Sacredness of the Present Moment

Art professor Kurt Simonson shares stories with Biola students about his spiritual journey and how photography and the concept of sacred space has formed him and his view of God. He challenges students to live in the present moment as a means of serving God and others.

Kurt Simonson, Assistant Professor of Photography

Kurt Simonson is an artist/educator who explores what happens in the in-between spaces of life-- those places of tension where things are rarely what they first seem—places where either/or propositions are inadequate, sacred/secular dichotomies are exhausted, and the truth lies instead in the complexity of both/and situations. This often plays out relationally in collaborative projects, such as Shared Horizons, for which he worked with three young men in his community to fuse and cross art education, personal mentorship, and friendship. In his ongoing project entitled Northwoods Journals, he explores the mythology and memory of his Midwestern upbringing, attempting to heal the dislocation of a family, home, and place that has since been left behind. Ideas of family narrative are also behind a project he is doing in Uganda to tell the story of a family of orphans, having lost their parents to AIDS, who are trying to break the cycle of poverty and western dependence to restore the way things once were for there family and community. Kurt has taught at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Glen A. Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights, CA, and at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of darkroom and digital photography. His work is regularly exhibited throughout the country. He received a B.S. in Studio Art from Biola University in 2000, a Secondary Education Credential from Whittier College in 2003, and an MFA in Photography from California State University, Long Beach, in 2006.