If your house was on fire, what two items would you grab?

Sarra: Well, I’d be inclined to stay and put out the fire.  But in the spirit of the question, I’d grab my wife and daughter.  I’ve got big hands, so I think I could carry three cats and a dwarf hamster, too.    

What is something about you that most people don’t know?

Sarra: Hmmm… so many choices.  I’m an adventurous eater.  I have a real interest in edible wild plants, and I like to forage for food.  If you’ve ever watched PBS them perhaps you’ve seen the filler spot “I Eat Weeds and Trees”. That’s pretty much what I do in my free time.  Plants, insects, fungus, whatever.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

Sarra: “Be a good listener.”  I’m not sure who told me that. At the heart of it, this may just be another way of saying,“Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Why do you like art so much?

Sarra: Technically speaking, I don’t like art much more than other things.  What I like is the awe, wonder, interest, mystery, discovery, surprise, and satisfaction that so often accompany making and viewing art.  But the world is full of those things and we access them in a variety of ways, which I love equally well.

In your opinion, why is creativity important?

Sarra: Creativity is the antidote to inevitability.  Last year I started defining creativity as “working harder than you have to”.  It often starts as thought, but always leads to action. So perhaps it would be right to describe creativity as a philosophy of life.  I believe that it is the life that Jesus spoke about and modeled for us.  That is important!

What do you like most about teaching students how to make art?

Sarra: On my side of things, I love figuring out how to communicate difficult truths and I love sharing the truths that I’ve discovered.  What that really means is that I love

learning, and teaching is a way of expanding and refining what I’ve learned.  On the student’s side of things, I love seeing “light bulb” moments of clarity and understanding. That usually happens when someone has been willing to work hard, to demonstrate a kind of faith by pursuing things that they’ve been told about but haven’t yet experienced for themselves.  Faith is hard work.

What is the best Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten?

Sarra: My wife Christine agreed to marry me on Christmas Eve, so that was pretty great.  I’ve been blessed with an amazing array of gifts over the years, but having a child takes life to a new level.  I’m amazed by the way that my daughter Florence gets caught up in the act of giving.  Even when she was just a few years old she would wrap paper around other wads of paper, sometimes with small drawings.  The point wasn’t what was inside—she was focused solely on the act of giving.  It continues to move and convict me, because I find it very difficult to be selfless and generous—even for a season.

Who do you aspire to be like?

Sarra: I’m a bit contrary.  Rather than aspiring to be “like” any one person, my attention is captured by the things that are missing in the day-to-day realities of human

experience, my own included.  I tend to be more aware of the things I don’t want to do or be.  Fortunately, that is one of the many paths that lead us to the life of Jesus.  He gave us a template for creative action so that instead of just “making do” with those daily realities, we can experience abundance in ways that spill out of our own life and enhance the lives of others.