Madeline L’Engle on beauty, mystery 12 July 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Beauty, Christianity.1 comment so far
From Rebecca Horton’s Passionately Alive blog, a Madeline L’Engle quote on beauty and mystery for this Sunday morning:
I do not want ever to be indifferent to the joys and beauties of this life. For through these, as through pain, we are enabled to see purpose in randomness, pattern in chaos. We do not have to understand in order to believe that behind the mystery and the fascination there is love.
In the midst of what we are going through this summer I have to hold onto this, to return to the eternal questions without demanding an answer. The questions worth asking are not answerable. Could we be fascinated by a Maker who was completely explained and understood? The mystery is tremendous, and the fascination that keeps me returning to the questions affirms that they are worth asking, and that any God worth believing in is the God not only of the immensities of the galaxies I rejoice in at night when I walk the dogs, but also the God of love who cares about the sufferings of us human beings and is here, with us, for us, in our pain and in our joy.
From her book Two-part invention.
Show, don’t tell: Round 1 9 July 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and faith, Christianity, Criticism, Illustration, Painting.4 comments
Round 1 in the Show, don’t tell showdown: Patty Wickman versus ubiquitous Christian painting hanging in most every American baptist church.
Above is Patty Wickman’s surreal A Thief in the Night. Wickman, an art professor at UCLA, is a master (in my opinion) of turning beautifully simple subjects into powerful metaphors.
Which do you think is more powerful imagery? Which is more likely to cause the viewer to more deeply engage the subject matter? Which one employs imagination? Which one tells and which one shows? And (ironically) which one is more likely to change a person’s attitude or worldview?
Christians in the past 100 years seem to have forgotten how to be creative, use our imaginations, when communicating visually. For some reason we feel the need to reduce the Gospel (and any other theological tenets we hold dear) to what is more or less propaganda. We obviously aren’t reading our Gospels very closely. The parables are a prime example of using art — storytelling — to show people an idea or principle rather than just saying it out loud. Granted, the culture was different then than now, and we may not be able to do exactly as Jesus did, but the point remains: People won’t respond to a direct statement in the same manner as they will to something that is illustrated, painted, drawn out.
And, for what it’s worth, the painting of Jesus knocking at the door (of your heart as so many mistakenly believe) is based on a verse, as far as I know, that’s almost always taken out of context. The imagery is generally used to appeal to non-believers. In reality, the verse is speaking to the church of Laodicea in the context of repentance.
Kenyan painters and stations of the cross 10 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and Missions, Art and faith, Christianity, Painting.add a comment
Kenyan painters were somewhat recently tasked with painting the stations of the cross in the Lodwar Cathederal (Kenya). See the results on this website. The grouping is titled “Through Nomadic Eyes.” My favorite one of the bunch is below, with the storefront in the background, a little post-modern disconnect in artistic terms.
Via MissionsLaunch.
True, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable 14 May 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and faith, Christianity, Criticism.1 comment so far
This is the second interesting article in the last month to come out of a web journal called The Other Journal. The teaser below is from an article in their Aesthetics issue, written by Daniel Siedell and titled Altars to Unknown Gods: A Christian approach to contemporary art.
Dostoyevsky once said that beauty would save the world. Most Christian writing on the visual arts, however, is a betrayal of the depth and profundity of the Christian tradition that Dostoyevsky represents. It reflects the negativity and superficiality of contemporary cultural discourse rather than the living tradition of the church as Christ’s presence in the world.
Saint Paul tells us to embrace “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable [. . . .]” (Phil. 4: 8). We are called to embrace, not merely to reject in the name of Christ. Too often Christian writing on contemporary art is a litany of rejections and, at times, even appears to take pleasure in drawing our attention to those characteristics and qualities that contradict Saint Paul.
It’s a very good article (only three pages long), in my opinion, that puts into clear language thoughts I’ve had in the past ten years but may not have been able to articulate. Read it in its entirety via the link above. I plan to reread it a few times in order to thoroughly digest his words.
Painter puts down brushes, mission trips 11 May 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and Missions, Art and faith, Artist profile, Christianity, Painting.2 comments
Painter and graphic designer Kendra Baird is putting down her paintbrush to participate in an eleven month mission trip according to the Charlotte Observer. Baird began painting a few years ago after forays into graphic design and photography. She turned to the brush while taking pictures of geckos with a friend. Her first painting “turned out really well,” so she thought, “Why don’t I try to sell these?” She talked to Green Rice Gallery in NoDa, which took three of her paintings. Two of them sold.
The Observer article implies that Baird is giving painting up in order to go overseas as a missionary. “Baird will leave for the World Race in August, carrying only a backpack. She’s packing a small sketch pad and watercolor palette, but she’s prepared to leave the rest of her art behind — forever, if God asks her to.” My question — to Baird and to the missions community — is this: Why did she have to give up painting to be a part of Adventure’s in Missions’ World Race? Baird should be made aware of opportunities (as new and few as they may be) that put her God-given talents to use. Operation Moblization’s ArtsLink offers mission trips designed specifically for artists.
Baird believes she can sell paintings after returning from the World Race, but that’s beside the point. Sacrifice is an important part of character, and giving up her craft for a year may be entirely intentional on the part of the artist. However, if a person is gifted in a particular craft that shouldn’t be ignored. God doesn’t gift each of us as part of the body just so we can say we are good at this or than and then box it up and put it on at shelf.
Image from Kendra Baird’s Etsy store.
Faith-based arts center brainstorm 8 May 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and faith, Christian art retreat, Christianity.9 comments
A Facebook discussion with Ann Adair this afternoon prompted me to share the following. It’s a working document for a missions-driven, faith-based artist colony. If the screenshot of the document below isn’t clear, click on document to be taken to a legible page with the same information.
“Visions worth pursuing will outlast our lives.” David Taylor (paraphrased)
Adding: Per conversations this week via email and on this blog entry I’ve made significant additions to the above document. The link still works; best to click through and read the document in Google instead of straining the eyes to try and read the now-outdated screenshot in this post.
God in the Gallery 30 April 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and faith, Business of art, Christianity, Criticism.1 comment so far
There’s a new book out titled God in the Gallery, written by Daniel Seidell. I intend to read the the book at some point; it’s already on my Amazon wish list.
Seidell was curator of The Sheldon when I was a studio art student at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Heather Goodman reviews the book over at L’Chaim. It’s a good review which includes the following quote:
The church, with its liturgical practice, is most definitely not the place to incorporate art that forces the worshiper to ‘ask tough questions,’ ‘challenge previously held beliefs,’ and so on. Those are absolutely important practices, but not in liturgy.
Bear in mind that Seidell is a curator, not an artist or clergyman.
I’m not sure what I think of this particular statement. As someone who thinks often and in detail about the space I visit for regular corporate worship, I can see his point. However, as a visual artist I think I have to disagree. Goodman’s own comments might sum up this discord as well as I can (emphasis mine):
I don’t agree. To be fair, Siedell doesn’t believe that the church stymies imagination but can inspire the imagination, especially through engagement with Nicene theology. But I don’t like this separation of art for the church and art for the world. First, in our teaching (sermons, Bible studies, Sunday schools, small groups), we “ask tough questions” and “challenge previously held beliefs,” so why not in our art in the church? Second, if drawing into the church encourages and prepares us to go out into the world, why should we compartmentalize aspects of our life? Shouldn’t it all flow together?
(I want to note that in addition to stimulating the imagination, Siedell also believes the church can patron the arts and should, not just through funding, but through training the artist spiritually. I wholeheartedly agree with this.)
I allow that there’s an expectation level. You don’t want to shock the worshiper so that they can’t worship. This requires discernment, gentleness, and education. I’ll also allow that not every bit of art is appropriate because it may not be an art that a particular culture engages in. Sometimes this should be challenged, but sometimes it is in line with contextualization. But art that a culture engages in as part of their everyday lives is fair game.
All in all Goodman thoroughly enjoyed God in the Gallery and recommends it for anyone interested in the conversation between art and faith. I’ll add that I’m glad Seidell took the time to write the book from his point of view as a curator.
LinkLuv: Hitler, R.C. Sproul and Obama in art news 28 April 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and faith, Christianity, Criticism, Painting, Portraiture.1 comment so far
Hitler paintings sell for combined $143,000 at British auction house. Yes, Hitler was an aspiring artist before he was a cruel dictator. I’m still surprised at how many people don’t know this bit of trivia. The watercolor below went for $10,000 and is believed to be a self-portrait.
R.C. Sproul talked about how Christians perceive the arts in 1986. Not a terrible or terribly fascinating article, but the source and the date combined made the case to post this link.
A new painting of Obama scheduled to be unveiled in New York City on the 100th day of the new president’s term has now been canceled. Apparently this image caused an uproar similar to that of Serrano’s Piss Christ, Cavallaro’s Chocolate Jesus, Brack’s Bearded Orientals etc etc. People seem to forget that one valid function of the arts is to raise questions about culture. They also seem to forget that, per the childhood platitude, “you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
Churches need to learn to trust their artists 19 April 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and faith, Christianity, Imagination, Painting.4 comments
A few years ago a friend offered to create a work of art for his church. The church accepted the proposal, and the over the past few years they’ve slowly worked on the idea. Recently the church — without the artist — decided on an image as a basis for the project.
It’s not unusual for the pastor (and a board of elders behind him) to want to control the content of artworks in their building. I regularly come across similar tales which evidence an obvious lack of trust in the artist heading up or contributing such a project, especially if the artist is a part of your congregation.
A visual artist — a painter or sculptor or printmaker — is more than just a craftsman. At it’s most basic, art is two things: Craft and concept. What the pastor-slash-board did in the aforementioned circumstance largely takes away the imaginative creativity, the concept, of an artwork. Hopefully an artist is gifted with ideas as much as with a particular craft. Further, they often communicate (i.e. interpret their surroundings) in different ways than than non-artists, which is part of their gift to culture.
In one sense, I can understand how the shepherd of a flock would want to protect his congregation from, well, unsightly or worldly things (as if they aren’t exposed to said things on a daily basis via other media or venues). The elders might want to avoid anything that would cause controversy; heaven forbid we be moved out of our comfort zones by a brutally honest painting of certain Scriptures.
Another scenario could be that the leadership already had an idea in mind and wanted to play artist from behind the scenes. Regardless, the way the project unfolded was disheartening to the artist, and I can certainly sympathize. Would it have been so bad for church leadership to look at a sketch of the artist’s idea and give their feedback based on that?
Below is Jim Jangket’s most recent work titled Last Judgement. I can only imagine how horrified some church leaders would be if the thought of this creative commentary hanging in their building.
Modern Christianity is much too sanitized for our own good, which is another idea for another time but also effects decisions about what kind of art is or isn’t allowed into a church building.
LinkLuv: Art in Paris, at the reformation 16 April 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Art and Missions, Art and faith, Christianity.add a comment
An interview with Gene Veith on art and Christianity; he talks in particular about art at the time of the reformation, mentioning Cranach the Elder and Albrecht Durer. Veith’s blog at Christianity, Culture, Vocation; the podcast link originally posted by CyberBrethren via Twitter.
Lausanne World Pulse website published an article on art as mission in France. It’s a good article written by Steve Thrall touching on the why and how of art in missions. Below is an image from Pat Butler’s website of Thrall giving a talk in France.
