Rik Berry B.A.in Fine Arts, MDiv.
I began painting in high school with Robert Bateman as my teacher. There I gained inspiration and awareness for painting nature. I went on to study Fine Arts at McMaster University and had several exhibitions of my work in Southern Ontario and the Maritimes. Over the last few years my artistic passion has been kindled with a new prophetic edge as I see God both in nature and moving today in the lives of people.
I went on to study at Acadia Divinity College, obtaining an M.Div. degree. From there I began pastoring in rural Nova Scotia in 1981. My wife Cathy and I also lived in Costa Rica and Bolivia as missionaries in the urban context. We pastored several years in Ontario helping to plant churches in Mississauga, Stoney Creek, and Georgetown. While pastoring in Mississauga, a major shift began in my ministry, as I felt the Lord urging me to use my art. I was deeply touched by renewal as God’s Spirit was moving in Toronto.
My art has come into the foreground as a vehicle for expressing some of the prophetic images that I and others have sensed as God speaks to us today. I think that God is moving beneath the surface of society restoring people to wholeness. Towards that end I believe God is reclaiming the arts for His use. In both my acrylic and watercolors I have an interest in atmosphere and light that interacts with figures and landscape. I like to explore new icons and symbols representing our journey with God and God’s way among us. There is a new spiritual awareness and hunger across the land. In my images I explore the intersection of God coming to us.
I enjoy working with artists of various media who also have a vision to build one another up and see the arts reclaimed for God's use. I have spoken throughout England as well as Australia, Spain, Germany, Canada and the US, doing conference speaking and workshops with my art. My paintings are part of private collections in Europe, Central and South America, Canada and the US.
Cathy and I currently live in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia where we raised our 6 children. We lead Valley Gate Vineyard , a network of emerging church communities, and and we also operate Brush of the Wind Gallery in our old Victorian house. We have a passion for the new emerging church that God is stirring in the hearts of many around the world.