This post has to be the winner for “Longest Title” among all of the entries I’ve made to this blog so far. From Bloomberg, this is an interesting article about American collectors being called on to purchase Muslim art. Most of the writing focuses on the business aspect of a venture by the al-Shroogi family, who owns the Cuadro Fine Art Gallery in Dubai.

More interesting, however, than the article’s discussion about marketing Islamic art to Westerners — and the fact that there are indeed modern Muslim artists — is some very brief commentary about art and culture:

“Imagine, Muslim artwork hanging in Naples [Florida],” al-Shroogi says through a radio headset. “We need to do more of this,” the Bahraini banker adds as the aircraft laden with modern and contemporary Islamic art makes its final approach on a family expedition to convince Americans that the Middle East is more than a terrorist hatchery . . .

It’s an undertaking born from the al-Shroogi clan’s passion for art, the patronage of Bahrain’s royal family and the conviction that the Islamic nation a few miles off the Saudi Arabian coast has the muscle to build a genuine cultural bridge between the U.S. and the Muslim world.

Can art actually bridge cultures, and what exactly does that mean? Will Westerners think differently about the Middle East if they look at a few paintings by Muslim artists? The possibility exists for this; remember my February post regarding a Jewish atheist deeply moved by a 600 year old altarpiece.

Painting by John Torreano exhibited at the Cuadro gallery in Dubai.

The tactile arts are important to culture and communication, despite the anaemic attitude towards serious artistic endeavors in the American Church, generally speaking. Significant new paintings and sculptures created by artists of faith intently pursuing careers as artists, engaging the culture and furthering their craft, are needed in the Church as an intentional witness to culture here and abroad.

I remember hearing a story at conference in Portland a few years ago about a couple who went into the desert of Africa as missionaries. The wife served as a doctor, and the husband worked as an artist. He set up a studio in a shipping crate and made art for a year or so. At the end of the year he held a show for the community. I don’t know how many pieces there were, what the media was or what they looked like. My impression, if I recall correctly, was that they weren’t simple Sunday School drawings. They were more likely contemporary works. Regardless, the media reportedly conveyed the Gospel to that community in an effective way.

Take note, pastors. Take note, Church leadership and parishioners. What can you do to help make the name of God better through the arts? First off, make certain your own attitude is positive toward the arts. Educate yourself as to the importance of art in culture and Christianity. You don’t need a degree to appreciate art. Understand that it is OK if a person wants to create abstract paintings that aren’t about Bible verses; understand that it’s OK if someone wants to be a full-time artist. This is not a cop-out, it’s not laziness. Yes, it’s hard to make a living at times, but if society changes how it thinks about art and artists this won’t so often be the case.

Further, encourage aspiring or practicing artists in your congregation, and make sure they know there are others like them. Organize exhibits of paintings and sculptures; organize small groups so creative people can encourage one another. Allow the artists you know freedom to push your own boundaries. Yes, there are appropriate limits, but creativity begs new ideas and reminds us of how we are created in the Creator’s likeness. Don’t poo-poo something just because it makes you uncomfortable or isn’t your own taste, and feel free to engage in significant and witty critique in order to better understand such works.

I have to laugh every time I glance in the youth room at our church, where a mixed media work I donated hangs. When I first saw it there — instead of in a more public space such as a hallway or foyer — I wasn’t in the least surprised, but I was disappointed. It’s well crafted and blatantly Scriptural. My hope was that it would be hung in a place visible to anyone in the church at any time as something to meditate on.

Moth Mend, 2006. Moth-eaten sweaters, new red silk, paint.

I can laugh at the typographical triptych’s placement within my own church because I expected it, sadly, but I hold no grudge and hope that the kids who see it on a weekly basis are encouraged by it. I also hope, however, that the American Church soon comes to realize that segregating the palpable world from the spiritual world is just bad theology. It is OK to be “in” the world, even if we aren’t supposed to be “of” it. It is OK to be a part of culture in a non-pious context — in fact, it’s good to be involved in this way. How else are we going to show the love of God to the skeptics, to the people averse to church or Christianity?

I originally saw the Bloomberg article on Iconia.

I’m gonna mess around with the WordPress gallery feature again here. If you want to see larger images you’ll have to click on the thumbnails in the post.

These came out of a glaze firing today. I’m not all that thrilled with the the colors. Both my wife and I remember choosing ones that we thought were more transparent, such as the celadon in this group. What we ended up with are more matte, goopy acting glazes that look like they didn’t get to the right temperature.

The pieces I’ve uploaded to this post, I believe, will still be successful, although none of them are in a completely finished state. Most of them I will try and smoke, some will be framed, some will be put onto small wooden podiums. I’m most fond of the two with the pink rubies inlaid into them, although the heart-shaped piece is appealing as well. This one will actually be a hanging work, as will the bright blue one.

It seems to me this batch is the most significant step to date in my re-initiation into clay. They aren’t what I would call “there” yet, but they represent a more complex and refined part of my intent. And we’ll see where that goes!

A new working situation, where my wife and I are splitting some hours, is allowing me roughly two hours a day four times a week in my studio. I’m uber grateful for this opportunity and plan to make the most of it.

Above is a selection of greenware waiting for the fire. The slightly different forms in the middle of the shelf, with the sapphires and rubies pressed into them, were a bit of a “happy accident.” We’ll see how they turn out. Unfortunately I have very little completely finished new work from this year. I want to smoke the terra sigs on the bisqued pieces, and instead of using foil (or, if I had one, a sagger) in my electric kiln I hope to put together a small wood burning unit in my backyard for this purpose. That probably won’t happen until the middle of May. Between now and then I will be out of town for two weeks, and in between will be building a bed for my brother.

A couple of opportunities related to my artwork are still ahead this year. First is the chance to exhibit or install an installation in a coastal Georgia church. The second is the opening of a gallery named Local Flair. The proprietor hoped to be up and running this month, but her husband — the builder — has moved the schedule back to the middle of summer. The Flair will be, ideally, located in the ever cutening downtown Siloam Springs. The aforementioned builder recently teamed up with a pair of brothers who are financially backing the renovation of some of the more decrepit buildings in the area. By the end of the year it seems we’ll have a new bookstore, restaurant (hopefully) and art gallery downtown.

There is a tension for me in combining more personal posts like this with the more in depth inquiries I often make on this blog. There are pros and cons, in my mind, to keeping them intermingled as well as separating them. For the time being, I’m sticking with the interminglement.

I like this small wall hanging, measuring in at roughly 8″ x 7,” though the piece cracked profusely for some reason. I expected some cracking around the stones, which were pressed into the sculpture just before the clay body was leather-hard. I can’t even remember off-hand what that clay is; it may be what was left in the house my wife and I bought from an artist’s estate almost three years ago now (I’m pretty sure it was a low-fire white clay). The cracking doesn’t bother me in the finished product, but to insure it lasts I glued a piece of masonite onto the back.

The stones are herkimer, something I hadn’t worked with before last year. They cracked during the firing creating unexpected prisms. The finish is a commercial Duncan glaze called milk glass that I really like.

I more or less finished a few pieces this weekend, some new wall sculptures out of my new clay work. The wood (or horizons, if you wish) was all salvaged in this case. I used Gorilla Glue to stick the clay and wood together; it was my first time using this adhesive and I think it will do really well. It does expand, however, so using too much can ruin a piece.

These works are very similar to my work from five years or so ago, when I last had access to a kiln. I like the way they turned out. It feels good to have some finished sculptures as products of the kiln. Finally.

None of these are titled yet.

Clay with inlaid cabochon sapphires, mounted
on salvaged, rough-sawn mahogany;
8 x 17 inches.

Morning: Will there be any happy accidents?

I can tell already there were some unhappy ones, some explosions. I had the kiln on low to drive out moisture for more than five hours. Either it got too hot even on low, which is a real possibility, or there was still water in the pieces when I turned it up. I went from low directly to high after finding the switch on the upper section didn’t work on the medium setting.

Another surpise, and a bit of a disappointment, was that the color was burned out of a red underglaze which has in the past — despite it’s name — provided brilliant results. I need to purchase more cones to get a better idea of what’s going on in the kiln. I knew this already; I was just being cheap.

Afternoon: After waiting a couple of hours for a friend to come by (who wanted to be here at this momentous occasion) we unloaded the old beast (I think I need to name the kiln). Only one of the pieces blew up beyond use, and there was one notable “happy accident.”

Into one of the small clay sculptures I inserted some Herkimer crystals I bought on Ebay. I included these in the earlier test firing to see how the heat affected them; at cone 04 they came out the same way they’d gone in. However, the lasting heat (the result of a full kiln, I assume) during this firing caused them to change. They cracked inside and now show off prisms of color. These larger crystals also caused hairline cracks in the clay which will change how I finish the piece.

I don’t feel too bad losing just one piece, although it was a piece I would have liked to have. My next move is to smoke the terra sigs.