Using Art to Reach Your Community: Q&A With Pamela Alderman

Resonate Global Mission missionary Pamela Alderman has been painting since she was ten years old. As an artist and missionary today, she has found a unique calling to provide interactive art experiences that provide hope and healing for people—especially for people who might not find themselves in a church building. We chatted with Pamela to get a glimpse of her ministry and how your church can use art as a ministry.

Resonate: How long have you been an artist?
Pamela: As a ten-year-old, I think my parents recognized my creative ability early and they  enrolled me in art lessons. Teachers at school and some relatives started buying those early paintings. Years later, I graduated with a BA in Art. But I didn’t really paint all those early to mid-adult years because I was raising four children and we were living all over—in Japan and Germany. When all of my children started graduating and leaving the home while I was in my forties, I started painting again. That’s when ArtPrize started in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The ArtPrize event helped  move my art from my parents’ walls to the city walls. I went back for my MFA and completed that program when I turned 62. 

Resonate: When did you realize art played a role in healing?
Pamela: That was a really interesting process. I started competing every year in ArtPrize. My second year, the American Heart Association asked me to do the portrait of one of their young heart survivors. I did three paintings of her in a red dress, and it caused such an impact that I was kind of overwhelmed. The next year, the Cancer Center wanted me to paint a young cancer survivor, and I also prepared 1,500 cards for people to write the name of a cancer survivor and hang it on a metal healing tree. Three days into ArtPrize, those cards were gone. My husband and mother were buying cards every single day. At the end of the competition, 20,000 cards hung on that tree. 

I realized that people were very interested in doing interactive art, and they were very interested in doing art that connected with them emotionally. That’s when my healing art was born. In one way, it was the public teaching me about my art. It was a mutual giving back and forth. My art was helping the public to heal and the public’s response was helping me to heal.

Resonate: How would you describe your healing art, or ministry?
Pamela: Henry Blackaby’s words inspire me: “Watch to see where God is working and join him in His work.” I had long lines of several dozen people or more waiting to see my ArtPrize piece each year, so I started Healing in Arts. Basically, I create interactive art experiences to build care, hope, and connection. We work with teens who have been incarcerated, people who have been sex trafficked, veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, refugees, children with disabilities—all kinds of groups and ages. Our unspoken mission is to reach the unchurched through art with the message of hope and healing. We have learned that God can bring Shalom into chaos through art.

Resonate: What role do you see healing in art playing in God’s mission?
Pamela: I think it’s a really important role at this particular time in history. People who would never go to church would come to our art exhibits or participate in our projects. They may never step foot in church because they’re scared or might not feel it’s relevant to them, but they’ll come and do art with us. And that’s when they encounter God. 

Resonate: What are some ways you could work with churches?
Pamela: Our ministry is all about using art to connect with people. It’s a tool churches can use. I can help churches develop and implement a plan to use art to connect with people. One time, I worked with a youth group that went out to Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids. We got permission to set up a table. We covered the table with butcher paper and provided a pile of  beautiful paint markers. Then we invited people to stop by and gave them a prompt like, Draw a picture of what gives you hope. Everyone seemed excited about the opportunity because they just sat down and drew. One person stayed there for an hour. We had more than 100 people stop by in two hours.

Is your church interested in partnering with Pamela on a healing art project? Send her an email at pamela@pamelaalderman.com.