I need your ideas
Today I got to live life with one of my best friends, Jen. At one point we were talking about jobs and how "non-ministry" jobs sometimes make you feel like you're wasting time doing nothing significant. I like my jobs, but sometimes I feel that way.
Jen said that my job teaching music lessons is very important in her eyes. She went on to explain how important art is to her. Sometimes when people ask her how she feels, she would rather not use words but compose a symphony instead. Art helps us see things more deeply in a way that normal words can't.
She also mentioned that most "Christian" art is bad art. That's why she thinks my job is a cool one because I get to teach kids music, a way to express themselves and a way to display the unspeakable to the rest of the world.
That raises three questions for me.
1. How in the world do I teach kids how to do art...not just how to play the notes right? How do I teach them to express themselves in a real way, not a manufactured and oh-so-typical way?
2. Why is so much of the Christian art that we see so bad? Why, when we have such a powerful inspiration, are we so lacking in how we express it?
I was thinking about question # 2 tonight. I am wondering if the really powerful Christian artists are just too much for us. They're too weird; they don't fit the church mold; they're too bold. So, we place them in the fringes where they won't disturb us too much. We ignore them. Or, we call them non-christian. That leaves us mostly with non-influencial artists who keep re-creating the same thing over and over. Somehow they end up in the spotlight representing and trying to explain life to us.
I consider myself an artist. Honestly, I think I'm lacking too. When I paint, I use someone else's idea. When I write songs, they seem so typical. When I play piano, I'm stuck in a rut. That brings me to question #3.
3. How do Christians use the Spirit inside of us and make real art? How can I stop copying and start creating?
posted by Leah at 10:47 PM
2 Comments:
Leah, I hear what you are saying. It is also my desire to be authentic in my artistic expression of what's inside. Sometimes it can be difficult in knowing how to bring out and express what's already inside of us.
Well, having completely original ideas is a struggle for any artist; Chrisitan or not. However, I think so much of today's Christian art stems from what American Chrisitianity has been for so long. Keeping God in a box where we can understand him and control him. Getting out of that habit is difficult. I'm really not sure how to do it but I do know that it's possible. When you look back at artists like Michelangelo who painted to ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which most of us would consider Christian art, it's amazing. There are pieces of that ceiling that bring up all kinds of emotions and thoughts. So I don't think it's that Christian art is lame as a rule but what is going on with it in today's society could definitely use some work. I wish I had an answer on how to begin to change that but right now I really don't. I struggle with that idea everytime I try to write a song.
Post a Comment
<< Home