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The Art of the Psalms: Ancient Creativity, Contemporary Imagination
The Art of the Psalms
Ancient Creativity, Contemporary Imagination
February 6—7, 2026 | Gordon-Conwell—Charlotte
Event Overview
The book of Psalms is the treasured prayerbook and songbook of God’s people as well as an artistic masterpiece, inviting those who read, listen, pray, sing, and interact with its word to respond to God with the full scope of human thoughts, emotions, and imagination. In this unique event, participants will be guided during main sessions to engage with the Psalms in creative ways through music, visual art, poetry, liturgy, dance, sermons, and scholarly perspectives. Interactive workshops will provide practical tools for integrating the Psalms into private devotion, public worship, and artistic practice. In addition, two visual art exhibits will present works inspired by the Psalms, one featuring work by Sandra Bowden and the other displaying prints created for the Revealed Psalter project led by Ned Bustard and Square Halo Books.
Featured speakers and artists include W. David O. Taylor, Poor Bishop Hooper, Julian Davis Reid, Tramaine Parker, Ellen Davis, Paiter van Yperen, Winfield Bevins, and many more.
Scroll down to learn more about our incredible slate of speakers and artists, and get your tickets now before early bird pricing ends on October 31st.
Speakers & Artists
Isaac Akanmu
John Bergmeier
Winfield Bevins
Sandra Bowden
Ned Bustard
Abigail Carroll
Ranika Chaney
Stephen Crotts
Ellen Davis
Sammy Gonzales
Brenton Good
Edward Knippers
Ron McClelland
Sara Kay Mooney
Tramaine Parker
Steve Prince
Julian Davis Reid
Jesse and Leah Roberts
Suzy Schultz
W. David O. Taylor
Wes Vander Lugt
Paiter van Yperen
Schedule
Friday, February 6, 2026
| 6:30–7:30 p.m. | Art Gallery Reception |
| 7:30–9:00 p.m. | Session 1 Presenters include Julian Davis Reid, Tramaine Parker, David Taylor, Ron McClelland, Sara Kay Mooney, Sandra Bowden, and Ranika Chaney |
Saturday, February 7, 2026
| 9:00–10:30 a.m. | Session 2 Presenters include Poor Bishop Hooper, David Taylor, Isaac Akanmu, Ron McClelland, Sammy Gonzalez, Brenton Good, Suzy Schultz, John Bergmeier, and Ranika Chaney |
| 10:45–12:00 p.m. | Session 3 Presenters include David Taylor, Ron McClelland, Abigail Carroll, Ned Bustard, Ed Knippers, Steve Prince, Stephen Cross, Ranika Chaney, Ellen Davis, and Paiter van Yperen |
| 12:00–1:15 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:15–2:30 p.m. | Session 4: Workshops Workshop 1: The Arts of the Psalms and Corporate Worship (David Taylor); Workshop 2: The Art of the Psalms and Private Devotion (Winfield Bevins); Workshop 3: Sacred Prints, Sacred Songs, Sacred Psalms (Ned Bustard, Steve Prince, Stephen Crotts) |
| 3:00–4:30 p.m. | Session 5 Presenters include Steve Prince, Julian Davis Reid, Tramaine Parker, Poor Bishop Hooper, Wes Vander Lugt, Ron McClelland, and Ranika Chaney |
Sponsors
Creo Arts
Learn More
Creo Arts
Learn More
If you or your organization are interested in sponsoring this event, please reach out to Dr. Wes Vander Lugt, the director of the Leighton Ford Initiative in Theology, the Arts, and Gospel Witness.
Location
This event will be hosted at Gordon-Conwell–Charlotte (see map below), and because of the artistic and interactive nature of this event, online participation is not available.
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary—Charlotte
14542 Choate Circle Charlotte, NC 28273
Charlotte Campus
14542 Choate Cir, Charlotte, NC 28273, USA
Registration
Accommodations
If you are traveling from outside of Charlotte, there are many options for accommodations near the campus. We suggest Embassy Suites, Tru, or Hilton Garden Inn at Ayrsley, or Comfort Inn, TownPlace Suites, or SpingHill Suites at I-77 and Carowinds Blvd.
Wes Vander Lugt
Exhibit Organizer and Adjunct
Professor of Theology
Have Questions?
We look forward to seeing you in Charlotte! If you have any questions about the symposium, please feel free to reach out.
Isaac Akanmu
Isaac Akanmu is a Nigerian American writer from Staten Island, NY, now residing in Charlotte, NC. He is the author of two poetry chapbooks: hallelujah, honey bun (Harbor Editions, forthcoming) and not belonging anywhere (Bottlecap Press, 2022). His words also appear in The Westchester Review, Chestnut Review, Ekstasis Magazine, and more.
Ranika Chaney
Ranika Chaney is a certified mental health coach, a speaker for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Domestic Violence Speakers Bureau, and engagement director for Engage Art. As the founder of RanikaSpeaks, she specializes in facilitating impactful events, panels, and discussions that foster connection, collaboration, and actionable outcomes. Affectionately known as the “conversation curator,” she uses her platform to create purpose-driven experiences that leave a lasting impact.
John Bergmeier
John Bergmeier received his BA in Studio Arts from Hastings College and his MFA in Printmaking and Drawing from Wichita State University. A Color, Materials and Finish Designer and Design Manager in the decorative films industry since 1992, he has recently retired. Bergmeier has exhibited internationally and has also taught studio art and graphic design classes and is currently working on prints and mixed media pieces in his studio in Waxhaw, North Carolina.
Winfield Bevins
Winfield Bevins is an artist, author, and the executive director of Creo Arts. He is also artist-in-residence at Asbury Theological Seminary and theologian-in-residence for Renaissance Movement in London where he champions the integration of art, theology, and mission. He is the author of several books, including Liturgical Mission and Ever Ancient Ever New.
Sandra Bowden
Sandra Bowden is a visual artist and art collector who was president of Christians in Visual Arts (CIVA) from 1993-2007. Bowden’s work fuses the vivid yet traditional imagery of the Old Testament – stone tablets and artifacts, Hebrew inscriptions, architectural depictions – with images of Christ’s passion, important music scores, and God’s natural creations.
Ned Bustard
Ned Bustard is a graphic designer, children’s book illustrator, author, and a printmaker. He is the creative director for World’s End Images and Square Halo Books, curates the Square Halo Gallery, and is the editor for Revealed Psalter: The Psalms Illustrated for Grown-Ups.
Abigail Carroll
Abigail Carroll is a pastor and writer residing in Vermont, and the author of three poetry collections: Cup My Days like Water, Habitation of Wonder, and A Gathering of Larks: Letters to Saint Francis from a Modern-Day Pilgrim. Her poems have been anthologized in How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope as well as in Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide.
Stephen Crotts
Stephen Crotts is an illustrator whose woodcuts and drawings have been featured in award-winning books, album covers, and magazines. He is currently illustrating Malcolm Guite’s forthcoming Arthurian epic, “Merlin’s Isle.” Stephen lives with his family in South Carolina, where he enjoys cooking in iron cauldrons, playing banjo, and exploring nature.
Ellen Davis
Ellen Davis is the Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School. In addition to her many books, including Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament, her new translation of the Psalter, prepared to celebrate the centennial of Duke Chapel, appears in The Chapel Hymnal: An Ecumenical Collection of Congregational Song (2026).
Sammy Gonzales
Sammy Gonzalez has served as Pastor of GSEspañol at Good Shepherd Church of Charlotte since 2012. Rev. González holds a BS in Human Services from Springfield College, MA, and a Master of Arts in Christian Leadership from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (’17), where he was the recipient of the Leadership Award. He is ordained by the American Baptist Church and is the ForCharlotte Latino Pastors Network leader.
Brenton Good
Brenton Good is a painter, printmaker, and Professor of Art at Messiah University, where he has been teaching since 2005. He has participated in over 100 exhibitions both nationally and internationally, in locations such as Berlin (Germany), Vicenza (Italy), Dubai (UAE), and Ankara (Turkey).
James Howell
James Howell has been Senior Pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte since 2003. A native of Columbia, SC, he has a Ph.D. in Old Testament Theology from Duke and is the author of numerous books, including The Heart of the Psalms: God’s Word to the World (2025). James is married to Lisa, a photographer, and they have three grown children.
Edward Knippers
Edward Knippers is a visual artist who has been a fellow at S. W. Hayter’s Atelier 17 in Paris and was a student in Zao Wou-ki’s painting studio at Oskar Kokoschcka’s School of Vision in Salzburg, Austria. He also was awarded the Prize of Salzburg in printmaking under Otto Eglau. Knippers undertook serious study of the human figure beginning at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. He holds a Master of fine Arts from the University of Tennessee where he studied under Walter H. Stevens and The Knoxville Seven.
Ron McClelland
Ron McClelland is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University Drama and The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. He currently serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Acting at UNC Charlotte and is an instructor and mentor at The Wisdom Tree Collective School of Spiritual Direction in Tennessee. Ron is dedicated to cultivating the spiritual life, creative works of artists, and creative people from all walks of life.
Sara Kay Mooney
Sara Kay Mooney is a writer and poet based in East Charlotte. Her work has appeared in The Charlotte Observer, Bustle, Christianity Today, and Earth & Altar. A former middle school teacher and librarian, she now works as a Senior Marketing & Communications Officer at a global nonprofit and shares poetry recommendations on Instagram.
Tramaine Parker
Tramaine Parker is a vocalist who has performed solo and with choral ensembles such as John Work Chorale, Vocality, Black Monument Ensemble, and Lakeside Singers. She is a background singer for Chance the Rapper, has sang with the Chicago Freedom Singers featuring Kathleen Battle, and has performed around the world. In addition to performing, Parker works for the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services in Chicago as a Child Welfare Specialist.
Steve Prince
Steve Prince is Director of Engagement and Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William and Mary University. He is an educator, community leader, and artist with experience leading community projects and creating both private and public commissions, including a 10’ bronze sculpture titled “Sankofa Seed” at William and Mary University. Prince has received numerous honors for his art and scholarship including the 2020 International Engage Art Contest Visual Art Grand Prize Winner and the VMFA Artist Fellowship.
Julian Davis Reid
Julian Davis Reid (M.Div., Candler School of Theology) is a Black artist-theologian from Chicago whose work invites us to rejoice, lament, and hope together. A pianist, composer, producer, speaker, and writer, Julian is the founder of the ministry Notes of Rest®, a contemplative-musical experience that invites the weary to practice God’s transforming rest. Julian steadily releases and performs new music, this year having released Vocation, Notes of Rest Hymns Vol.1, and BEHOLD (with The JuJu Exchange). Julian is also the Artistic Director for Testify!, a project from Christian Theological Seminary that strengthens Christian witness in Black churches by reviving testimony traditions for contemporary practice.
Jesse and Leah Roberts (Poor Bishop Hooper)
Jesse and Leah Roberts (Poor Bishop Hooper) began writing, recording, and performing in 2013. What began as a duo, weaving together a patchwork of melodies atop an upright bass and a guitar, has since blossomed into a plethora of technicolor expressions – all to bring glory to God and beauty to the earth. Though still often performing simple tunes in simple places, PBH has been blessed to develop a vibrant musical ministry – ranging from full band, heavy mood moments like that in ‘The Golgotha Experience,’ to their ambitious and sonically diverse ‘EveryPsalm,’ project, to their most recent release ‘As Foretold’ which walks through the prophetic fulfillment passages in Matthew’s gospel.
W. David O. Taylor
W. David O. Taylor is Associate Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of several books, including A Body of Praise: Understanding the Role of Our Physical Bodies in Worship (2023), Open and Unafraid: The Psalms and the Life of Faith (2020) and Glimpses of the New Creation: Worship and the Formative Power of the Arts (2019). An Anglican priest, he has lectured widely on the arts, from Thailand to South Africa.
Wes Vander Lugt
Wes Vander Lugt teaches theology and directs the Leighton Ford Initiative in Theology, the Arts, and Gospel Witness at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the co-founder of Kinship Plot, an intentional community cultivating resonant relationships of every kind. He is the author and editor of several books, including Living Theodrama: Reimagining Theological Ethics (2014), Beauty Is Oxygen: Finding a Faith that Breathes (2024), and A Prophet in the Darkness: Exploring Theology in the Art of Georges Rouault (2024).
Paiter van Yperen
Paiter van Yperen is a dancer, choreographer, dance educator, and a collective artist with Ad Deum Dance Company. He is a Certificate graduate of The Alvin Ailey School in New York City, specializing in classic American modern, ballet, and contemporary dance. He has performed, taught, and choreographed across the U.S. and internationally, and he also works closely with artists and scholars to explore the intersection of movement, art, humanity, and faith.
Suzy Schultz
Suzy Schultz is a representational figurative painter whose work explores the complexities of the human experience using the mediums of watercolor, oil, graphite, and intaglio printmaking. Her work has won many awards, been featured in art books and magazines, and been shown in galleries and museums throughout the US.