A year-long online cohort for artists across Canada.
Most artists in the Canadian Church are loved for what they produce and rarely pastored for who they are. They get invited to serve — a set, a song, a poster — and much more rarely invited to be formed. Their church is glad of the work and has no idea what to ask them about it. And the questions that actually keep artists up don’t come up in an ordinary small group:
Is this worth pursuing a career in? What do I do with the envy I feel when someone else’s work is received? How do I keep making when nobody has asked me to? How do I hold a calling that pays irregularly and costs constantly?
They are also scattered. There is no city in the country with enough Christian artists in one place to gather a serious cohort locally. So we stopped treating that as a problem and built for it: a room that meets online every month, ateliers of three or four that meet more often than that, and four days a year in one building where the work gets shown.
Why we exist
Our Vision
To create a movement of artists who are serious about their faith and their craft that would bring beauty and restoration in this world.
Our Mission
We are passionate about pastoring artists as artists; gathering makers from across the country into a year of spiritual formation, a theology of making, and community honest enough to show unfinished work in.
10-15 artists, chosen by application, invitation, and conversation.
Nine gatherings of two hours, once a month, online.
An atelier (focused group) that meets again mid-month.
Two months with nothing scheduled at all (December & July) because a program that teaches rest while running eleven straight months isn’t telling the truth.
Four days together, in person, at the end of the year, where the year’s work is shown and each artist is commissioned by name.
A 1-year intensive discipleship program for artists.
What does Studio look like?
Studio Structure
How we serve Canadian artists
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The first people in Scripture said to be filled with the Spirit of God are craftsmen, and the filling is for skill — artistry, design, the working of metal and stone and wood and cloth… We build a year on the conviction that your craft is not just the delivery vehicle for the spiritual thing; it is the spiritual thing.
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Every month has something to do, not only something to think about — the examen, a sabbath actually taken, a lament written, a week of looking at one object. Teaching is a quarter of our time, on purpose. This cohort is all about engaging in the gifts that God has entrusted to us as artists.
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Every artist is placed in an atelier of 3-4 who journey together the whole year, with a coach ready to walk with you in your artistic calling and destiny. Twelve months with the same few people is what makes honesty possible and vulnerability less daunting.
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Conferences are good at inspiration and bad at formation. Studio runs twelve months, because becoming a different kind of maker takes longer than a weekend and nobody’s character changes on a schedule. We are intentional about doing life together, at all walks of life.
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Most artists have an audience and no witnesses. An audience consumes; a witness knows what it cost, remembers the early drafts, and can tell you the truth. Every month, one artists shows real work to the room, and we close by praying and prophesying over them by name.
Meet our team
Jess Sanchez
Jess is an award-winning short filmmaker, fine art film photographer, musician, and creative visionary passionate about telling redemptive stories through art. As the founder of Renaissance Canada, Jess is committed to equipping and inspiring artists across the country to create from a place of truth, hope, and faith. Whether through songwriting, filmmaking, or mentoring, she desires to see the arts transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. She’s passionate about teaching, leading, and resourcing the local church in areas surrounding the intersection of faith and the arts, as well as coaching and mentoring artists. She holds a Bachelor of Theology, which has helped refine her passion for the intersection of theology and the arts. She is also currently doing a Master of Arts in Theological Studies at Briercrest Seminary.
See her work here: https://jessicasanchez.co
Co-Director | Photography Atelier Coach
Karina Clarence
Co-Director | Spiritual Formation + Pastoral LeadershipKarina is an American-born abstract artist who grew up in Portland, Oregon, but has since called Canada home for the past thirteen years. After spending over a decade in Calgary, Alberta, she recently relocated with her family to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where the beauty of Canada's subarctic landscape continues to inspire her creative practice.
Drawing inspiration from her faith, Karina creates work that reflects a deep appreciation for colour and texture, and the emotions they evoke. Her artistic journey began at a young age and has remained a constant thread throughout her life, evolving through various creative pursuits and expressions. She seeks to capture a sense of peace, beauty, and wonder in every painting she composes. Her work leaves space for deep self reflection and provokes the viewer to draw personal meaning from each piece.
Her current preferred medium is acrylic paint on raw canvas where colour, water and unsealed fibers interact with unique unpredictability. Check out her current work at www.karinaclarence.com
Amber Bent
Fine Art Atelier CoachAmber Bent is a Calgary-based visual artist whose creative practice explores the power of art as a language for expressing what words cannot always hold. With a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Fine Arts from the University of Calgary, Amber works across drawing, painting, abstraction, multimedia, portraiture, and landscape.
Alongside her studio practice, Amber is passionate about making art accessible to people from all backgrounds. She has served as an art instructor with organizations including New Story Community and the Calgary Dream Centre, developing creative and therapeutic art programming that encourages expression, emotional connection, and discovery. Her work with community members has deepened her conviction that creativity can be a meaningful tool for healing, dignity, and connection.
Through both her artwork and her work with others, Amber invites people to discover the artist within themselves—and to experience art not simply as something to observe, but as a way of engaging more deeply with the world around them.
See her work here: https://amberbent.com
Phenix Warren is a Juno Award nominated producer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist currently working out of Pocono House Studios in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He Loves to help artists find their authentic sound! Outside of his 15 plus years serving in worship ministry at C3 Church, Phenix has done work for artists including Kim Walker Smith, SEU Worship, Noah Paul Harrison and more. In addition to his studio work he is an accomplished performer and artist. He is actively involved in serving and helping churches across the country such as C3 Assembly and Tehillah Worship with their music. He has embarked on cross Canada tours as a guitarist, regularly plays solo acoustic performances, and released his first self-produced full length album entitled “Nothing But the Blood” in 2019.
Check out Phenix’s work here: https://www.phenixwarren.com/portfolio
Music Atelier Coach