A beautiful short film about time, creation, and connections
Tim Keller shares a lot of interesting ideas about life, meaning, and how it relates to being an artist in his essay "Why We Need Artists (117)." According to Keller, part of the reason we need artists is to shine a light on the undefinable. I really appreciate Keller's thoughts on this, because I have found many times that art has been a good way to express that which would otherwise be indescribable. A situation like this, where a physical artistic object has a profound spiritual effect, can be seen in Sue Monk Kidd’s book The Secret Life of Bees. In this story, there is a scene where the main character Lily connects with a statue of an African American Mary. Lily states, “I didn’t know what to think, but what I felt was magnetic and so big it ached like the moon had entered my chest and filled it up” (70). Imagery of the Virgin Mary is a repeated theme in this book, and she is physically represented both in the statue that Lily encounters and a picture of her on the Black Madonna Honey jars. These visual representations act as a guiding force during Lily’s journey, awakening and responding to her yearnings for a maternal figure. These physical, artistic embodiments speak to Lily on a personal level that could not otherwise be reached. As Keller states on page 121, “If you cannot visualize it, you don’t have a sense of it on your heart.”
Lily listens to August Boatwright tell the story of the Mary statue
There is a certain mystery to existence, and art helps individuals to uncover some of the answers. When describing why we need artists, Keller states, "[Artists] need one another because only together do we get some idea of the multifaceted array of God's glory" (124). One life or one work of art might not seem like all that much, but these acts tie us together as human beings, and may have greater impacts than we anticipate. In his essay, Keller discusses the story Leaf by Niggle to illustrate the concept of each artist doing their part in a way that comes together to glorify God. This reminded me of another short story featuring a leaf and an artist, titled "The Last Leaf." The story was written by American author O. Henry, and features a woman named Johnsy who is very ill from pneumonia. The doctor states she could get better if she wanted to live, but that Johnsy's desire to die will prevent her from healing. Johnsy firmly believes that she will pass when the last leaf falls from a decaying ivy vine growing on a wall outside her window. Her best friend and roommate, Sue, is extremely concerned, and discusses the matter with her elderly neighbor, an artist named Behrman. Behrman has always claimed that he would one day create a masterpiece, but he never actually tries to start one. The next day, there is a terrible storm, and Sue is sure all the leaves will have fallen. However, much to Johnsy and Sue's surprise, one leaf still remains on the vine. Days pass, yet the leaf never falls. The girl decides this is her punishment for trying to will herself to die, and decides to get better. She begins to eat and dream of future plans, and soon enough, she is fully recovered. Shortly after, the two women are informed that Behrman had caught pnemonia a few days back and died. They learn that he became ill from being out in the storm, painting a perfect image of the leaf in order to make Johnsy believe that it wouldn't fall and regain her will to live. This ironic story shows the power of art, and supports Keller's idea of a Christian artist and how one person just doing their part can result in incredible things.
An illustration for a film version of "The Last Leaf"
Sources:
Bustard, Ned. It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God
In the book It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, there is a chapter on beauty written by Adrienne Chaplin. Within the essay, Chaplin explores how beauty is viewed both by Christians and the art world, and how these ideas are evolving. When discussing how the art world tended to look at beauty through the modernist movement, Chaplin states, "Beauty was associated with the sweet and the shallow and the social status quo...Art was supposed to be challenging, authentic, bold, daring, subversive and, if at all possible, shocking" (33). Many Christians throughout history have also felt negatively toward beauty, often linking it to a sensuous physicality, and viewing it as an "evil planted by the devil to seduce and distract us from higher things" (38). Both these perspectives on beauty approach the subject in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions involve two things that are connected together, but considered opposite, such as black and white, in or out, and young or old. This idea has been used a great deal in literature, and it has been speculated that this kind of pairing may be a part of how humans naturally perceive the world. However, problems have arisen from this kind of thinking, and it has recently come under critique, as people tend to rank one item out of the pair as being superior to the other. This can be seen in issues such as sexism, racism, and homophobia (Study.com). It can also be applied to the discussion of beauty and whether or not it is of worth.
A google image search for "beauty" reveals what our current society deems beautiful.
The binary oppositions for beauty in both Christianity and the art world involve the idea of some sort of truth being above a false idea of beauty. For the church, spiritual truth is placed above worldly beauty, and in modern art, a painfully honest reality is placed above the lie of a nice, wonderful, beautiful world. Indeed, problems can be pointed out with how people often perceive beauty. A google search on "beauty" images shows mostly caucasian women with a great deal of make-up and a fairly consistent, un-smiling facial expression. There are several reasons this interpretation of beauty has a negative impact, particularly in relation to gender and race issues, but the idea of beauty can extend far beyond this. Essentially, whether beauty is good or bad relies on an argument of definition. According to Dictionary.com, beauty is "the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind..." Both the church and art have looked at this pleasure as something of a lie, but beauty can contain quite a bit of truth, particularly when one explores the idea of finding beauty in painful moments.
An image I drew during a difficult time in my life
Chaplin discusses this idea when she describes the art exhibit titled A Broken Beauty, which included fifteen artists and works of theirs that explored how, despite the undeniable pain in life, there is simultaneous beauty, even in the worst of moments (48). It can also depend on the viewer and their personal experiences as to whether or not he or she finds something beautiful. For example, I often sketch out my emotions when I am going through difficult times in my life that I am unable to express in words. These sketches do not fit with the more aesthetic ideas of beauty, but I find them beautiful due to their intense personal value. My drawings allow me to release all that I hold in, and they serve as testimony to where I've been in life and where I have come. Many other artists also have works that serve as a testimony to difficult places in either personal or world history, and not all of them are aesthetically pleasing. Still, they show a part of the human experience in a way that connects with others. The feeling of knowing someone's brokenness and touching it with your own can be beautiful enough by itself.
Sources:
Bustard, Ned. It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God
Study.com- http://study.com/academy/lesson/binary-oppositions-in-literature-list-of-examples.html
Ceramic artist Sarah Jane has always been a creative person, growing up with parents who both enjoyed tactile activities such as gardening and cabinet-making. However, it was not until her freshman year of college that she discovered her inclination to be an artist while taking an art appreciation class. Since that time, she has been heavily involved with the artist community, and is currently working and living at the Grünewald Guild, a gathering of people dedicated to exploring art and faith while forming deep and meaningful connections with one another. In addition to her independent studio practice, Jane is the Program-Coordinator at the Guild, which involves scheduling classes, teaching classes, and facilitating the Guild's annual traveling art exhibit. Just as faith and community are important to the Guild, they are also important to Jane. Art is not simply a career for her, but a way to walk with others.
Reclining Goddess
Though Jane works primarily as a ceramicist, she does not allow herself to limited to one medium or method of creating. She also creates mosaics and installation pieces, and explores both functional and sculptural ceramics. Moving between different categories allows Jane to create from all aspects of her being. For example, when she is looking to convey a specific concept, she tends to do installation pieces, but if she is not feeling pulled towards conceptual work, she will create functional vessels. Many of the sculptural pieces that Jane creates are female figures called goddesses, and she often creates them for specific people. While creating them, Jane keeps in mind certain characteristics of the recipient, incorporating them into the sculpture as a way of honoring the person.
Resonance
In a way, the installation pieces that Jane does also have people in mind, but instead of one specific person, most of her installations are aimed at groups of people. Before becoming part of the Grünewald Guild, Jane worked at a gallery for a time, and, though she did not care too much for gallery work, she loved seeing people come into a space and interact with the art. This inspired her to do works of art that invited the same kind of response that was created when people and art shared an environment. Some of her recent installations focus on the idea of interdependency, and how people cannot dwell alone as individuals, even if, in places like America, that is the cultural ideal. Everyone is connected to one another and to God, meaning that if one person rises or falls, all the people around them are affected as well.
Saggar-fired White Stoneware
Despite the strong spiritual significance of Jane's work, she does not tend to create overtly Christian art, as she wishes for her work to invite dialogue with all people regardless of whether or not they have a faith background. The idea of allowing others to carry their own beliefs while still acting in faith has influenced other aspects of Jane's work as a Christian artist, such as work she has done abroad in Haiti. Jane carries a deep respect for other cultures and religions, and thus has some misgivings about the way missionary work tends to be approached, as it can often result in the introduced culture attempting to overtake the native culture, even if done unintentionally. However, when a Christian organization approached Jane about the possibility of traveling to Haiti to teach ceramics, she accepted the job, as the specific goal of this organization was to create more employment opportunities for the Haitian people. Rather than trying to alter an aspect of a person's identity, this project strove to provide tools and skills that could be further honed and used to give someone meaningful employment. Since the last time Jane visited, about fifty people were employed in ceramic art.
Commonage
When asked what advice she would give to those who hoped to be artists in the future, Jane mentioned that one should not be too hard on oneself. Part of being an artist involves creating one's own path, as there are not as many clearly defined steps as there are in some other careers. Even though success may not come quickly, it does not mean that one is not doing what he or she should be doing. Surrounding oneself with a community of other creators can be vital, as these people will see the value in one's artistic endeavors, and affirm her calling. Lastly, Jane recommended saying "yes" to opportunities, especially when starting one's career path. One never knows what will serve to influence her artistic journey.
Tom McGowan as The Wizard from the musical Wicked
The title of this post comes from a song the Wizard sings, called Wonderful, where he discusses how, when it comes to History, one tends to overlook moral ambiguities and instead categorize people as "good" or "bad (http://www.metrolyrics.com/wonderful-lyrics-wicked.html)."
While reading Ned Bustard's essay discussing "good," I was a bit surprised to find that he used the quote, "I'm not bad- I'm just drawn that way," as one of the headings (p. 16). The quote is from the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and the character who said the line is Jessica Rabbit, well-known for being a provocative cartoon character. In his text, Bustard gives the impression of placing good and evil into very distinct categories without much overlapping. Despite this, he introduces a character who is a bit difficult to place morally. Being a slapstick adult comedy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is not overly concerned with creating deep, complex characters, yet Jessica Rabbit, despite the obvious (and unfortunate) sexualized intent in the creation of her character, turns out to be a good person overall. She genuinely loves her husband, Roger Rabbit, and many of her actions are based on her love for him.
This was the most George Fox Appropriate image of her that I could find...
Moral complexities get much more difficult when the focus is moved from cartoon characters to actual people.
In the text, Bustard analyzes what it means to portray God and his goodness in one's art. He mentions that true goodness is not always pretty or easily digestible, but instead is embedded in truth (p. 20). On this point, I definitely agree with Bustard, as it is important to be honest with one's work and not attempt to sugar-coat reality. However, when it comes to Bustard's definition of goodness, there are a few points on which I disagree.
Bustard states on page 22, "As shown earlier, good cannot tolerate evil. Even on a human scale, justice in the face of evil is demanded." Bustard furthers his argument on the idea of justice by mentioning the Holocaust and how the German people did little to stop what was occurring (22). The Holocaust was undeniably one of the most horrific things to occur in human history, but creating a dichotomy of the German people being "evil" and letting it happen does not serve to accurately portray the situation. Most of the German civilians did not understand what was occurring with the concentration camps, and were fed propaganda about how the Jews were being treated well (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822).
Since WWII, several studies have been done about the nature of authority and how it affects people's behavior. One study that was done on this topic is the Milgram experiment. The experiment began with the Experimenter (the person conducting the test) asking the two participants to draw slips of paper, which would determine who was the "learner" and who was the "teacher." The learner would be connected to a machine administering electric shocks, controlled by the teacher. The shocks were labelled from 15 to 450 volts. The teacher was told that the study would be about learning, and was instructed to list off word-pairs to the learner and administer a shock when a mistake was made, the shocks increasing by 15 volts each time.
The set up for the Milgram experiment. The Experimenter (E) and the Teacher (T) are separated from the Learner (L) by a wall.
The person playing the learner was actually an actor, and the paper drawing was rigged so that the volunteer would always be placed in the role of the teacher. No actual electric shocks were administered, and instead the switches on the shock generator activated pre-recorded pain sounds. The volunteer, playing the role of the teacher, believed that he was hurting the learner through the electric shocks. If the teacher asked to stop the procedure, the Experimenter, as the authority figure, would respond with a series of verbal prods, such as "you must go on," though never actually forcing the volunteer to keep going. Though all of the teachers showed extreme discomfort, 65% of the participants flipped all the switches, including the final 450 volts switch. Even when faced with a choice that went firmly against basic morals, the participants submitted to the figure of authority, even though they felt extremely conflicted and nervous (http://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html).
Here's a good video describing the experiment and showing how the participants behaved:
As this experiment shows, people act in disturbing and despicable ways, but not always because they are bad people. More than anything, people are broken. Even in cases like The Holocaust, where the worst of tragedies occurred, one cannot simply dismiss what happened by saying evil people committed the crime. It was simply people, average people, people who could have been any person living today with the same result occurring. Bustard's ideas of good and evil rest a bit too heavily on a binary viewpoint to capture the muddled nature of humanity. No one is solely good or evil, and all of us have the potential for both. This is vital to acknowledge, as it is through our acceptance of humanity's complexity that we find our ability to consciously work on being better people, and to not hold ourselves above those who are broken.
