Meet WA-based Writer David Russell Mosley
DAVID RUSSELL MOSLEY is a Spokane, WA-based writer, concentrating in poetry, fiction, essays, and theology.
Visit his website: www.davidrussellmosley.com
Read his poetry collections:
The Green Man | Liturgical Entanglements
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to Spokane?
DAVID RUSSELL MOSLEY: I'm originally from Jacksonville, IL. After college and grad school, my wife and I moved to England for three years, during which I completed my PhD. We first moved back to my wife's home state of New Hampshire. After living and working there for 6 years, we decided to take new jobs at a Chesterton Academy opening up in Spokane, WA. We've lived here since the summer of 2020.
How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist? Do you call yourself a Catholic artist?
I do call myself a Catholic artist. My faith is integral to my work. Many of my poems are explicitly religious. In fact, my most recent collection is about the Church Year and prayer. In general, most of what I write is at least for a generally Christian audience. That said, I also try to write things that will be more generally pleasing to people of a variety of backgrounds. As a Catholic in the arts, I'm trying to walk that line between creating art for Catholics and other Christians and making art as a Catholic.
Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?
I've found my support mostly amongst the laity. It has been my Catholic friends who have encouraged me in my writing. This isn't to say I've been discouraged by the clergy, but that my writing hasn't always made it to them. Poetry and essays and fiction can be harder to find their place in the obvious areas of the Church. Churches don't hang poems up for people to read, or at least don't do so very often. But still, I've found a home amongst various Catholic publications.
Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?
One of the early places that served as such a wonderful home of support for me was (and still is) the blog and group, Sick Pilgrim. Many of my ideas first found their home in that group. When I lived in New Hampshire, I helped form a small group of writers who were instrumental in helping me put together my first collection of poetry and making me believe that my poetry wasn't terrible.
How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?
I'd love to see the Church become more of the patron of the arts it once was. Churches would make such wonderful places to showcase paintings, do poetry readings, incorporate the writings of its parishioners in homilies, etc. Of course, many parishes are doing this, and many don't have the ability. But still, if the Church could more fully recognize that there are still Catholics out there creating art and make a space for them, I think this would prove so helpful.
How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?
This is a hard one. On the one hand, I think artists of faith, especially those, like myself, who put their faith at the center of their art are increasingly seen as a rather niche group. There are plenty of places where I know or feel that my poetry or my essays would not be welcome because they are explicitly religious. On the other hand, I understand why that is. Many of those publications are looking for those whose voices haven't always been heard or who have been actively kept down.
I think there needs to be an openness on both sides that doesn't require compromising beliefs, but an understanding of difference. I found a lot of support with the community surrounding Black Bough Magazine who recognized the merit in some of my poems even if some of my ideas or beliefs were foreign to them. We need more places like that.
Where in your city do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?
I attend St. Charles Borromeo parish here in Spokane. It's a wonderful community of people who love Christ and want to see his kingdom come and his will done on earth as it is in heaven. It helps that this is also where my children go to school and that they recently transitioned their school curriculum to a classical model (similar to the model of the school where I am the Headmaster). The style inside the church isn't necessarily one I love, but the people are wonderful.
Where in your city do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?
Having only lived here for two years, and part of that time being the height of the pandemic, I have not the opportunities I would like to be part of writers groups as I have been in the past. So, when I want to get inspired, I often trek out on my own or with my family into the woods. There is something about walking amongst the trees that allows my mind not just to wander, but to alight on new ideas or the first lines of a new poem.
How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist in your city?
Not yet. Now that a friend and member of my writing community from New Hampshire has also moved to Spokane, we're hoping to get something going again out here.
What is your daily spiritual practice?
One of the main things I try to do daily, and fail at frequently, is praying Morning and Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. There's something about having a rhythm of prayer that speaks to me. Starting off my Christian life as a Protestant, I was so accustomed to the spontaneous and free flowing prayer that sometimes the boundlessness of it was overwhelming. This is one of the many reasons I became Catholic, because it helps find the boundaries that I need so as not to be overwhelmed. I also try to spend time in Scripture and reading the works of great Christians like Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, Maximus the Confessor, and others.
What is your daily artistic practice? And what are your recommendations to other artists for practicing their craft daily?
I think the biggest thing all artists need is some kind of rhythm or regularity. I write best when I know I've set time aside to write and even set goals for my writing. I also think incorporating prayer into your writing routines or other artistic routines is a necessary part of the craft. There's a reason nearly every Greek and Roman epic begins with an invocation of the muses.
Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist.
Sadly, I think the day where I felt like I was most living out my vocation as an artist was a little over a year ago. It was spring break and the weather was nice. I was able to sit outside in my backyard every day, light my pipe, and get to writing. It was certainly something of an annus mirabilis for me. Every day I was writing and writing and yet also not neglecting my family. It was truly wonderful to be so fully engaged in my writing and yet not to have it be to the detriment of my other relationships.
How do you support yourself as an artist?
Like most artists of all stripes, I have a day job. I work full-time as the Headmaster at the Chesterton Academy of Notre Dame. My wife also works there as the Administrative Manager. It's those jobs that have afforded us the ability to buy a house here in Spokane.
For so many writers, being a teacher of some sort is incredibly helpful, or can be, as a job to help with writing. I teach literature, theology, history, philosophy, and being forced by work to engage in these subjects and the primary texts surrounding them provides me not just with financial means, but with fodder for my writing.
What other practical resources would you recommend to a Catholic artist living in Spokane?
If you're a writer living in Spokane you're really rather spoiled when it comes to things like coffeeshops, breweries, hikes, etc. Many of these places as well as some of the antique stores are also great for visual artists, as they promote local artists frequently.
What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists post-graduation?
1. Only make art if it makes you happy. Most of us are not destined to make our livings by our art, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't make it. So, if your goal is to become world famous, and that's the only reason you want to be an artist, you might want to reconsider.
2. Find your rhythms outside of the academy. If you're an artist in college (especially if you're actively studying your art), then you're blessed with rhythms made for you. Once your program is over, you'll have to figure out how to manage your own time, especially if you need or want a day job that doesn't give you time to work on your art.
3. Never forget the centrality of Christ. Even if you want to make art that isn't explicitly religious, if being Catholic is central to who you are, then so is Christ and he must be at the center of your art as well.