Welcome to Spotlight! In each issue, we focus on someone who calls Harvest Fellowship home. It may be an artist, a missionary, a businessperson, a teacher or an astronaut. In addition to our featured cover story, previous stories are also archived by year.
2010, 2011.

 

 

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Cody Walz

In The Mix

Cody Walz is a first-year student at University of Saint Francis, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has done much of his growing up at Harvest Fellowship in Leo, Indiana, and plays guitar in the worship band. We got together recently and talked about how things are going for him.
 

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brad:  How old are you, Cody?

cody:  18.

brad:  And this is your first year at St. Francis, right? You're in what program?

cody:  I'm in the SOCA department, so School of Creative Arts. I'm majoring in graphic design with a concentration in computer graphics, and then I'm minoring in fine art with a concentration in sculpture.

brad:   Where does that lead you? I mean, what is it that you hope you would be able to prepare yourself for?

cody:   I want to be a freelance designer some day, and I love music too. I've been on the worship team forever, but I want to get involved in the music scene, too, but maybe as more of a cover artist or something like that.

brad:  So, we have several things we can cover because you're a pretty creative guy, and you're interested in design, music and fine art. Let's start with design. Are you mostly intrigued by graphic design or industrial design.

cody:  Graphic design. I like fine art a lot, and if I could make a living doing fine art, I would. But it's so hard to get a job that strictly involves fine art.

brad:  So, if you were going to choose between fine art and graphic design, and it was a perfect world—you could do anything you wanted—what would it be?

cody:  Fine art.

brad:  Why is that?

cody:  It's fun!

brad:  What do you mean by that? Is there some kind of reward in it for you?

cody:  It's a release because I don't talk well.

brad:  So, when you're painting or drawing, you're expressing something inside of you?

cody:  I was scared of talking like that before, but, after going to art school, you're always hearing “Express yourself!” It's just like driven in. I don't talk all that well to people that I don't know, and I don't have time to write anymore. I used to write all the time.

brad:  Music or just whatever you felt like?

cody:  Poetry, a lot of rants, whether they're good or bad. It's kind of like free-verse poetry I guess. But I'd always have a rhythm in my head that I wrote it to, so I guess it could be lyrics as well.

brad:  So you're 18 years old in art school at St. Francis. Are you a typical kid? I don't know exactly what a typical kid is, but are you one of those?

cody:  I don't think I'm the person to ask. I would talk to my profs about that one.

brad:  You mean, academically?

cody:  Yeah.

brad:  I was referring more to the way you see the world, the way you process life.

cody:  No, probably not in the art department at least.

brad:  Why?

cody:  It's a Catholic institution, but the art department is the most liberal part of the school. A lot of artists kind of think outside the box.

brad:  They sometimes find their uniqueness in being kinda' out there or shocking?

cody:  In the works I was doing when I first started, I think I was trying to be somebody I wasn't. The more I started thinking about it, the more I just tried to be me, and I realized my work was different from everybody else. Even through high school, I've kind of been in the background—I never really stood out. One of the biggest compliments two of my profs gave me was that they can always tell my work from everybody else's, just because of what I do.

brad:  You have a recognizable style?

cody:  A style, and usually my subjects are different. For one of my finals last semester, I had to do a tryptic drawing—three panels—and the content had to be "secrets." The subject matter could be anything we wanted. Everybody else was doing like the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil—real literal. I did a fleet of zeppelins flying out of the clouds, and I had a whole bunch of reasoning behind mine. I end up with stuff like that. Or stuff that has to do with lifestyle choices. Secrets is such a big subject matter. Why not try to cover every angle of it, just a little bit, instead of just trying to cover one.

brad:  Do you think it's important that all art has some meaning?

cody:  It depends. You can't get a lot of meaning in a still life. They're cool to look at and everything, but the really interesting art has to have some kind of meaning. Like if you read a book, it has to make some kind of sense.

brad:  Picasso had a lot of different stages or phases in his art, but the stage most people are familiar with is the real modern, abstract work. It might be difficult for many to see meaning in it. And I wonder sometimes if art is just, you know, to be enjoyed. Sometimes there may be deep meaning, and other times it's just a nice combination of colors and shapes or something.

cody:  Yeah, and it really depends on the artist and how they live their life. I could go on and on and on about Picasso. To be completely honest, I really don't like his stuff. His well-known stuff, I can't stand.

brad:  What about his more realistic work?

cody:  I saw a sketch that he did when he was 16, and it blew me away! It was just this little, tiny, 4-by-4 inch pencil sketch that he did, and it blew my mind how incredibly detailed it was. But, then you've got to learn to unlearn, you know? I guess after you establish stuff like that, you can draw like a three year old and get away with it.

brad:  I guess if you establish that you really can draw and you really can paint, then you can do whatever you want and you bring along a certain credibility.

cody:  Yeah. And he was just trying to push the limits of the definition of art. That's what artists do. They kind of change, and you can watch the movements throughout history. St. Francis is a very modern-driven school, so all the classical ways of teaching, all the neo-classical art, the Renaissance, it's all there. But so is a sense that some of that may not be so relevant for today, so, they push on to look for inspiration from other artists.

brad:  Is part of the curriculum at St. Francis to try to find a certain spiritual significance in art?

cody:  Not necessarily. It is a Catholic institution, so there is the obvious focus on certain Christian holidays and masses. But that's school-wide. Maybe 60 percent of all the professors there are actually Catholic or religious in general. I have Buddhist and atheist professors.

brad:  So it's not like all art must take on a super spiritual tone or it should somehow demonstrate something about God or something about Christ?

cody:  No. You've got your atheists, and then you've got your religious people, and you've got your party animals that don't really give a rip. But what has surprised me is that there's a lot of slamming against God and God figures.

brad:  From the faculty or from the students?

cody:  From the students. The faculty is pretty mellow.

brad:  Music, I guess, is similar to art or design in the sense that it's mostly subjective, One of the things that I think about frequently as a designer and a photographer, and even as a musician, is how subjective everything I do really is. When is it right? There is no right with these things. When is a design right? What's the best color? Everyone has their own preference. There really is no right or wrong when it comes to art. Do you see it this way too?

cody:  I do, and it kind of reflects in the way that I live my life to a certain degree because the Bible is definitely very, very real to me. So, if the Bible, in black and white, says, don't do this, I'm not going to do it—or, at least, try not to do it. I'm not perfect by any stretch, but I'll do the best I can. Or do this, and I'll be like, okay, I'll do what I can to do this. I may not be totally there in my walk yet, but I'm trying to be able to do that.

brad:  So you're saying it's not a subjective thing?

cody:  Right. My faith is not subjective, but I don't think God's black and white at all.

brad:  I often think that most of the problems that surface every now and then in a church or among believers has to do with exactly that, where some interpret the scripture in a very black and white way, where this means this, and this means this, and everyone must see it like this. And then there are people who see much of the world as more gray. It's not that they don't have absolutes when it comes to God, like you said earlier. It's not like the Bible is totally subjective where you make up your own interpretation. I live in a more gray world. So, when I'm talking with someone who lives in a very black and white world, we might not see everything the same way.

cody:  Regarding subjectivity and being realistic, one of my profs told me, if I'm going to do an art show, it's better to pick the show first and then pick the pieces that will be appropriate for that show, rather than just picking the pieces first and then trying to find a show where they will fit. If you want to be a certain way, you know, it might be better to find a place where you fit, rather than trying to force the environment to fit you. I wear a lot of black, I don't mind band T's, I like gauged ears, long hair, stuff like that. It wouldn't make sense for me to pick the most conservative church around and try to fit in. It's going to make more sense to find a venue or a group that I fit with. It's not that either one is bad. Some things work and others don't.

brad:  Yeah. I think that's really why people choose to go to a certain church. There's something about that church that connects with the way they think, the way they feel. They can be more who they are at that church, and so it becomes comfortable and they just prefer it. That's why there are so many different kinds of churches.

cody:  At the same time, I think there needs to be a certain level of discomfort, otherwise you're not going to grow. You're just going to coast, and when you coast, bad things happen.

brad:  Yeah.

cody:  One of my profs and I were talking about color values, from light to dark, and he said all the change happens in the mid tones. It's not light, it's not dark, it's right in the middle. It's kind of a good definition of being in this world but not exactly of it. You're in the mix with everybody else, but you have your boundaries, you have your dark and you have your light, but you're kind of in the middle.

brad:  Yeah. I once heard something similar relating to photography. The interest is in the edges of things. If you're composing a scene, and it's just a flat wall it's pretty uninteresting. But the moment you include an edge, a corner, a shadow, it suddenly becomes much more dynamic.

cody:  Yeah.

brad:  Yeah. So as a young man, what would you say are the more difficult things that you've had to face?

cody:  Rejection. High school was really hard for me. Going to a sports-oriented school, and then not being sports-centered, I've had plenty of issues with depression and stuff, not really getting the help I needed when I needed it.

brad:  Because of that rejection that you felt?

cody:  Because of that rejection, and just...I don't think it's God's will for anybody to be unhappy, you know? I don't think that's what He wants. He may put you in a place where you are unhappy in order to teach you something, but I don't think He wants to keep you there. So, during times of unhappiness, God's probably trying to make you grow.

brad:  He's accomplishing something?

cody:  Right. It's constructive. It's not just, okay, yeah, like, I'm going to make your life suck. Why? Because I feel like it.

brad:  Because I can.

cody:  Yeah.

brad:  So if one of the more negative things you've had to deal with is rejection, what are some more joyful things in your life that you are grateful for.

cody:  My family is awesome, I mean, that's kind of a given, stereotypical answer.

brad:  It might be stereotypical for some, but not everyone has that.

cody:  Yeah. And I've had good friends. I've been hurt by some really close people, but I've had some really, really good friends at the same time, too. Actually, a buddy of mine that I hang out with all the time struggled with homosexuality for a long, long time. Nobody would talk to him. I decided, I'm going to be Jesus to this kid. It started out as me just hanging out with him because I felt bad for him, and we ended up being really close. We were driving to North Carolina over winter break when he told me he was now straight. I had been praying and, you know, not cramming God down his throat. I knew that was something I couldn't do. I couldn't figure God out for him. I had to let him figure it out for himself. I could be there for him and give advice as a friend.

brad:  So you wanted to be sure you didn't reject him in the way that others may have rejected you?

cody:  Pretty much.

brad:  Yeah. I'll tell you, I am absolutely convinced that one of the main missions of the church is to just perpetually love people, despite the kind of trouble they're in. I just think we run too quickly away from people that scare us. Obviously I'm not saying that if you're an alcoholic, you should go in the bar and hang out with your friends in the bar. I don't mean that.

cody:  Yeah.

brad:  I just mean when something presses up against our value system, if we're strong enough to stay with our values and continue to believe what we believe, I think it's good to press into other people's lives and just be there for them.

cody:  Yeah. One thing I've noticed through all the rejection and everything that I've experienced is that, not all of it is bad. I've asked for some of it. I was pretty screwed up for a while. Actually, as bad as it gets sometimes, as down as I get every now and then, I'm really grateful for it because now I can talk with other people who experience it, I can empathize with it. Thankfully, recently, it's been getting a little bit better. I've been starting to talk to more people, but I've also been trying to be more outgoing. Sometimes, in churches too, we can get distracted. There's a lot of hurt that goes on that nobody knows about.

brad:  Have you thought about how churches could be better?

cody:  I don't really know. I'm a very blunt person. If you ask me what's going on, I'll give you a very blunt answer; I'll just say it like it is. Sometimes I think people are scared to criticize, even when criticism is good. In art school, I'm criticized all the time for everything that I do. Criticism is a very, very good thing, as long as there's a reason behind it. People don't like criticism at all, but I think, sometimes, that's what we need.

brad:  I think it's easy to just stay uninvolved. It's just kind of hard work to be interested in people and their lives. Sometimes, I'm tempted just to run away and live on a remote island with no responsibilities. But I'm pretty convinced that Christ called us to mix it up, you know, to live in the world, to be salt and light to the world. You can't really be salt and light to people if you're not with people, you know?

cody:  Yeah.

brad:  But that doesn't mean it's easy. It doesn't mean that people won't frustrate you, right?

cody:  Yeah. I mean, nobody is perfect. There's just going to be days where people are going to tick you off. A lot of times, people are either too scared or too apathetic to admit that they've been hurt. To make something right might require that we listen to the Holy Spirit a little bit harder.

brad:  I appreciate your perspective in all this. I'm 60; there are quite a few years between us, I know. But I was 18 once. Life goes on, and all of the sudden you're not 18, you're 60. It happens. When you look down the road and you see your life off into the future, do you see a wife, three kids, and a white picket fence in the suburbs?

cody:  I try not to plan too far ahead. I live day by day. I mean, I wouldn't mind having a kid or two someday, but I don't want to settle down any time soon. I want to go places. I always thought it would be cool to get married semi-young, and then just go places and not settle down right away. But, you know, we'll see where God takes it and what happens.

brad:  In the meanwhile you'll just enjoy the journey?

cody:  Try to.


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You can see more of Cody's work at www.renderbot.tumblr.com.

This story is part of a series called Spotlight on the Harvest Fellowship website. As new stories are added, you can check out other people's stories on the archive page.

Story by Brad Wieland, Cody Walz photos taken by Elijah Paul Phenecie (www.elijah-paul.com).

 

published 04/01/2011