Makers & Mystics
Makers & Mystics is the podcast for the art-driven, spiritually adventurous seekers of truth and lovers of life.
Episodes
Every great artist from Caravaggio to Frida Kahlo has fought the same invisible war, and Stephen Roach makes the case that it is not a coincidence.
In this solo reflection, Stephen traces a decade-long question that has haunted him: why does creative expression seem to attract so much internal and external opposition? Drawing on scripture, church history, and the lives of artists who battled addiction, trauma, and mental ill...
Evelyn Underhill: The Mother of Modern Mystics
Artist Profile Series 40
Who was Evelyn Underhill, and why does her work continue to shape the modern contemplative movement more than a century later?
In this Artist Profile episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach explores the life of Evelyn Underhill, writer, spiritual director, retreat leader, and one of the most influential voices on Christian mysticism in the twentiet...
What if art isn't simply something we admire, but something that asks something of us?
In this episode, Stephen Roach sits down with acclaimed printmaker, educator, and storyteller Steve Prince for a conversation about the vocation of the artist. Drawing from history, faith, family, and lived experience, Steve shares how his work seeks to preserve memory, confront injustice, and create spaces where genuine transformation can be...
Can beauty change a person? A community? A culture?
Sacred artist Kate Capato believes it can.
In this bonus episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach sits down with Kate to explore why authentic beauty has the power to heal, awaken wonder, and draw people into the presence of God. Together they discuss the modern crisis of beauty, the vocation of the artist, and how sacred art becomes an invitation into de...
Animation has a unique ability to carry profound truths beneath colorful worlds, unforgettable characters, and compelling adventure. Beneath the spectacle, the best stories invite us into questions of identity, grief, hope, and transformation.
In this episode, Stephen Roach sits down with animator and storyboard artist Gene Kim, whose career has included work with Pixar, Blue Sky Studios, and major film and television productions. T...
In this bonus episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach revisits The Pace of Beauty series with artist and designer Jennifer Sturrock.
Drawing from her background in couture, contemporary art, and theological study, Jennifer shares how fabric and materiality have become a framework for exploring deeper questions of identity, mystery, and communion with God. What begins as a conversation about textiles and clothing unfolds...
Beauty is one of the most celebrated words in art and faith conversations, but it may also be one of the most misunderstood. Is beauty simply what pleases the eye, or is it something deeper?
Can beauty exist alongside suffering, loss, and the grotesque? And what happens when we settle for beauty that comforts us while avoiding the realities that transform us?
What if beauty requires darkness, mystery, and even lament in order t...
What does it cost an artist to tell the truth? Singer-songwriter Zan Fiskum has built her entire creative life around finding out. In this episode, host Stephen Roach sits down with Zan to explore how her most personal songs, about a toxic creative relationship, a fractured friendship, and a complicated bond with her mother, became anthems for strangers carrying the same quiet weight.
This is a conversation about the craft behind vu...
Beauty As Survival: Breath, Embodiment, and The First Instrument
A conversation with Whitney Lynn
In this episode, I sit down with embodiment coach, creative director, and longtime Breath and The Clay collaborator Whitney Lynn to explore the intersections of breath, beauty, embodiment, and the creative life.
Whitney’s work centers on “returning the body to the body,” helping people come home to themselves in a c...
Make Your Home In This Luminous Dark
A conversation with James K. A. Smith
In this episode, I sit down with philosopher and author James K. A. Smith (Jamie) to explore the mystical tradition as a living pathway into deeper faith, creativity, and presence.
Jamie shares how his journey into mysticism began not through abstract theology, but through personal crisis, an experience of depression that exposed the limits of intellec...
What can ancient stories teach us about creativity, courage, and our own place in the modern world?
In this episode, Stephen Roach welcomes poet and priest Malcolm Guite back to Makers & Mystics to explore his poetic retelling of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Malcolm reflects on how these stories shaped him from childhood and why myth still carries moral and spiritual weight in a disenchanted age.
Together, they discuss t...
In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach sits down with cultural critic, writer, and iconographer Jonathan Pageau to explore the state of contemporary storytelling and the enduring power of myth.
Pageau, creator of The Symbolic World, explains how symbols operate beneath conscious awareness to shape imagination and culture. Together, they discuss why traditional narratives appear depleted, how propaganda differs from t...
In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach continues the series The Pace of Beauty with Dr. Timothy Patitsas, author of The Ethics of Beauty.
Focusing on Chapter Six, The Mystical Architect, they explore the inseparability of beauty and goodness, the cruciform nature of the artist’s journey, and how trauma has shaped modern art’s uneasy relationship with beauty. Together, they consider architecture as a found...
This replay episode features excerpts from a 2017 conversation with author Brian Zahnd, exploring his insights on Christian aesthetics and the role of beauty in faith.
The discussion centers on Zahnd's book, "Beauty Will Save the World," and his argument for understanding Christianity through the lens of beauty rather than relying solely on truth claims and moral arguments.
What does it mean to repair what has been broken, and can there be beauty in that work?
In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach is joined by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg for a thoughtful conversation on repentance, accountability, and the demanding work of repair. As part of our ongoing series on beauty, this episode explores repentance not as performance or apology, but as a process of truth-telling, learning, and transfor...
The Beauty of Authenticity — John Van Deusen
Songwriter John Van Deusen joins Makers & Mystics to explore the beauty of authenticity in art, faith, and vocation. In a creative landscape that often rewards certainty and success, John reflects on the cost—and freedom—of making honesty the point.
At the center of the conversation is his latest album, As Long As I Am In The Tent of This Body I Will Make A Joyful Noi...
What if beauty isn’t an escape from the outrage and exhaustion of the world—but a form of resistance against it?
In a culture overrun with anxiety and uncertainty, turning toward beauty can feel almost defiant. In this episode of Makers & Mystics, host Stephen Roach is joined by theologian, poet, and cultural critic Jonathan P. Walton to explore how beauty forms us for resilience, integrity, and repair—both per...
What role does beauty play in a fractured and hurried world—and what might happen if we allowed it to slow us down?
This episode marks the beginning of a new Makers and Mystics series, The Pace of Beauty, exploring how beauty invites us into a more attentive and spiritually grounded way of living.
In this opening conversation, Stephen Roach is joined by Winfield Bevins, author, artist, and founder of Creo Arts, a missional arts...
Moving at the Pace of Beauty
Season Introduction — Makers & Mystics Podcast
Elaine Scarry writes that “beauty quickens. It adrenalizes. It makes the heart beat faster.” Beauty is immediate in this way. It strikes us unaware and de-centers us, throwing us off balance and ushering us into a moment of euphoria.
Beauty comes to us in a flash, a sudden recognition, or a moment of beholding; however, its effec...
In this episode of Makers and Mystics, host Stephen Roach is joined by Jared Farley of Porter’s Call, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the emotional and mental health of touring artists and their families.
Together, they explore the tension between persona and person, stage life and home life, and the unique pressures artists face when identity becomes brand. The conversation examines the impact of fame on the human soul, t...
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