THE
ROOTS

Harvest Arts was born because artistic expression and enjoyment are essential to humanity. After the widespread COVID-19 lockdowns, the arts industry was placed on indefinite hold, necessitating that both creators and consumers settle for online alternatives. One creator, Madeline Cawley, imagined a new way to meet these challenges.Harvest began as a one-time only private event called "Music & Art." For this event, Madeline painted a gallery of original paintings and programmed a flute and harp duo concert with harpist Abigail Workman. Close friends and family attended and, for the first time in months, enjoyed an evening of beauty and human connection. Now Harvest recreates these evenings to offer the experience to a wider audience; each evening is a figurative feast of beauty, joy, and fullness of life.Madeline's Christian faith drives her deeper purpose and motivation for her art and her work. She finds that the words of author Jerom Barrs adeptly describe the beauty of art as being an "echo of Eden," a shadow reminding humanity of creation's original perfection. In today's tumultuous world, she offers her artistic gifts as an aroma of hope, a crown of beauty instead of ashes. She finds inspiration from Isaiah 61:1-3:"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."