South of the Lake #1 Painting

Colt is a multidisciplinary artist who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where he currently lives, works, and creates. He graduated with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Wheaton College where he integrated the disciplines of Art & Theology—primarily exploring the relationship between abstract art and faith. His art strives to invite others into a holy space, encouraging them to explore their identity, faith, passions, and all that make them human. An old friend of his once told him about an old Irish teaching that there are places on earth where the atmosphere collapses and heaven falls to earth. They are called “thin places,” a place charged with sacredness, a place close to God. Whether a mountaintop or seaside cliff, a monastery or cityscape, a piece of music or fine art, thin places are wherever you have a sense of the divine, a sense beyond. Furthermore, a thin place is where the veil that separates heaven and earth is lifted and one is able to receive a glimpse of the glory of God. These thin places are all about connection with God and the divine—ports in the storm of life, where one leaves that which is familiar and journeys into the Divine Presence. They are stopping places where we are given pause to wonder about what lies beyond the mundane, the grief, the trials and the boredom of day-to-day life. They probe to the core of the human heart and open the pathway that leads to satisfying the familiar hungers of the human soul: to be connected, to find peace, and to be loved. His art offers an invitation into the thin place through abstraction, engagement with questions pertaining to human experience, and the exploration of form and the rhythm of making marks—allowing one mark to carry into another. In-so-doing, he allows for a space where the Divine of God’s presence transcends closer to earth.