Visual arts and church

[Paul Rivas]

Mark (and any others),
Any ideas on how to encourage the use of  and appreciation for visual arts in the church? How would you encourage artists to use their art in conjunction with their faith?

[The Vampire]

 

"Paul Rivas" <pri...@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:BB62AAF5.E5FE%pri...@earthlink.net...

Mark (and any others),
Any ideas on how to encourage the use of  and appreciation for visual arts in the church? How would you encourage artists to use their art in conjunction with their faith?

 

http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/502.html

[Mark and Bev Tindall]

"Paul Rivas" wrote:

 

 

> Any ideas on how to encourage the use of  and

> appreciation for visual arts in the church?

> How would you encourage artists to use their art in >conjunction with their faith?

 

 

These are both good questions and worthy of more than I can write today. (Lawrence may like to join in.)  I'm going to answer them back to front ...and come back to this more fully at a later date.

 

 

 

> How would you encourage artists to use their art in >conjunction with their faith?

 

 

I am using the term "art" in the broad sense of all the arts.

 

The artist must have freedom to explore and to express.  There are no topics which are off limits and no medium which is evil within itself.  There are no rules on what area you must work in or exhibit at as a Christian.  Love God and do as you please ...as St Augustine said.

 

The goal of the artist is to produce a life time body of good art.  One's  worldview is seen through the total body of one's art and should not be judged on a single item.  Some may do a lifetime of religious works, others none at all and others a mixture.  All Christians who are artists are Christian artists.  Christian artists in "ministries" are no different than any other Christian artist and should be judged on the same criteria of technical excellence, the marriage of content and media, form, etc.

 

Meet with and work with artists from all walks of life.  Learn from them.  Study Christian artists of the past and present and their struggles with their art.  Learn from them.  Have integrity with your work. Do not be pressured into changing your style or content to suit others. Art is an individual pursuit and not a community process.  There is no secular / Christian dichotomy in art.  There is no particular "Christian style".  There is only good art or bad art and all shades between.  Art does not have to have a message about Christianity.  Forced messages are no more than propaganda and should be avoided.  Your art should grow and develop.  Encourage younger artists to experiemnt.  Mentor them.  Your first works may not be great but they will improve over time. 

  Immerse yourself in your field of art.  Work at it every day.  It is your legacy to the world and an expression of yourself as one made in the image of the great Creator.

 

 

 

> Any ideas on how to encourage the use of  and

> appreciation for visual arts in the church?

 

 

What do we mean by "church"?  The group of people known as Christians?  The local expression of that?  A building?

 

I have taught many seminars from the 70s onwards on Christianity and the arts .  Each time I come away depressed at the "state of the nation" concerning Christian art.

 

Christians have not learnt to read art ...especially contemporary art.  As a result the Christian presence in contemporary art is much less than it should be.

 

Christians have not learnt to value art for the sake of art.  i.e. as an expression of God's creativity and not merely as a form of propaganda.

 

I would encourage the use of the art from youth culture.  Critique it on all levels in your youth groups.  Question, question and question again.  Regularly visit places where good art is shown.  Regularly display your own art.  Avoid the "What's Christian about that?" school of art criticism.  Too much of what now passes as Christian art is relegated to propaganda and used to convey the gospel ONLY ...as though art could be in any way restricted to this category.  Therefore shun the tacky kitsch found in most Christian bookstores.

 

My wife and I and some friends recently watched the Wim Wender's film "Million Dollar Hotel" on video and saw his photographs at an exhibition at the Sydney Contemporary Museum of Art.  We bought two prints which have been framed and placed on our wall.  We've talked about the exhibition and film with our kids and friends.  Topics related to the above were Sept 11, suicide, poverty, colour, the landscape of the far west of Oz, travel, faith, God, the connection between Wim Wenders and U2, music, muzak, Native American Indians, Australian Aboriginals.

 

Last year I exhibited three works ...only one had overtly Christian content ...and that only in a corner of the drawing ... an Aboriginal crucified on a cross with a bound and gagged Christian at the foot of the same cross. 

[Mark and Bev Tindall]

"The Vampire" wrote:

 

>> Any ideas on how to encourage the use of  and

>> appreciation for visual arts in the church? How would

>> you encourage artists to use their art in conjunction

>> with their faith?

>

> [Link to Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ"]

 

 

An interesting piece of art that was banned in many places.  It was a comment on how society treats Christ and as such the topic is worthwhile.  I don't think it is a great piece of art and it would have drifted into obscurity if the fundamentalists had kept quiet.

 

[The Vampire]

 

An interesting piece of art that was banned in many places.  It was a comment on how society treats Christ and as such the topic is worthwhile.  I don't think it is a great piece of art and it would have drifted into obscurity if the fundamentalists had kept quiet.

 

Absolutley.  To me it was interesting, but not earth shattering.  However, after the ranting of Jesse Helms over work and  the artist receiving funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, everyone new what it was!

 

--
The Vampire

 

"Little sister,
You left me howling at the moon...  "

 

                                -Siouxsie & the Banshees

 

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www.sleeping-garden.com

 

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[Lawrence Meckan]

Mark and Bev Tindall <m_b_t...@tpg.com.au> wrote:

> Visual arts and church"Paul Rivas" wrote:
>
>
> > Any ideas on how to encourage the use of and
> > appreciation for visual arts in the church?
> > How would you encourage artists to use their art in >conjunction with their faith?

<snip to address points>

I would encourage artists to use their art in conjunction with their
faith by allowing the artists themselves to develop, refine and test
their art as they see fit - almost as a sounding board for where their
faith is at. This may mean it will offend *some* people in it's design
and application. People have bad days sometimes, and if you talk about
God during the bad days as an artist, it bucks the trend against a
veneer of praise put forward by those artists and artistic bodies in
the Christian field currently. It's still worship of our God, though,
it just doesn't conform to what other people want an artist to be.
Another taboo subject seems to be sex, and how the artist views what
God offers vs. what the world offers.

Like Mark, I do ask for liberty to be expressed by an artist. Otherwise
how else will they know the difference between canned pop culture and
fine art with integrity if they aren't allowed to experiment or push
boundaries ?

Also like Mark, I suggest gaining trust and respect towards and from
fellow artists, not only as a way of developing artistic skill, but
also building the confidence and respect to challenge the current
status quo prevalent amongst the institutional church leadership.

I have no ideas as to how to encourage the use of and appreciation for
visual arts in the church. Mainly because I have no idea as to what you
mean by "visual arts" or by "church".

Is visual arts:
a) dance
b) painting
c) visual media
d) anything else (e.g. sculpture)

Is church:
a) the people / ecclesia
b) the building itself
c) the service in the building
d) the organisation
e) anything else

lawrence