Dan opens up the theme of the 2024 Interface Conference, GIFTED, by considering: What does it mean to be “gifted” as an artist? Is “being an artist” a spiritual gift? But what does it mean to be an artist? Who gets to call themselves an artist?

His approach to these and other questions that relate to the challenges of artistic practice in a life of faith is to focus attention on Martin Luther’s concept of vocation as a particular expression of what’s called a “theology of the cross.” He hopes that this talk, developed from his own challenges relating to his vocation as a curator, will serve as a context from which we can together explore the challenges and blessings of our particular and unique gifting and calling in the life of faith, a life which is its own particular and unique vocation. “Faith,” as Martin Luther once said, “is not what people think it is.”