Art is beautiful things that human beings create. God created us in his image, and creativity is part of his image. Everything he creates is significant and beautiful. When human beings create significant, beautiful things, we reflect the glory of God.
It takes a lot of study and practice for us to make really good art, and even then the art we create now is nothing like the amazing art we will create in heaven. In heaven our study and practice and finished work will not be inhibited by effects of the Fall, like weariness, impatience, and lack of motivation. In heaven we will make all our art for God's glory, and never for our own. We will not create things out of hearts that are angry and hopeless and blind anymore. That kind of art expresses our pain and rebellious attitudes, but we actually were not made to create that kind of art.
The purpose of art is to tell the truth, to proclaim, to critique, to point out the unnoticed and the forgotten, to praise, to narrate, to make otherwise purely functional objects aesthetically pleasing, to express beyond the boundaries of words, to inspire and encourage, to bring delight. God gave us creativity so that we could be free to create beautiful, meaningful things – art that proclaims who God is, art that praises him, art that tells his rich epic. Art is useful in our interactions with one another. Art that is created to critique is not art if it merely depresses or disgusts us and does not help us to change our attitudes and call us to loving action. Real art enriches our lives.
Showing posts with label essays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label essays. Show all posts
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Artist Rationale': A Work In Process
All of life is a process: A process of aging, learning, maturing, working towards personal and social goals, and influencing others and stirring them to action. Process is historically a huge part of human existence. God used process as he created heaven and earth and every living thing, in time and space (both of which he also created). Human life, created in the image of God, is full of processes of creativity and discovery. Since the Fall, all human process involves taking some wrong turns, making some mistakes. It can involve extreme frustration, and sometimes failures which require starting over. For the Christian, another (very radical) process is a part of life as well: the process of spiritual sanctification. In fact, sanctification is not really a part of life at all. Rather it is the process by which every part of life is surrendered to Christ and transformed to be holy as Christ is holy.
The process of sanctification is oftentimes excruciatingly painful, because it inevitably breaks down the barriers our hearts build up around us to keep our Creator and Savior God at a “safe” distance. Sanctification also hurts because it ruins for us all the idols we cling to – idols which, although they would destroy us, we would choose above a passionately loving, tender, holy God. When God tears down the walls we build to surround us, he does not leave us unprotected. He surrounds us with his embrace, protecting our souls from separation from himself: the Life-giver without whom we are dead.
The Christian life is a journey toward knowing God. A journey is not a static thing. One who walks in the truth of the Word keeps walking... humbly, in freedom, in love, in the light of God's presence, with the wise, through the valley of the shadow of death, and in the paths of righteousness. Travelers look ahead, eager to reach their destination. No journey is more important for a person to travel than the journey of sanctification, and no destination is more important than to dwell with God, eternally glorifying and enjoying him. Whatever it takes, God's people will reach that destination.
One area of process that I have discovered to be closely entwined with sanctification is art. All art involves process. Process in art includes thought, verbalization, and discussion of ideas and concepts. It may involve much practice, research, conceptual drawings, smaller-scale models, and experimentation before the artist even begins to create the final piece. The final piece itself often requires a very complex process. Process is also involved in exhibiting an artwork. There can exist no finished work of art except through some process of making, just as no human being can become complete without undergoing the process of sanctification by the Holy Spirit.
Just because all art is created through a process does not mean that all art is good, true, and beautiful, however. Not all art possesses the same level of divine reflectivity; that is to say, not all art reflects the glory of God equally. In fact, some art does not reflect glory at all, except in that it was created by a person made in the image of God. The piece itself might be horrifyingly ugly and spiritually offensive and blasphemous.
So we see that not everything that develops through a process is good. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes we put ourselves through processes that take us down wrong paths and bear only bad fruit. I have put myself through many such processes whenever I have made decisions to try to control my life instead of surrendering my will to God. I have often turned away from God, wanting to live life my way instead of his way. I have tried to justify my choice of direction by questioning God's trustworthiness and goodness. If God is not who he says he is, then it is pointless for me to live my life for him; I should just try to make my life as comfortable and fun as possible. Traveling this path only multiplies my anger and fear and loneliness, leaving me feeling like a failure without hope. It leaves me feeling this way because I am estranging myself from a God who is who he says he is.
Many things that we have to do (or sometimes put ourselves through unnecessarily) are disagreeable, tedious, even grueling. Sometimes even working on a project that interests us can be an unpleasant process. For me, academic assignments are usually wrestling matches won (and sometimes lost) with – very literally – blood, sweat, and tears. But we live in a fallen world where nothing good can happen without some cost to someone somewhere, whether it costs their time, money, energy, reputation, or life. Everything I create, every song or painting or poem, every meal or school paper or self-presentation (in “reality” or cyberspace) costs me something. This paper, for example, is on a topic which is very interesting to me, and extremely relevant to my life. I want this to be a beautiful paper. Yet, squeezing ideas from my mind in verbal form feels like trying to squeeze the last remnants of toothpaste out of the toothpaste tube. On a far grander scale, the process of sanctification comes at tremendous cost: the cost of a potentially comfortable life and the cost of the world's approval. In other words, it costs us all of our idols. It involves denying self-interest, and clinging to God as our hope and life-breath. We will never do this on our own – this can only happen by the grace of God.
As difficult as creating can be, I cannot try to let it go or minimize its place in my life. Doing so would strip me of an enormous amount of my life's passion and purpose, because creating also brings me great joy. I am filled with excitement when I paint and carve and shape things. I love the feeling I get when I make something that is formally beautiful; when I mix paint into some intriguing color, and apply it to the canvas with just that perfect stroke... and it takes my breath away! I find so much delight in using my hands and tools to make smooth, curving, elegant forms. I cannot imagine living life without creating art, but I am sure I would find it miserable.
I believe that when I am creating I am being told a story, by something bigger than me – something outside myself, which I am retelling. God is the Great Creator, and he is the one who whispers the story into my heart. He allows me to tell his story in a new way, with the creativity he has given me as part of his image. I respond to what I am being told, as I react to each thing that “happens” in the piece I am working on. And when I tell God's stories faithfully, he is glorified.
God's stories rightly told are beautiful and good and true. This is not to say that none of them speak of brokenness. Christ became incarnate and was born as a baby, into a broken world that had no hope but him alone. Through his sinless life as both fully human and fully divine, Christ sanctified every part of life for his people. He gave us a hope and a future, and commanded us to share it with all people. He has given me a desire to share that hope and future through my art and my music.
Part of the importance of process to me is that it gives me something to look back on and continue to learn from. I have countless memories, beautiful and ugly, broken and whole, debilitating and healing, shameful and affirming, that I am able to call to mind. My past and my memories of it constantly effect my present thoughts and actions. Unfortunately, I often tend to bring the more negative sides of my memories to mind, and that focus usually results in more negative thinking in the present. My actions are then based upon or tainted by grudges, anger, and fear. Bringing to mind good and pure memories calls forth gratefulness, from which flows humble service and praise. My faithful art is that praise.
Process is a connection between art, sanctification, and Christ's incarnation. The process of art-making reflects the processes in God's story of his Creation, the Fall of humankind, and the Father's great Redemption of his children – a full redemption that sanctifies every child of God. This is a redemption accomplished through the obedient life, death, and resurrection of the incarnate Christ. Because of this redemption, the process of creating art can be an act of glorifying the living God.
The process of sanctification is oftentimes excruciatingly painful, because it inevitably breaks down the barriers our hearts build up around us to keep our Creator and Savior God at a “safe” distance. Sanctification also hurts because it ruins for us all the idols we cling to – idols which, although they would destroy us, we would choose above a passionately loving, tender, holy God. When God tears down the walls we build to surround us, he does not leave us unprotected. He surrounds us with his embrace, protecting our souls from separation from himself: the Life-giver without whom we are dead.
The Christian life is a journey toward knowing God. A journey is not a static thing. One who walks in the truth of the Word keeps walking... humbly, in freedom, in love, in the light of God's presence, with the wise, through the valley of the shadow of death, and in the paths of righteousness. Travelers look ahead, eager to reach their destination. No journey is more important for a person to travel than the journey of sanctification, and no destination is more important than to dwell with God, eternally glorifying and enjoying him. Whatever it takes, God's people will reach that destination.
One area of process that I have discovered to be closely entwined with sanctification is art. All art involves process. Process in art includes thought, verbalization, and discussion of ideas and concepts. It may involve much practice, research, conceptual drawings, smaller-scale models, and experimentation before the artist even begins to create the final piece. The final piece itself often requires a very complex process. Process is also involved in exhibiting an artwork. There can exist no finished work of art except through some process of making, just as no human being can become complete without undergoing the process of sanctification by the Holy Spirit.
Just because all art is created through a process does not mean that all art is good, true, and beautiful, however. Not all art possesses the same level of divine reflectivity; that is to say, not all art reflects the glory of God equally. In fact, some art does not reflect glory at all, except in that it was created by a person made in the image of God. The piece itself might be horrifyingly ugly and spiritually offensive and blasphemous.
So we see that not everything that develops through a process is good. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes we put ourselves through processes that take us down wrong paths and bear only bad fruit. I have put myself through many such processes whenever I have made decisions to try to control my life instead of surrendering my will to God. I have often turned away from God, wanting to live life my way instead of his way. I have tried to justify my choice of direction by questioning God's trustworthiness and goodness. If God is not who he says he is, then it is pointless for me to live my life for him; I should just try to make my life as comfortable and fun as possible. Traveling this path only multiplies my anger and fear and loneliness, leaving me feeling like a failure without hope. It leaves me feeling this way because I am estranging myself from a God who is who he says he is.
Many things that we have to do (or sometimes put ourselves through unnecessarily) are disagreeable, tedious, even grueling. Sometimes even working on a project that interests us can be an unpleasant process. For me, academic assignments are usually wrestling matches won (and sometimes lost) with – very literally – blood, sweat, and tears. But we live in a fallen world where nothing good can happen without some cost to someone somewhere, whether it costs their time, money, energy, reputation, or life. Everything I create, every song or painting or poem, every meal or school paper or self-presentation (in “reality” or cyberspace) costs me something. This paper, for example, is on a topic which is very interesting to me, and extremely relevant to my life. I want this to be a beautiful paper. Yet, squeezing ideas from my mind in verbal form feels like trying to squeeze the last remnants of toothpaste out of the toothpaste tube. On a far grander scale, the process of sanctification comes at tremendous cost: the cost of a potentially comfortable life and the cost of the world's approval. In other words, it costs us all of our idols. It involves denying self-interest, and clinging to God as our hope and life-breath. We will never do this on our own – this can only happen by the grace of God.
As difficult as creating can be, I cannot try to let it go or minimize its place in my life. Doing so would strip me of an enormous amount of my life's passion and purpose, because creating also brings me great joy. I am filled with excitement when I paint and carve and shape things. I love the feeling I get when I make something that is formally beautiful; when I mix paint into some intriguing color, and apply it to the canvas with just that perfect stroke... and it takes my breath away! I find so much delight in using my hands and tools to make smooth, curving, elegant forms. I cannot imagine living life without creating art, but I am sure I would find it miserable.
I believe that when I am creating I am being told a story, by something bigger than me – something outside myself, which I am retelling. God is the Great Creator, and he is the one who whispers the story into my heart. He allows me to tell his story in a new way, with the creativity he has given me as part of his image. I respond to what I am being told, as I react to each thing that “happens” in the piece I am working on. And when I tell God's stories faithfully, he is glorified.
God's stories rightly told are beautiful and good and true. This is not to say that none of them speak of brokenness. Christ became incarnate and was born as a baby, into a broken world that had no hope but him alone. Through his sinless life as both fully human and fully divine, Christ sanctified every part of life for his people. He gave us a hope and a future, and commanded us to share it with all people. He has given me a desire to share that hope and future through my art and my music.
Part of the importance of process to me is that it gives me something to look back on and continue to learn from. I have countless memories, beautiful and ugly, broken and whole, debilitating and healing, shameful and affirming, that I am able to call to mind. My past and my memories of it constantly effect my present thoughts and actions. Unfortunately, I often tend to bring the more negative sides of my memories to mind, and that focus usually results in more negative thinking in the present. My actions are then based upon or tainted by grudges, anger, and fear. Bringing to mind good and pure memories calls forth gratefulness, from which flows humble service and praise. My faithful art is that praise.
Process is a connection between art, sanctification, and Christ's incarnation. The process of art-making reflects the processes in God's story of his Creation, the Fall of humankind, and the Father's great Redemption of his children – a full redemption that sanctifies every child of God. This is a redemption accomplished through the obedient life, death, and resurrection of the incarnate Christ. Because of this redemption, the process of creating art can be an act of glorifying the living God.
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Creativity - 3.18.06
My favorite thing to do is to create. I love writing, painting, making music, and anything else that I can be original with. I usually feel closest to God when I am creating. For me, creating and worshipping nearly always go together. I wonder at the two strong feelings of longing and fulfillment that I experience when I create. It fascinates me that I can experience both of these feelings simultaneously. What I find even more amazing is that, in reality, these two emotions in my heart are my longing for God and my fulfillment in him. Yet I will never have a complete sense of fulfillment until I am in heaven with my God. All our feelings of longing and fulfillment are produced when we experience beauty. Every beautiful thing we can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel is merely a reflection of God, the Source of beauty. When we experience beauty, we feel a longing for the source – a longing to be inside the source, because only in Christ The Source Of Beauty can we find total fulfillment.
God is wonderfully creative. He has filled his creation with magnificent variety. There are millions of different kinds of seashells and insects and fishes. No two snowflakes are alike, and no two sunsets are alike. No two people are alike. And there is more variety than that. God has woven playfulness and restfulness into his creation. God has made the universe and filled it with light, and given us eyes to see the light. More than that, he has enabled us to see colors. I am so thankful to live in a world of color rather than one of merely black and white! There is variety in the seasons and the weather patterns, in the nebulae and the galaxies. Just take a moment to look up at the sky and see the different types of clouds or all the different constellations. These things are no accident! God has created these things to be the way they are for specific purposes. I want to use my creativity for specific purposes too – first of all for the worship, enjoyment, and glory of my Creator. I also want to use it to encourage and build up others, especially other believers. I want to use it to learn more about God, life, other people, and myself. I want to use it to teach and exhort people. I want to use it to help me sort out my many confusions and to put into words and visual art my thoughts, struggles, and triumphs.
All creativity comes from God the Creator – we can create nothing apart from him. Because creativity is a part of God's image that he has given to us, it should be used for redemptive purposes. When I write, I love combining words having to do with the effects of the Fall with words of redemption to make beautiful poems, stories, song lyrics, and even school papers. I see beauty in God's redemptive plan, and I seek to reflect it in all my art. It is most important that God's children, of all people, be the ones using the creativity God has given them. We should make ourselves more aware of beauty. We should come to the point where we frequently stop in the middle of our busy lives to be still and look at the beauty of the universe around us.
True beauty is a mysterious thing. It flows exactly opposite the world's strong current. If it weren't for the grace given by God, the world would only be a place of the destruction of beautiful things. "Common" grace is a thing that God has given to all his creation – even to those who are not his children. It is the ability and desire to do good things, and the enjoyment of good things. Yet there is a higher grace – a grace given only to the children of God. One of the wonderful things about this grace is that it opens a person's spiritual eyes to spiritual beauty. I have seen the beauty of a Servant's heart – a thing that the world cannot understand. Even we the children of God cannot fully comprehend it. I am fallen, but I have been made a daughter of God, so that the Holy Spirit is transforming my view and giving me an increasing understanding of the beauty of the Servant's heart. He is daily maturing me into what I already am. Because I have been redeemed, God sees me as beautiful – all the time. I honestly don't understand this. I'm not even sure I believe it. God says it’s true – he says so in his infallible Word, but I still have a hard time believing it whenever I am feeling full of guilt (as I often am). I do have a desire, however, to understand and believe this.
Since creativity is a part of God's image, and humans are the only ones in creation that are made in his image, humans are the only ones in creation that can appreciate creativity. Creativity is deeply woven into our souls – another thing that only humankind possesses. Western culture tends to suppress creativity, despite its claims for the opposite. As a result, the older we get, the more we lose our creativity. It can only be regained with frequent and dedicated practice. I do not want to allow my creativity to be suppressed. I don't want that part of my soul to go ignored by me or anyone else. I can practice creativity in everything from my clothing to my paintings to my speech.
God is wonderfully creative. He has filled his creation with magnificent variety. There are millions of different kinds of seashells and insects and fishes. No two snowflakes are alike, and no two sunsets are alike. No two people are alike. And there is more variety than that. God has woven playfulness and restfulness into his creation. God has made the universe and filled it with light, and given us eyes to see the light. More than that, he has enabled us to see colors. I am so thankful to live in a world of color rather than one of merely black and white! There is variety in the seasons and the weather patterns, in the nebulae and the galaxies. Just take a moment to look up at the sky and see the different types of clouds or all the different constellations. These things are no accident! God has created these things to be the way they are for specific purposes. I want to use my creativity for specific purposes too – first of all for the worship, enjoyment, and glory of my Creator. I also want to use it to encourage and build up others, especially other believers. I want to use it to learn more about God, life, other people, and myself. I want to use it to teach and exhort people. I want to use it to help me sort out my many confusions and to put into words and visual art my thoughts, struggles, and triumphs.
All creativity comes from God the Creator – we can create nothing apart from him. Because creativity is a part of God's image that he has given to us, it should be used for redemptive purposes. When I write, I love combining words having to do with the effects of the Fall with words of redemption to make beautiful poems, stories, song lyrics, and even school papers. I see beauty in God's redemptive plan, and I seek to reflect it in all my art. It is most important that God's children, of all people, be the ones using the creativity God has given them. We should make ourselves more aware of beauty. We should come to the point where we frequently stop in the middle of our busy lives to be still and look at the beauty of the universe around us.
True beauty is a mysterious thing. It flows exactly opposite the world's strong current. If it weren't for the grace given by God, the world would only be a place of the destruction of beautiful things. "Common" grace is a thing that God has given to all his creation – even to those who are not his children. It is the ability and desire to do good things, and the enjoyment of good things. Yet there is a higher grace – a grace given only to the children of God. One of the wonderful things about this grace is that it opens a person's spiritual eyes to spiritual beauty. I have seen the beauty of a Servant's heart – a thing that the world cannot understand. Even we the children of God cannot fully comprehend it. I am fallen, but I have been made a daughter of God, so that the Holy Spirit is transforming my view and giving me an increasing understanding of the beauty of the Servant's heart. He is daily maturing me into what I already am. Because I have been redeemed, God sees me as beautiful – all the time. I honestly don't understand this. I'm not even sure I believe it. God says it’s true – he says so in his infallible Word, but I still have a hard time believing it whenever I am feeling full of guilt (as I often am). I do have a desire, however, to understand and believe this.
Since creativity is a part of God's image, and humans are the only ones in creation that are made in his image, humans are the only ones in creation that can appreciate creativity. Creativity is deeply woven into our souls – another thing that only humankind possesses. Western culture tends to suppress creativity, despite its claims for the opposite. As a result, the older we get, the more we lose our creativity. It can only be regained with frequent and dedicated practice. I do not want to allow my creativity to be suppressed. I don't want that part of my soul to go ignored by me or anyone else. I can practice creativity in everything from my clothing to my paintings to my speech.
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