You are a beautiful masterpiece. But the practice of living artfully comes slowly, often through brokenness, weakness, or failure. Contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura integrates traditional Japanese styles with abstract expressionism and Christian theology, to explore the beauty that can emerge from the ashes pain and suffering.

Makoto Fujimura—renowned artist, writer, and theologian—joins Dr. Pam King to explore the deep connections between art, faith, and flourishing. Fujimura shares how his Japanese heritage and study of traditional Nihonga painting have shaped his understanding of creativity as a sacred act. Through themes of brokenness, beauty, and slow art, he challenges us to rethink success, embrace imperfection, and create from a place of love and abundance.

In this conversation with Mako Fujimura, we discuss:

• What art is, what creativity means, and the human capacity for making beauty


• How we can live artfully through imperfection, brokenness, trauma, and suffering


• How the practice of a gift economy can lead to mutual thriving


• The slow art of pausing, stopping, and beholding that contributes to our mental and spiritual health


• And the connection between knowledge and love in a life of creativity and artmaking.

Helpful Links and Resources

• Follow Makoto Fujimura on X @iamfujimura
  


• View Mako’s art at makotofujimura.com
  


• Makoto Fujimura’s Writings


• Makoto Fujimura’s Books


• Nihonga Art and its Traditions


• Refractions: A Journey of Art, Faith, & Culture


• Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life


• Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering


• Art and Faith: A Theology of Making

About Makoto Fujimura

Contemporary artist Makoto Fujimura is a painter, an author, a speaker, and an imaginative maker with a gift for theological integration.

A blend of fine art and abstract expressionism, Mako describes his work as “slow art,” being influenced directly by the distinctively Japanese Nihonga style, which is patient and methodical, using slow drying pigments from ground minerals.

Mako’s art has been featured in galleries and museums around the world, as well as notable collections in The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library in California, and the Tikotin Museum in Israel.

Mako is the author of several books, including Refractions: A Journey of Art, Faith, & Culture, Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life, and Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering. His most recent is entitled Art and Faith: A Theology of Making. And his next book will be available soon—titled, Art Is: A Journey into the Light. And with his wife Haejin, he’s producing a new work on Beauty and Justice.

Follow him on X @iamfujimura, and view his beautiful work at makotofujimura.com.

About the Thrive Center

• Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.


• Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter
  


• Follow us on X @thrivecenter
  


• Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter
  

About Dr. Pam King

Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.  Follow her @drpamking.

About With & For

• Host: Pam King


• Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook


• Operations Manager: Lauren Kim


• Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen

Special thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.