work at matthewwhitney.com.

Detail of Movement in Kind by Matthew Whitney

Photograph by Michael Winters

Michael Winters is a photo-based artist in Louisville, KY. His artwork has been featured in galleries including Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, Georgetown College, and Intersect Arts Center. His work has also been featured online on Vice and in print in CIVA’s Seen Journal. Michael led Sojourn Arts from 2007-2025. He now works as a Marriage and Family Therapy Associate and is a church member of Sojourn East. See more of Michael's art at michaeltwinters.com.

Recorded Wanderings is on view at Sojourn Midtown until July 12, 2026.

A Weekend of Wilderness Waiting /  by Jordan Lienhoop Crump

by Jordan Crump

Wilderness Waiting: Art inspired by old songs of lament, hope, and deliverance for Adam’s race by assemblage artist Marianne Lettieri opened Sunday, March 15 at Sojourn Midtown and was on display through Sunday, May 10, 2026.

About her work, Marianne writes:

“Wilderness Waiting illustrates popular Christian songs that crossed over from religious to secular audiences and were recorded in multiple musical genres by famous performers of the 20th Century. Songs were selected for their deeply spiritual lyrics offering hope in the midst of trials and tribulations. Many have origins in the struggle for freedom and equality, some became catalysts for social and cultural change, and others have provided comfort and resilience throughout the ages. The emotional power of these old songs have the ability to unite people across different backgrounds, fostering a sense of community and shared humanity.”

Sojourn Arts had the joy of hosting Marianne for a weekend of stories, music, and art making in April.

On Friday, April 17, Marianne shared her story as an artist and believer, and a group of vocalists and musicians from Sojourn Midtown performed 4 hymns featured in the exhibit, selecting the songs based on the personal significance to them.

Jonathon Crump, Rachel Hamm, Dani Wallace, Bekah Polley, Brittany Jennings, Liz Klee, Will Meadows, Estrella Flores, and Michael White performed “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, “Be Thou My Vision”, “It Is Well”, and “Amazing Grace.”

You can view a video of Marianne’s artist talk and the musical performances on Sojourn Arts’ Instagram, here.

The following morning Marianne led 14 participants in a collage workshop in the gallery. Marianne shared her process of creating collages that explore God’s presence in the midst of lament and encouraged participants to make a collage that visually expressed the idea of hope.

Marianne Lettieri creates art with found objects and repurposed materials. Her work explores the brevity of life, human preoccupations, and shifts in cultural values associated with historical artifacts. She is interested in the interconnectedness of people, communities, and nature through time. Her work has been exhibited extensively across the country. She has an MFA in Spatial Arts from San Jose State University and BFA in Drawing and Printmaking from University of Florida. She resides near Fort Worth, Texas.