At Crimson Line Studios, we produce art that communicates Beauty and Truth through images that stir the imagination and grip the soul.

Rooted deeply in the traditional arts of the Church, and branching to even art’s most modern forms, Crimson Line Studios brings past and present together to point all people to the future.

Crimson Line Studios is the vision of Dénes House, BA in Studio Arts from Hamilton College (1993) and current Master of Divinity student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The ten years between 1993 and 2003 were spent ministering with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Colgate University and Hamilton College, two prestigious liberal-arts colleges in Upstate New York. My artwork is born out of personal struggles and grief, fourteen years of adult personal faith, and ten years of experience wrestling with the toughest questions that the collegiate world has to offer.

A lot of people ask, "why only black and white? Why don't you use color?" I offer color on the NameSakes as an option, but it's not what I prefer as an artist. The short answer is, I like the contrast, the challenge and the limitations of working in black and white.

For me, anyway, life is pretty high contrast. Working in black and white helps bring that out for me. There are limitations to it, but I like working through the limitations. Every medium has its challenges, and every artist has to wrestle with their materials in the making of their artwork. Doing "SubCreator" in black and white was VERY hard. Trying to figure out what tones to use on the sky, the trees, the river in order for it all to look dark but not let it get confusing, that was a major challenge. It took me a while to figure it out. But it was a ton of fun, and I really like the result. The struggle is often what gets the creative juices flowing. It's exhilarating to solve artistic problems. So that's the long answer.

I believe that at the core of art is metaphor. My hope (and indeed, my prayer) is that in my work, the medium and the metaphor will combine and react to create both space for reflection and content to reflect on in every viewer. And I deeply desire your feedback. Art is a medium for communication - a place for dialogue, not monologue. Let the conversation begin!

For a more thorough look at my view of the role of art - especially in Christian worship - you can read this 30-page paper I wrote for my Systematic Theology I class Fall 2003.

For a theological comparison between Christian and Islamic views of representational art, read this short paper I wrote for my recent Islam class.