Live Painter | Pastorist | retreat leader
A Personal Note
From Lisle
Dear friend,
When I began this work in 2015, I was honored to travel frequently, working with communities of all kinds across the country. I saw a deep hunger in individuals and faith communities to discover their faith more fully through creativity. I quickly realized the work I was doing was spiritual formation—providing safe spaces for communities to create together and be shaped by the process. I found my voice as an artist, pastor, speaker, and facilitator. That work was deeply fulfilling and enriching to me and hopefully to you also.
Simultaneously, I launched A Sanctified Art LLC, a collaborative ministry providing art and multimedia resources for worshiping communities. That work has grown in scale and impact in the past few years. We now serve 3,000+ churches each season with resources and materials to inspire creativity and provide spiritual nourishment. My role in supporting and sustaining this organization has expanded, and I feel called to devote my best energy to it.
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, my vocation shifted more fully to the work of A Sanctified Art, which means I now have limited capacity to travel, lead retreats, and take on commissions. That said, this portion of my ministry is still deeply valuable to me. If you have a project in mind, please reach out. I ask for your flexibility and grace, as my bookings calendar is quite limited and scheduled far in advance. However, I love connecting with you and exploring if there are ways we can work together further.
As for my art, I have a number of originals listed here, as well as a large collection of poster prints offered here. I continue to create a few silk banner commissions each year for conferences and churches.
May peace, grace, & creativity find you—again and again.
Lisle
Retreats
Live Painting
commissions
Lisle leads creative retreats of all kinds for churches & communities.
Lisle creates live art for worship & conferences.
Commission Lisle to create large scale silk painted panels for worship spaces & conferences.
PASTORIST (pastor + artist)
Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity, MDiv, MAPT
(pronounced like "Lyle")
Lisle (she/her) is the founder and creative director of A Sanctified Art LLC, a collaborative arts ministry providing multimedia resources for worshiping communities. As an ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she approaches her work as an artist primarily through the lenses of pastor and theologian. Much of her work focuses on the spirituality of creativity and how it relates to both faith formation and wholeness/restoration. Residing in Black Mountain, North Carolina, with her husband and two wiggly pups, Max and Maven, she has a deep love for the Blue Ridge mountains. You can often find her gardening, tending to her flock of chickens, trail running, hiking, or adventuring with her husband, Paul. She serves on the strategy team for NEXT Church and the board for Hands and Feet of Asheville.
In addition to her work with A Sanctified Art, Lisle leads retreats for groups of all kinds (around varying themes), offers live painting for worship and events, and creates commissioned silk banner art for churches and conferences.
"Paint the truth, but paint it slant."
Inspired by Emily Dickinson's famous line, "Tell the truth, but tell it slant," this phrase encapsulates Lisle's unique painting style. She is drawn to natural and abstract imagery to evoke the mystery and depth of approaching faith with eyes wide open. Her works illuminate scripture through the emotive power of color, light, movement, and simple forms. Shying away from literal imagery or mere illustration, she paints to create space for viewers: space to imagine, space to reflect, space to feel, space to breathe. Creating most of her work "live" in spaces of worship, Lisle considers the creative process a sacred journey best shared with others.
“I’m most interested in the space between the real and the imagined. I don’t really aim for exact rendering, but I also can’t work entirely from inside my head. Each stroke is a conversation between the two extremes.”
Ministry in Action
Glimpses of serving as the artist-in-residence for the 2019 Worship & Music Conferences at Montreat, NC.
Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity visits Second Presbyterian Church to share her art in an engaging experience as the Second Family takes a look into art and worship, the fifth part in the Beauty for Ashes series.
Sanctified Art founder Lisle Gwynn Garrity, in her preferred 'state of being' (messy hands), in front of her live painting and banners, created during worship and art retreat at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona.
recent work
“God in the Spirit breathes something holy, sacred and hope-filled through Lisle’s work. She is also gifted at empowering others (regardless of their level of artistic talent and expertise) to use art to express the messages the Spirit has put on their hearts, thus creating space for God’s beloved community to be both imagined and made into reality.”
—Rev. Andy Acton, Duluth, GA