Artingle

Christmas Crafts to Gather Around

2010-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas handcrafts are now available at my online visual arts shop, Artingle.

The items draw us toward God in the community of one another through simple crafts depicting key symbols and scenes of the holidays. You may receive these black and white images by e-mail as digital files which you can print, color, cut out, fold and use to decorate your home.
Beyond Crafts
It is akin to prayer and meditation when you take time to slow down and create an object full of meaning about the celebration of Christmas. In another way when a group works together on these projects, special conversation occurs, memories are made, fellowship strengthens the bond of love between the participants. The finished objects trigger the memories of the conversations and fellowship as they hang and sit around the house. Then, in coming years, those good experiences can have a rebirth as the creations are brought out of storage for future celebrations.
Lots to Choose From

You may choose between my eleven simple projects: a nativity scene, a Christmas tree, five gift tags, three elegant ornaments and a greeting card. Each one may be printed as many times as desired and colored in infinite ways. Suggestions for variations are included.

All the items may be purchased in one Christmas Celebration Kit at a 40% discount.

Parents and teachers will find welcome activities here for classes and groups. Parties will be enhanced by several activity stations using these projects.

Browse through them and Mark's other visual offerings at http://Artingle.Etsy.com

Film Report #6: Two Sound Tracks - Vote for One

2010-10-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Following are two versions of the sound track for our art film "To the Diggers". Help choose one by listening to both versions. Then, in your comments, vote for the version you prefer and convince us to use that one. Until December 1 e-mail your vote and comments to mark (at) horizongate.org with permission to add you to our mailing list and we will give you free, signed artwork from the film.

Guess What This Is And Win

2010-10-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing of part of something shown in the film "To the Diggers". The first person who guesses what it is by January 1 (12am) will win a signed copy of the film. Listen to the sound track above in this blog for clues. Give as many guesses as you want in the comment box below, or by e-mail to mark (at) horizongate.org. Mark might respond with a clue for further guesses if you beg!

Film Report #5: Art Reveals the Unseen

2010-09-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Drawings for the film "To the Diggers" -- Here is a sequence of drawings by Mark Turner studying a TV studio camera and camera operator. A TV studio is usually a mass of technology that we don't want to look at. Everything is focused on the illusion created by the gleaming set. But, these drawings show very intriguing shapes, lines and colors behind the scene which will entertain our viewers' eyes. Part of the mission of our film of drawings is to reveal more than the viewer normally thinks about. As a film the drawings will move through the field of vision and show a relationship to each other. In the gallery the drawings will stand alone as still images. In both ways the art will illuminate the mind and heart of the beholder.

Art Film Report #4: Getting Into the News Industry

2010-08-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Drawings of political campaigns havegiven way to drawings of news anchors and pundits. These drawingswill be part of a montage corresponding to this part of the poem:

“We, transfixed by images,

Chew on shiny, tasty, sexy fear, . ..”

The poem speaks of the transitorynature of statements blown out of proportion by the media today.

I spend many hours searching for models from which to create the drawings. Then I try to let the physical medium, mostly colored pencil on paper, show its character. The mass of drawings moving through the motion graphics montage along with the rich sound track will prove very engaging.

Art Film Report #3: Political Campaign Drawings

2010-07-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Earlyin the “To the Diggers” film we will see flashes of politicalcampaigns. So, I have been collecting and studying photos ofpoliticians pressing flesh in the crowds and waving from motorcades.

The poetic words underlying this section are as follows:

“We regard as wisdom
Bright reflections, pixels,
Bites of sound repeated;
Arranging body and face
Choreographed in a timely place,
Makes powerful and great.”

The drawings I've made from these studies will form a fast cutting montage.The images you see here are details from the larger,

colored pencil drawings which will enjoy a second life exhibited along side the completed film.

Other work on the film has included enlarging images to emphasize individual pixels. I have made 17 of these “swatches” and will use them as colorful flashes over other images.

The next set of drawings will be from studies of TV News Pundits, news sets and TV equipment.

Thanks for Helping Our Funding Campaign

2010-07-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who funded us and all who followed our campaign which was centered on IndieGoGo.com.
Total combined online and offline giving was $1,870 in 30 days. Total views of the site has been 2,779.
We were able to make a payment on our home and studio. The film continues in production.
You can still go to http://www.indiegogo.com/To-the-Diggers, view our presentation and plan how you will participate in the next phase of this great endeavor. Stand by for announcements of on-going building. Subscribe to this blog for film production progress reports.

Film Report #2: Fueling Up & Making Maps

2010-06-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

Two things have kept me from drawingthe mass of images planned for our short art film “To the Diggers”. One task is tremendously creative, almost primordial: inventing afund raising campaign so more people can have the fun of making thisfilm.

People Powered

That's like collecting the fuel beforegoing on a cross country drive. In this case it will be powered bypeople, (but in a better way than in “The Mattrix”). You canget plugged in (oops, bad metaphor) athttp://www.indiegogo.com/To-the-Diggers where we have dreamed up a whole bunch of great rewards for yourhelp in funding this thing.
Here is a frame from the video of me explaining things.

Click here to watch the video http://www.indiegogo.com/To-the-Diggers .

Believe me, you enjoy a film way morewhen you know a part of you is up there on the screen. YOU COULD BEUP THERE! But, hey, share the glory and get lots of others to pitchin.

Time's a-Wasting

We only have until this July 10th to raise $7,000! But, lots of other projects on IndieGoGo.com have raised way morethan they expected to because so many people jumped into the fun.

Let's Exceed Our Goal!

We could do that . . . and start collecting the money for the next film.

Because, you know, “To the Diggers”is the second of four films we are producing as the core of acollection we hope will include similar art films from you and yourfriends. (Go see the first film athttp://www.horizongate.org/products/comfortinghovers.asp) We want to get these first four films and the art used to make themall done by next Spring so we can test a new way to show them: afilm-gallery-café.

WeGotta SHOW the Films Too

Thatwill be a place where you and your friends can sit, watch art films,enjoy the tangible artwork used to make them and have wonderfulconversations.

So,that's the fund raising campaign. The other creative task that hadto get done is mapping out the trip.

TheMap

Thisfilm will be pretty complex even though it will be short. I had toput down the art materials and type out a script to make myself thinkthrough all the visuals and timing. Spinning off of a completedsound track (it was part of a podcast) is a big help because thevisuals can extend the poetic images and sound effects.

Putthe Picture with the Sound

Thisis like an animation in that I have to know the split seconds foreach visual, well, at least for the sequences. Like, what are yougonna put on the screen at 1:26.163? You know?

Anyway,I feel a lot more confident having thought it all out and I won'thardly have to pause to think up a visual the whole trip, just drawand draw and draw . . .

Andfolks, you are gonna love all these drawings going by. Woah.

Here is a composite of a crowd photo and a drawing that I am working on.

Watch Us Produce this Film

2010-05-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

Be Part of a Work of Art/Movie

Pleasejoin me on the journey of my current film production. Documentingthe process will help some on their own artistic journeys and bychecking in on me and making comments you will keep me walking on. So, wanna be part of a movie? Just comment on my process, artisticjudgment, ideas, goals, etc. Yeah, I'm letting you look over myshoulder, something that creeps me out in real life. Hey, you'reprobably not going to get what I'm doing until you watch the finalfilm. I guess that's my insecurity saying, “It's not done yet,okay?” But go ahead and comment and see how much I can take?

The Materials

Thiswork is about the interplay between the tangible

and the digital,both physical properties, digital being territory still in earlyexploration. I am combining spoken word, sound-scape, poetry, handdrawing (various materials), color, and motion in the film syntax. Iam using two-dimensional sources but will employ somethree-dimensional techniques. All this with aquasi-philosophical-theological-political theme. Would you say thisis “mixed media”?

WhereWe're Going with It

Theultimate goal is to display the film in a gallery along with thetangible pieces which were employed to make it. It will be great towatch the film in the presence of the actual cast all dressed up intheir mats and frames. The audio cast will be almost impossible toassemble into the gallery but they prefer to be unseen. You'll beimmersed on the screen, in sound and on the wall simultaneously. Gradually we'll build a collection of these films and tangible art.

TheSound-Scape

Speakingof the sound track, it is already mostly produced, but if I were toplay it for you, it would give away too much of the surprise. Comeback here through the next month or two and see if I play a fewclips.

Theprocess actually started February 6, 2006 when I composed the poem“We Regard As Wisdom”. It had a life as one of my e-mail“Stimulants” and then as an “Artstimulant” on Horizon Gate's “What Is It?” podcast with sound-scape. A few days ago Ire-recorded the spoken track to tone down the previous melodramaticrendition.

WhereI Am Now

Thefilm is more than any one of the parts, of course. So, the filmtitle is “To the Diggers”. I am now creating visualcompositions, mostly abstract and expressionistic, as I respond tothe poem visually. How will it become film?

Well, I'm getting tothat. Come back later.

Glow In the Crowd

2010-03-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

"Glow In the Crowd" by Mark Turner

Christ said, "Let your light so shine before people so that theywill see your good works and praise (worship) the Father in heaven."Matthew 5:16

     In support of our non-profit, arts organization, Horizon Gate (a tax deductible, 501(c)3 organization), I amoffering enlarged prints of inspirational images illustrating spiritual truth signed by me, the artist, Mark Turner, and suitable forframing. These are a "thank you" for your donation to sustain theartists Horizon Gate has engaged for over 30 years. So far I have 3 images available on this blog.

     A 9"x14" print of "Glow In the Crowd" is available as a thank you for a donation of $35 or more. Receive any 2 images of your choice as a thank you for a donation of $70 or more, or all 3 images as a thank you for a donation of $100 or more.

     To donate and receive your selection go to my Artingle.etsy.com shop.

Calling to Walk On Water Includes Rescue

2010-02-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

We offer enlarged prints of the following two inspirational images signed by me, the artist Mark Turner, and suitable for framing, as a "thank you" for your donation to sustain the artists engaged by our arts organization.

For 30 years Horizon Gate Productions has been engaging artists to write and produceinspirations which have drawn countless people to God on fivecontinents.

Help us continue tosupport the writers, filmmakers and artists we engage.

Peter walking on the water(Matt. 14:22-32) - We can do the "impossible" as Jesuscalls us on. (print size: 9x14) Large print signed by the artist,Mark Turner, available as a thank you for a donation of $35 or more.(both prints as thank you for a donation of $50 or more)

Peter sinking and beingrescued by Christ (Matt. 14:30-31) - God rescues His disciples and does not abandon us to the consequences of our zeal evenwhen we fail.(print size: 8x14) Large print signed by the artist, Mark Turner,available as a thank you for a donation of $35 or more. (both printsas thank you for a donation of $50 or more)

To donate and receive your selection(s) please visit my Artingle.etsy.com shop.
Horizon Gate Productions is a 501(c)3, non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.
I hope these prints will hang in your special place reminding you to step out trusting God to sustain you in your courageous life.
Bless you,

Mark Turner

How to be a continuous light

2010-01-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

(lamp detail by Infrogmation)

I offer this image which I created from meditations on the Old Testament prophet Zechariah. In chapter 4 he describes the olive trees synthesizing the intangible elements into oil (God's Spirit) and tapping a ceaseless supply directly into the lamps (us) to turn into light. We can not burn on our own resources alone. May we burn brightly throughout 2010 by our connection to God's Spirit.

Walk the High Ways

2009-10-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

Almost every day I gaze at pictures of places so far distant the pictures only show how they appeared millions of years ago. And every night I look at the actual stars, . . . some of them. Though countless, they are only a small fraction of all that shine in the universe, to say nothing of the stars being born continuously. Our ancient forerunners looked at the same lights above and received divine revelation concerning the walk on earth.

"Descendant of Abraham,
Whom You promised
Would be as the stars
Amassed across the night
Above his tent,
I walk the earth
Still watching for Your ways,
Seeing Your thoughts high above.
To me, inheritor of promise,
Your thoughts impart
And trace Your ways upon my heart.

But who can stand
The day of Your appearing
Except those on whom
Your righteousness alights?
I walk Your ways
Knowing not the Day,
But holding promised destiny,
Being part fulfillment,
Partly traveler
Here earthly seeing
Bright places overhead.

All Your re-affirming,
Detailing out the goodness
You have stored up
For me in Family,
Prepared place,
Abundance, glory,
Priceless fruitfulness while empires fade,
Inheriting earth,

The earth

And tiny seeds rising
As the noonday sun
And suns multiplied
Yet unseen, too many to count
From Abraham to now to then."

Mark R. Turner
March 19, 2009
Julian, CA

Related Scriptures: Genesis 15:5-6, Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 31:19, Psalm 37, Malachi 3:1-3, Matthew 5:5, John 14:1-6

Walk in the high ways which God has given us.

Mark

P.S.: I also post past meditations on the Artstimulant page of the Horizon Gate website

Grace for Complexities

2009-05-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

More of us are feeling the need for grace these days as we seek solutions for financial threats. More people are carrying crushing debt and looking at a poverty level life in the middle of the wealthiest nation on earth. We know that we do not deserve to be bailed out, but we hope we won't be annihilated, or have to live like slaves the rest of our lives. The complexities that humanity has created are even more impenetrable than those we as individuals have woven. Only God can disentangle the impossible.

"And my lyre rings
As audacious birds cast
Vitality tree to tree
For You have not erased
But entered into complexes
We have layered: self-conceit,
Deceit consumed,
Oppressed to death.

"Not as a super-nova
Remakes elements, come You,
But pleading my cause between
These little ones big of mind
Who work at enmity;
And beam Your light beneficently
Leading through invented nations,
Webs of mourning desperation,
To Your hill above the clamor
Where is my hope,
My help of countenance,
Who makes all things
Vibrate collaborating
Strings life singing."

Mark R. Turner
Julian, CA
April 10, 2009
Related Scripture: Psalm 43

There is a blessed, undeserved hope when we think we are impossibly bound and lost.

We will sing of it together,

Mark

Conversation Breathes Life Into Vision

2009-03-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

People Make Vision Materialize

How do great endeavors come about? Every large corporation, institution, organization and ministry began with an inspiration in the heart of a person, but at some point the idea caught the attention of someone else. A conversation began. Reading this opens the opportunity for you to observe or even be a part of a conversation like that.

Great endeavors begin to be seen when they become a conversation. We talk about the idea and interest grows as possibilities come to light. A group of us forms around the idea, each of us excited about our own view of it and how we could play a part in the larger possibility being born. What once was limited to one person's imagination now has the generative powers of many imaginations seeking to support the greater, multi-faceted endeavor. Then talking becomes action plans which become deeds making ideas tangible things.

The ideas of our vision include two main areas of work: 1.) film production that builds community and nurtures the artists involved, and 2.) exhibiting our films in a place combining aspects of a gallery, a café and a theater.

The Production Gathering

Our goal is to help people rise toward the full potential with which God endowed them. Our vision is to produce films with a community of people who are committed to more than the end product, who go beyond a given film and assist each other in their spiritual, professional and artistic growth. The community atmosphere we envision will include professionals and promising learners striving for excellence to make films which express the Community of God in a variety of forms.

A New Kind of Exhibition Space

This community will produce films that explore forms and lengths not usually seen in normal movie theaters. They will use artistic forms inviting the viewers to observe and discuss, to engage with one another and with God. But, what kind of space would accommodate this? A space conducive to audience interaction would be more like a café. The atmosphere of an art gallery would change the film from a spectacle to a conversation piece. Yet, some of the functions of the movie theater would be retained. We envision a combination of all these aspects in a new kind of film and discussion space, a “film gallery café”.

Art work created for the given films will also be presented in the space. Events in the space will feature live musicians, poets, readings, lectures by the artists and filmmakers, and other appropriate presentations which stimulate conversations that draw people to God.

Funding the Vision

The Horizon Gate vision is being built upon the involvement and support of a community of people who are coming together through conversations. When these conversations turn the ideas into action-plans and deeds they will require material resources. That support will be gained through the income vehicles and assets in the community. As the vision takes place in actual projects and facilities, participants in the conversation can become workers supported by the mission's funding. In turn, as each member of the community builds their personal income and assets, their charitable overflow will be placed where their vision is, thus benefiting our mission.

The resources of our mission rise with the personal income and assets of our community members. To increase the personal resources of our members, we encourage and facilitate new streams of income through home based businesses. The home based business increases “normal job” cash flow through over 100 available federal tax deductions. It also affords artists the flexible schedule and on-going residual income to take time to work in our projects. As the community develops teams of agents gaining more income in these businesses, the mission gains more contributing supporters.

Three of the top home based businesses are already in operation within our mission community. They include a completely unique debt and mortgage elimination product, a software suite of the latest small business tools, and the best line of all natural products for health and the environment.

The non-profit, tax exempt status of Horizon Gate Productions benefits the members of the community by tax deductions for their contributions. It also facilitates acquiring large grants. The sale of Horizon Gate products will be done on line, at events and at the “film gallery café”. The Horizon Gate community will unite to offer fund raising events to the public. The organization will receive periodic fees for services and receive tuition from students participating in the “Production Gatherings”.

Calling for Community

We all need to work with others to fulfill a vision larger than ourselves. It takes a community of comrades to make films which move people spiritually. It takes many kinds of talent to operate a vibrant, new kind of exhibition venue where such films and art can move people toward God. This is why we at Horizon Gate Productions continue to re-describe and present our vision. We hope to find people who will join minds, hearts and hands to accomplish wonderful things.

Call us, 760-765-3884, or send an e-mail, markanddonna@horizongate.org , and tell us you want to be part of the conversation which is turning ideas into accomplishments.

Solitary Artists Get Together

2009-03-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

The solitary artist. The solitary writer. Even though it is essential for many of us to get alone and create, eventually we have to appear in some form where others receive what we make. But often we meet walls and gate keepers which block the delivery of the treasure we have labored over in private. We know there are people who need and want what has been inspired in us. We can try to "go it alone" seeking ways to reach the people, but I recommend being a member of a community of believers who receive from God beyond themselves; who move together, share vision and facilitate inspiration. Join the conversation about a vision of art production and exhibition at http://www.horizongate.blogspot.com

"It's too slow,
Searching for cracks
In walls around people.
I'm too solitary,
No army of crack seekers with me.
But it's not the cracks that are so important.
It's the sunlight in this box I carry.
Someone inside has called for it
And the gates are guarded.
So, I thought to look for cracks.
If I could find just a small place,
Surely the sun would leak through
That one might catch it.
Then, who knows, it could multiply.
Light is like that, spreading.

"I know a group which gave up crack searching,
Walked like a parade of theatrical oddities
Along the endless wall.
Even heartless stones could not put them out of mind.
But it was not just the walking,
Clamoring and spectacle making.
It was being a prism
Angled just right to beam glory
Onto the stones which could stand no longer,
Compelled as they were to bow,
Then fall on their faces.
And only a people wholly given
To such otherly reality
Can know the stepping over
Walls which had been impervious
To crack hunters."
Mark R. Turner
Julian, CA
July, 18 - Oct. 23, '07
Related Scripture: Joshua 6

We, the Smolder Before the Fire

2009-02-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

As I sat listening for God this morning I heard the following and pass it on as the action of a messenger, a crack in the wall set up by the opposition to separate us from the greater Reality.

“Perhaps you have forgotten all the times you felt like you would not survive, all the times you felt the panic of ultimate defeat and destruction. But you are here now looking back on them. I am not speaking to those who have ended and are not here now. I am talking to you who have survived.”

“And now you feel that same defeat and regret that all is not as you had hoped. Yet, you know that the small spark causes a slow smolder and the fire you need so dearly seems to take so infuriatingly long to warm the house. You are surviving the cold. The fire comes in a way you had not imagined, but comes. Your dream is audacious in the current cold conditions. Yet, you have begun the small, fragile flame; smoldering continues; the fire will not be fully expected in the form it will take, but, still, fire it will be. And who will consider then how you persisted smoldering?”

Christ's form: who considered it, or thought that this was the One? But, they esteemed him forsaken of God (Isaiah 53). We do not know fully who we are. It has not appeared who we are. Just as Christ was esteemed smitten and forsaken of God, we naively treat one another as common and hold failing standards of honor toward a few. But who shall stand in the day of Christ's appearing? "A bruised reed He will not break, a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish" (Isaiah 42:3). Our hope is a spark, an evidence of the fire not yet here but we hold the spark as the intent for the great conflagration. As the Apostle Paul said before his martyrdom, "It has not appeared what we shall be, but we know that we shall see Christ face to face." As Job says in the midst of his trials, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God."(Job 19:25-26)

All is not as it appears. Instead of looking at appearances, a seemingly failing smolder, we look at the persistent flame in our core, the evidence of the grand fire coming, the small precursor unsuspected and not esteemed by those occupied with deceptively bright things of the day. We have the flame. We place the kindling.

Creation Continues

2009-01-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Creation continues. We are both the medium and the agents of the power working in all the universe cooking, splitting, fusing, shaping, coloring... making life. So much of humanity's building seems futile and contrary to our Maker's design. Still, God chooses to live here in the place God expands to accommodate more and more of us. As we have been formed from the dust and have received the Spirit of the Maker, we do our parts to birth others; to participate in the formation and transformation.

"How You raise the edifice
Turning stones to light
Fitted about that cornerstone
Night builders discarded
For temples made with hands,
Stacked crushing blocks,
Yet tripped over daylight.

"But, unquenched,
You piece together the Day
As, one-by-one, day child
Springs from that corner
Sparking and sizzling
Glints of solar prominences,
Exalted into place
As nova beams
Blind out the night.

"And rises the household,
Blessing and calling
Into the glory dwell,
Fusion transformed;
Rejoicing this
Is the Day."

Mark Robert Turner
Sept. 28, 2007
Julian, California
Related Scriptures: Psalm 118:22-29; I Peter 2:4-10; Hebrews 9:11,24; John 1:4-5; Ephesians 2:19-22
read this and past meditations on the "Artstimulant" page of Horizon Gate

Artists dance with change

2009-01-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

Some get destructive in promoting change.

Some get destroyed resisting it.

Artists imagine and use change as a medium.

Some say the only constant is change.

I'll go one better: the only constant is outside of change.

The universe works by means of change, always in motion, ebbing and flowing, exhaling and inhaling, condensing and vaporizing, growing and decaying, pulsing, undulating. We move as parts of that.

Why, then, do we hold concepts of eternity and changelessness? We are not just particles at the mercy of these forces. Part of the wonder of humanness is to be aware of origins in that which generated all things. This gift of sensing a connection with the Changeless Beyond embracing the universe, enables us to move with the changes, to make the best of fortunes gained and lost, places our fortunes beyond any bank vault, or political agenda.

"All things build,

Reach critical mass,

Implode; the boundaries

Once thought sovereign

Break down and outer things

Flow unstoppably in

Toward the next explosion,

Casting all outward

To new destinies;

"Unkind progression;

Violent dissolution;

Forcing you and me away

Beyond dimensions

We may have counted on

Had we not linked to being,

Or communed with our Origin

Intimately across lines

And scale describing time and space;

"With that One

Sovereign of each element,

Master of whole reality,

Embracing all,

Attentive to each

Whether known or ignored;

"Who reaches to be known,

To fellowship through shared elements,

To reveal new born beauties;

"Had we not reached

Rather than, oblivious pieces,

Concentrated on

One's own existence or ends,

Trying to be all there is,

Unknowing of these

Countless particles

Rushing in

Flying out

Along with."

Mark Robert Turner

Julian, CA

September 16, 2008

Let us find the choreography and move together.

Yours dancing,

Mark

Read this and past meditations on the Artstimulant page of http://www.horizongate.org