The Fear of White Space

Dad-burn it!  I know better than this, but here I am wanting to get on with the transformation of my blog toward an emphasis in Faith & Art.  I visit the front page time and time again.  I think now’s the time to confess to a fear of the white space, the blank page, or the blank canvas – whatever works for you.  I’m just sitting, staring, and getting nowhere.  It’s ridiculous.

This evening I hear my spirit say to me, “Just get started and stop planning it out.”  Heavens, I know this… I know that’s what we artists are supposed to do; just dip the brush into whatever color’s at hand and touch it to the panel.   It’s all good, it’s just a warm-up.  Brother…

It just goes to show you – and me – that I’m simply human.  I may know something’s the way it is, but I still get myself all wrapped up in a tail chase.  Ever see a puppy chase its tail?  Ever see the puppy actually catch its tail?  Sometimes it hurts.  So, here I am just making a non-sensical mess all over this digital canvas in an act of beginning – no formal plan, just an emphasis.

I think I’ve already shared my theory about the three great human domains; art, science, and faith (religion).  I think I’ve already – and if I haven’t I will do so in an essay I’m preparing to make available here – explained how absurd it seems to me that each of the practitioners of those domains believe themselves to be in pursuit of truth.  Further, it seems to my mind, that each of those domains claims to be the sole interpreter of that truth.  Here’s what I really believe; I think that people working in any one or more of these great domains are all looking at the same truth, each from a different point of view.

This situation reminds me of the story from India – at least that’s the version I was taught in school – where three blind Brahman (wise-men) were walking along and encounter an elephant for the first time in their lives.  Feeling the trunk, one said the elephant is like the great snakes of the world.  Feeling the leg, another claimed that the elephant was as a great forest of trees.  The last feeling the great belly and rough hide laid claim to the notion that the elephant was as a great mountain of rough stone.

Who’s “right”?  Well, they all are, of course.  If they’d simply sit down together and discuss what each of them encountered instead of arguing over who’s right, they’d all see a far larger picture.  The three great domains; faith, science, and art, are gifts from God, just as the elephant is.  Our mind, being able to encounter what we do not know, to explore what we do not know, to think about and discuss what we do not know, and to comprehend beyond our own personal experience is also a great gift from God.

My personal calling in life is to faith and art.  I wouldn’t for a minute diminish or eliminate science.  I love science, it’s just that I’m called to an emphasis of life in faith & art.  In that vein, this blog will turn toward those two of the three great human domains.  It’s to be an asset to me and my fellow artists of faith who struggle with the challenges of a life lived in real faith, and purposeful artmaking.

There was a time in my life, and in the lives of a number of my greatest friends, when we were each confused as to how our lives could become complete and useful in the unity of our faith in God through Jesus Christ, and the pursuit of excellence in our art.  I was lost and frustrated.  My friends have told me their stories; they too were lost and frustrated.  At some point someone, or something, got the message across to each of us that making art is an act of worship; that making art of the highest qualities of our abilities glorifies God.  And in that milieu we can indeed live within the reality of our own creative harmonies.   We can find, nurture, and express our faith in God through our artful lives.

Still Searching

It’s been a while since we moved.  In that time we were given only weeks with my father-in-law, and now he’s gone.  We’re coming out of the grieving but we’re still incredibly busy with family responsibilities.  I’ve been using the time to continue studying.  I’ve been journaling almost everyday.  I’ve been reading and finding resources to read.  As we approach a new year, it occurred to me that it was time to say something here.

I’m finding my way through what I call the faith & arts movement.  Of all the creative harmonies I have yet encountered none have been more meaningful or significant to me than the seamless unity of my faith and my art.  I find myself returning to a more deeply articulated pursuit of my interests as stated in my June 4th post – Making Art in Faith.

In a recent conversation with a fellow artist friend I found myself exclaiming that in the last ten years I’ve learned so much.  That statement surprised me.  I hadn’t realized just how much I have learned and I’m in the process of exploring much of that gift from God.

There’s a lot about my recent theatre leadership which was extremely painful, and from each and every event I learned something about artists of faith.  I learned about myself, about my fellow artists and about the chasm we straddle between people of faith and non-believers.  I learned about how both sides criticize us, sometimes with great justification.  Sorry for the cliche’, but it’s true – No pain, no gain.  I know, I hate it too, but it seems our greatest personal advances are made when we’re severely challenged – even by friends.

What lies ahead, in addition to carving out new space to make art again, is to continue my studies and to share them with you.  I’m creating my own MFA – Masters in Faith & Art.  Yes, I am doing some study online with what’s called Open Courseware (OCW), but I’m not attending school in the formal sense.  I am applying the same principles of unschooling I used in twenty years of homeschooling our children, to my own personal pursuit.

That’s where I am today, re-emerging from challenges, embracing new ones, and turning all of my life’s encounters into art.

Blessings~

Moved On. Moved Up. Moved Again.

I have moved a great many times in my life.  I relate to military, and missionary kids.  They’re always moving somewhere else. By the wime I’d married I must’ve moved, oh, at least eleven times.  I’m sure that’s nothing for mil. and miss. kids.

This time we took seven weeks, one carload at a time, to relocate back in Seattle proper from the South Seattle “burbs”.  We’ve merged homes, and lives, and in the process we’re becoming a stronger family and richer persons.

We live with my father-in-law who’s in his latter eighties, and dealing with the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s.  He needs help, watching over, lots of love, and family in his life right now.  We’re here to be that support for him.

This is a rich time for us as a family.  My bride of thirty-plus years, and our three children, are transitioning from a twenty-plus year homeschool experience, to the kids getting ready to fly out on their own, and to our helping add value to Dad’s life. We see it as an opportunity, an enrichment, for all concerned.  He loves having  his grandkids around, and doesn’t mind someone else doin’ the cookin’ either!

This union of lives in this very close proximity makes an environment of very creative harmonies.  My wife told me at the beginning that it’ll be a little like the families went through in The Diary of Anne Frank.  Many people were living in tight quarters, learning new ways to live together with their tiffs, and their celebrations.

It’s one thing to move.  It’s quite another to blend two full households of stuff; memories, needs, wants, and hopes.  So we’re all sorting, re-prioritizing, discarding, and streamlining.  We’re all becoming something new in this wonderful, somewhat stress-filled new life with all of its own set of creative harmonies.

That’s why I’ve been neglectful at posting, and may still be so.

Thanks for your patience!

Making Art in Faith

I’ve been making art, lots of art.  I’ve been digging to find my visual voice.  I’ve been working through my process to remain constantly productive.  I’ve been thinking about my blog, Creative Harmonies.

In as much as I love science, I’m at a place where I want to explore more of my ventures into the convergence of Faith & Art.  Science often informs both for me and there will still be plenty of it here, but it is my faith in God and my art which drives my life and about which I prefer to devote the lion’s share of my efforts.  In short,  I will spend far less time exploring the convergence of the three great domains of faith, science, and art, and focus most of my efforts upon the two.

The Creative Life has its journeys, and the quest for one’s place and one’s voice lies at its heart.  I’ve trained and worked in many media; film, video, photography, theatre, drawing & painting.  With the recent closure of the theatre company I used to lead, I’ve turned to the fresh ground of visual art, largely collage and painting.  When one medium dries up, turn to another, and so it is to abstract painting and collage that I’ve turned.

I used to be surprised to learn that many artists search for their creativity within more than one media.  Actor, Viggo Mortenson also paints, and writes poetry.  Paul McCartney, possibly the greatest rock composer of the twentieth century, also paints.  David Bowie works out many of his creative ideas for his music through painting.  Film Director, James Cameron has an excellent hand at drawing and often frustrates his production designers with his very finished visual presentations.  The list goes on and on.

I’ve been accused of being a Jack of all Trades and Master of none, but I know myself far better.  I learn by doing.   When it comes to learning something deeply and quickly, I’m a “show ‘n’ tell” kid.  For me, exploration into many media has all-ways been an informative journey of creative growth.  I’ve learned to loosen up, to stop connecting every dot, to play jazz and improvise.

The gift of loosening and opening alone has offered me new vistas of creativity.  In as much as I relish technical drawing and structural design (I did all of the set designs for our theatre), there is both the rigidity of dimensions and the fluidity of proportion in architectural structure to consider.  In theatre, add the third element of showing story and you can see that learning to loosen up is vital to powerful design.

Regardless of the medium, what unifies my art is story.  All off my work is about telling a story.  Whether it’s how the sections of an airliner are designed, assembled, and joined; how a major software company publishes books to help people use their product; how a family tried to survive the holocaust in an Amsterdam attic, all of my art communicates story.

The collage quilt-blocks I’m currently creating is an exploration of quilt-makers, their art & craft.  It amazes me how a person can imbue a “blanket” with a chapter of their life, but that’s what happens whenever something is handmade.  Some element of the maker is found in the piece which is made, the fingerprints of their life, if you will.  That’s why I’ve named my online gallery, “Fingerprints“.

I hope you’ll join me as I turn a corner from the rather intellectual pursuit for which I started this blog, toward the storytelling creativity at the union of faith & art here at Creative Harmonies.

Thanks for visiting,

~Lew~

Stealing Culture: Hitler’s Passion for Art

It’s called The Rape of Europa, and I’m not talking about the famous painting by Titian (1562).  This historic story began as a best-selling book by author Lynn H. Nichols and was published in 1994.  PBS produced an extraordinary two-hour documentary in 2008 based on the book.  In fact Nichols is featured as a major commentator in this masterful exploration of the most monumental culture theft in human history; the wholesale theft of Europe’s cultural and artistic treasures by the Nazi regime in World War II.

Previously I’ve seen another documentary telling of the extraordinary efforts of the Monuments Men, those professional artists and art historians who over saw the return of these same priceless treasures to their rightful owners.  What sets The Rape of Europa apart is the incredible in-depth look at Hitler’s thinking and justification for this horrible crime, the means and methods used by Nazi soldiers in these thefts, and the callous  regard by Hitler’s inner circle regarding the “collecting” of art.  Not only do you come to understand the “how”, but the “why”.

This is a riveting, engaging look at a very dark episode in world art history, the displacement, and sometime loss of cultural treasures, and the impact such removal has on the people of the nations being robbed.   This is historic documentary at its very best.

From the official PBS website;

THE RAPE OF EUROPA tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and World War II. In a journey through seven countries, the film takes viewers into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For twelve long years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history.

The Rape of Europa is a “must see” for anyone concerned with the question of the power of art in culture and society.  If anything, beyond the crime, this story demonstrates the deeply seated affection nations have for their cultural heritage, and how its presence and potential loss threatens national and social identity and integrity.

Never let anyone say that art is superfluous.  This remarkable story proves otherwise.  If nothing else can be said, our value of something is often found only when it is taken from us.

Check it out from the library, buy the DVD, but see The Rape of Europa. You’ll never look at art or art history the same way again.

For more fascinating information you can see the official PBS website, or the official Europa website.  Both are filled with in-depth, interactive materials of this unprecedented episode of cultural history.

Lastly, here’s a link to the production company, Menemsha Films of Venice, CA., where you can read reviews, see production photographs and more.

Look.  Listen.  Become More.

Christianity-Lite

I’ve just been to “school”.  I’ve just read ideas of which I have long sensed their reality, but have been unable to articulate.  I’ve just read Dick Staub’s Culturally Savvy Christian.

Not a book for the comfortable, the faint of heart, or the disinterested, in this book Staub lays out the frailty of American Christianity and its well meaning, but often misguided attempts to make a difference in America.

“In this intellectually and aesthetically impoverished age of Christianity-Lite, it is heartening to remember that for centuries, Christians were known for their intellectual, artistic, and spiritual contributions to society.  Bach, Mendelssohn, Dante, Dostoevsky, Newton, Pascal, and Rembrandt are but a few who personified the rich tradition of faith, producing the highest and best work, motivated by a desire to glorify God and offered in service of others for the enrichment of our common environment: culture. These were culturally savvy Christians-serious about the centrality of faith in their lives, savvy about both faith and culture, and skilled in relating the two.”   pg ix

Staub does not accuse.  He’s neither critical nor combative.   He’s direct and truthful.  The Tone of his writing suggests an urgency, a need for those who are serious about their faith in God through Christ to become culturally savvy and through culture, to make deep, positive, long-term differences.

He is, and in my mind rightfully so, deeply concerned about the general health and well-being of the Christian church in America, calling it Christianity-Lite; it’s “3,000 miles wide and two-inches deep”, and yet his intentions are, “not so much critical as corrective.” pg-43

[With this book] “I’d like us to examine together the cause-and-effect relationship between the quality and depth of our spiritual life and the richness of our cultural life. I’d like to explain my conclusion that today’s superficial spirituality is incapable of producing deep, rich culture. I’d also like to explore how a new generation of culturally savvy Christians-the old kind of Christian in the mold of Lewis and Tolkien, who today, will look like a new kind of Christian-can be the catalysts for transforming culture.” pg. xiii

Personally, I’m extremely encouraged for several reasons;

1) As an artist of faith, I am always exploring at how my art, whether performance or visual, can deepen and enrich our culture and, in the end, point to the cross of Christ.

2) As an artist of faith, I am deeply disturbed by the complete lack of any cohesive ethic of excellence in the offerings of so many artists of faith.

3) As a Christian in America I’m deeply disturbed by the hijacking of our faith by politicians, activists, and propagandists to forcibly change America’s values on the outside, while ignoring the inward transformation of the heart so central to the deeply effective Christian life.

4) Staub not only articulates what he sees as lacking, but offers sound counsel as to what each and every serious Christian can do to become culturally savvy, and make real, deep, peaceful differences in this nation we all love.

5) And finally, while all Christians in America can and should become culturally savvy, Staub reminds artists of faith in particular, that the art we’re endowed to create is an incredibly powerful tool for positive enrichment of our culture.

I encourage every thinking, concerned Christian to read it – all of it!

If you’re serious about your faith and this American culture we live in, I believe you’ll be engaged, and challenged to become a culturally savvy Christian.

He’s an author, commentator, and radio talk show host; for more about Dick Staub’s work, here are a number of his interviews from Christianity Today, and a YouTube video where he talks about The Culturally Savvy Christian.

Engage.  Enlarge.  Become.

Addicted to Mediocrity

20th Century Christians in the Arts

As an “artist of faith”, an artist who creates from a Judeo-Christian worldview, I have run the gamut of antagonism from both non-Christians and Christians alike, namely that my art is either “too religious” or not “religious” enough.

I am not alone in the least, but I have found a good number of wonderful writers & writer/artists of faith who have contributed to an understanding of the source of this criticism.

I will be sharing a number of these works with you over time because there is; 1) a need for relief and release for so-called Christian artists, and 2) there is a wonderfully powerful movement in faith & art gaining daily momentum, and in future posts I will be sharing much with you about what is happening.  First  however, let’s have a look at the source of the problem.

Franky Schaeffer is the son of the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer (How Should We Then Live), and Edith Schaeffer (L’Abri Fellowship); two of the most important apologetists of the twentieth century.

Himself a painter and filmmaker, Franky has also run headlong into a dense criticism of the arts and creativity in the church and the resulting mediocrity.  He writes this book to identify the source of this on-going problem, and offers a good deal of sound encouragement to bring about positive change.  Published in 1981 – twenty-eight years ago, Addicted to Mediocrity remains a very important treatment of the subject.

Chapter 2: Bitter Fruit

“…one could sum it up by saying that the modern Christian world and what is known as evangelicalism in general is marked, in the area of the arts and cultural endeavor, by one outstanding feature, and that is its addiction to mediocrity.”   pg.23

Schaeffer delves into what he sees as the historic root causes of the church’s wholesale ostracism of the arts in general, and the spiritualization of what is deemed useful.  And why does Schaeffer care so much?

Introduction

“…in this small volume I have pinpointed one particular area which has had an outside influence on our ability as Christians to communicate to the world around us…

“This is the area of appreciation, activity, thought, and action, which I will loosely describe as ‘the arts’”   pg.11

Schaeffer has divided his brief book (122 pages) into two parts, Section One describes the problem and offers some solutions, and Section Two is a Q&A where the author responds to questions he has recieved on the matter.

Chapter 5: What Can We Do?

“Creativity… enjoyment of our own creativity, enjoyment of God’s creativity-all of these need no justification.  They are a good and gracious gift from the Heavenly Father above.”   pg.39

He goes on to articulate a number of powerful attitudes and ideas which empower those of us who create from our faith-filled worldview.

Wonderfully illustrated by Kurt Mitchell, this concise introduction to what often ails creatives of faith is a must-have and should be read and re-read, highlighted and dog-eared by all who create in their Father’s image.

Open.  Grow.  Become.

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff

Our youngest son attended an overnight youth-fast event at our church and when I went to pick him up the next morning he was all a chatter.  He is normally when he’s really excited about something, but on this morning he couldn’t wait to tell me about a program he’d seen at the retreat.

Last evening the youth group sat down and watched a couple of really informative presentations.  The one I want to share with you, the one which excites me as much as it does my son, is The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard.

From the website…

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction, through sale, use, and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

I have long lamented – very long – that much of our “modern life” seems predicated upon the idea that we’re here to make money for the IRS and the GNP.  I love our great nation, but there’s just got to be more to life than ripping resources out of the ground, to make stuff we think we want until we don’t want it anymore, instead we want the next one.  Then we throw away what we already have, or worse, we actually pay someone to store what we don’t use.

It reminds me of films like George Lucas’ 1971 feature motion picture, THX-1138.  The concept there was very much the same; make more, sell more, buy more.  By the way this is not a film for children.

That’s enough of that…

I encourage you to have a good look at The Story of Stuff.  It’s informative, not a ranting ecologist with an axe to grind.  This is real information creatively presented.

Watch it several times and see if there aren’t some things which make sense to you.  It’s a really fun presentation.  It’s only a short 20 minutes, and it is very suitable for kids.  Enjoy!

Engage.  Enlarge.  Respond.

The Veritas Forums

If you’ve been reading this blog at all, you already know just how much I love and admire discussion and how intolerant I am of debate.  Why?  It’s simple; debate has a combative agenda to win an argument.  Debate has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with mutual nourishment or the truth.  It’s an “I’m right, you’re wrong”, either or battle.

I see discussion – and heaven knows I wish more of us who claim “tolerance & diversity” as core values would practice it – as a mutually enriching exchange of ideas without the combative agenda of a need to “win” an argument.

Having said that, I’ve come across yet another awesome website whose entire purpose is discussion; The Veritas Forum, and in their own words;

“Veritas Forums are university events that engage students and faculty in discussions about life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life.

The forums are created by local university students, professors, and ministers while shaped and guided by the headquarter Veritas team.”

A great many  social & cultural movements are sweeping across America, and I suspect other continents/nations as well, in which the church (the body of Christ) is seeking new ways to engage our culture and bring the relevance of faith in God to the table.  While this need has been evident and voices in the wilderness have been calling for it since the 1960’s, little has been done to affect real change in the church today.

Great voices such as the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer (How Should We Then Live?), the late Madeleine L’Engle ( Walking on Water:Reflections on Faith & Art), Luci Shaw (The Crime of Living Cautiously), the late Hans Rookmaaker (Modern Art and the Death of Culture), and many others have long been calling on the church to 1; unwrap the cocoon of mere religion and throw it away, and 2; live openly and authentically as an effective light & example in this difficult world.  The Veritas Forum is another of the many opportunities Christians, from all walks of life, have to become a positive, loving tool of counsel and change for goodness.

You need to know that The Veritas Forum takes subjects head-on.  There’s no pussy-footing around. Some of what you read may get your dander up, but I encourage you to remember that this is discussion.  The only “agenda” is that of mutual enrichment through the respectful exchange of difficult ideas and world-views.  I hope you are enriched and enjoy The Veritas Forums.  I hope you are empowered to live more authentically in a world starved for the truth.

Be Real. Live Well. Enlarge & Engage

Buried Secrets Indeed

I’ve been cranking out loads of art and thoroughly enjoying the Holidays.  By the way I hope you’ve all had a very Merry Christ*mas and will enjoy the blessings of a prosperous New Year.

I’ve got another awesome NOVA special for this post; “The Bible’s Buried Secrets”.  I’ve watched it on-line so far, but will be checking out the DVD from my local library just as soon as it’s available.

Most of the time I’m incredibly suspicious of programs like PBS/NOVA or PBS/Frontline even attempting to get anything right about the Christian faith, but this production is a wonder filled eye opener.

When you watch you need to remember DISCUSSION not DEBATE.  This program is NOT a debate about whether Christianity is “dangerous”, or even “true”.  This wonderful production has no agenda and to understand this more clearly, read the text interview of Senior Executive Producer, Paula Apsell.  The program bears out what Apsell states, there is no agenda.

In case you haven’t caught on here, one of the reasons I write this blog is because I see incredible harmonies between the gifts of science and the gifts of faith.  I’m weary of the pointless  “debate” over nothing between science and faith.  So when I find awesome programs demonstrating how science reveals that which is, and faith enriches our lives with direction & purpose, I simply must share it.

For additional views on this incredible program, you may want to read Professor Kenneth Atkinson’s piece in Biblical Archaeological Review of November/2008.

Let me know how this program (as discussion) enriched your understanding of this subject.

Enjoy. Enlarge. Become More.