I think this is great.  I think art certainly has a place in the church, in spirituality, and I think artists are uniquely gifted from God to bring truths about in ways that other people cannot see.  I’m all about the resurgence of art into Christian culture.

And as someone who finds gainful employment in the field of Christian art/creative programming/etc. I’m really about it.  And I’m for sure into being the best artist you can be.  You do good work, you do the best you can do with what you’ve been given, and you put it out there for people to see.

What is unsettling about this resurgence  in church culture is the idea that there is “good” art and “bad” art and that the good art is what is used to bring about change and the bad art is something the good artists laugh at, cringe at, and generally disown because they don’t think it’s good.

This is unsettling on several levels.  One, it’s a pretty basic tenet of Christianity that we are supposed to love our brothers and sisters.  As an artist, any kind of artist that does any kind of art, probably the most hateful thing you could do to someone is openly mock something they’ve created.  Can you imagine working on a project, on a paper, on a painting, on a play for weeks/months/years, only to have the final product mocked by a fellow believer who happened to go to design school?  I am just as guilty of this as the next person, smirking at a church skit or laughing at a worship band because they aren’t GOOD, and thinking that makes them stupid.

Which brings me to two, just because you don’t LIKE a piece of art that someone has created, you think it’s bad, and therefore ineffective.  Are we so self-absorbed to believe that only art that is well-done and well-produced is art that can speak to people?  Surely not.  We see in the Bible that God used people who were utter messes.  This is kindergarten.  This is bush league information that we all know.  Art is subjective, and not everyone on the planet has your finely honed palate of what “real” creativity is.  Not everyone is moved by what you are moved by.  Yes: some things are cheesy.  Yes: some things aren’t shiny and produced well.  But that does not mean that the Lord cannot use something that you see as bad to bring about good, to affect change, to zero in on someone’s heart.

Three, “if you’re doing art for the sake of being the best, you’ve missed the point,” says my boss.  Do I think that we should all do the best work we can, because the best work we can do is honoring to God?  Absolutely.  But my best is not your best, and sometimes people have passions that they lack talent for.  And that is ok.  It’s more than ok.  It’s actually braver than what you’re doing, with your slick Final Cut Pro and your After Effects.  I think back to when I first moved to Birmingham, and my uncle visited me over a weekend.  We went to the church I had been attending, a church known for its high production value.  When I asked him what he thought of the service, his only reply was: “Wow!  That was really well-produced!”  If the only thing people remember when they leave our “creative worship sessions” is how cool the video was or the neat way the speaker used his iPad during his talk: we’ve missed the mark by about a thousand miles.  And I think we’ll have to answer to that.

But mainly what I think what we’ll have to answer for is just generally being snobby.

Good art is art that makes you feel something.  Therefore my idea of good art cannot line up perfectly with anyone else’s idea.  I love William Blake, but some people think he’s crazy, or his art is boring.  That’s how I feel about Picasso.  I don’t feel anything from it.  It’s not bad art.  It’s just not the art for me.  The modern, youthful church would hate on the genre of Christian romance novels in a heartbeat, but some people are genuinely moved by them.  They experience something with God when they read them.  Who are you and I to belittle that?  Same thing with a lot of Christian drama.  The experience is different for different people.

Art that does not come from the heart, THAT is bad art.  Art that is false and forced, that’s bad art.  But when my two and half year old daughter brings home a paper covered in stickers FOR ME, that rings of truth.  She loves me, so she made this for me.  Is it something that everyone would ohh and ahh over?  No.  It’s Dora stickers on a piece of construction paper.  It’s not good.  But it’s GOOD.

I think the worst part about this whole trend is the line it draws.  I’m right, you’re wrong.  My art is good, yours is bad.  You don’t deserve to talk because what you say isn’t put in the “right” package.  It’s so condescending.  It’s also just plain rude.  It’s also hateful, which is about the opposite of what we’re asked to do as believers.

If we’re all doing the very best we can, if we’re all believing with our whole hearts that God has given us a vision, and we’re supposed to execute it, to make something that means something, shouldn’t that be enough?  If people want to be brave and put something out there that they’ve labored over, why would we trash that effort?  Why wouldn’t we build them up, encourage them, and see the beauty of what God has placed in their heart?  Is this world so precious that we have to stake our claims to be the best, even if it’s for the Lord?  Or is there room for people who aren’t the best, but still have a passion?

I’m actually asking.

February is the month of Drinking Only Water & Taking a Picture Everyday.  I forgot about Drinking Only Water today, so I’ll go one extra day in March.  You can read about Sarah’s Month of Resolutions Idea here.

So, here’s picture 1.  I took this picture because we are trying to Baby Wise the Holls.  Don’t judge.  We feel like it’s the best way to get her to go to sleep on her own.  Anyway, it may be hard on a Mom’s heart to watch the monitor move to the red (that means she’s REALLY angry with us for leaving her), at least I have the peace of mind that she won’t be 16 and still wanting someone to rock her to sleep.

For some reason, this piece from the A.V. Club popped up in my Reader this week.  From Justin to Kelly is one of my favorite movies and I LOVED reading their disgusted review of it (there is a language disclaimer).  Because it is disgusting.  But also delicious.  My favorite line is,

“See, the young people of today, they’re too busy to spell out long, complicated words like “burger.” Who has the time? They’re too busy Googling up The Twitter on their iPhones to spell out words in their entirety.”

The piece includes some clips, but most certainly left out my favorite, where Justin & Kelly break into song while driving a boat while wearing matching white track suits.  Sadly, I cannot find it anywhere.  You would have really liked it.  I’ll buy you a Starbucks treat if you can find it.  Scouts honor.

I believe I first heard about Stephen Wiltshire on NPR, but listening this story on the radio and seeing it in person are two totally different things.  He’s drawing the Manhattan Skyline from MEMORY.

Ruth & David totally need these shirts for their girls.

From the world of tumblr.com: some very interesting tumblr blogs:
This dad draws on his kid’s lunch bags everyday: Lunch Bag Art
For the Men: Put This On
Weird Black and White Photos: Black & WTF
For the Zombie Lover’s: Zombify

Although I am not a photographer, (I’ll leave that to this guy, this guy, and this guy.  And this girl.) I like Annie Leibovitz‘s pictures a lot.  Here is a series she did for Disney Parks.  Really, really cool.

I basically need this everyday of my life.  Now if only they could come up with a website to find my car keys.

And finally, Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) gives a TED talk and it’s very good.  She’s unassuming and charming and funny, and says a lot of great things about writing and creativity.  It’s interesting what she says about where creativity comes from

Internets, here’s the deal:

I am in the Creative Doldrums.  I can’t think.  And I’m very sleepy.

Before I get on a roll about this, let me just preface by saying: I love my job.  I can’t believe I get to do what I do.  If my 9th grade self could see me now, I know she’d be FLIPPING OUT.  She’d say: “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you work for Student Life!  Do you know Travis?”  And then I’d tell my 9th grade self that I DO, in fact, know Travis and that sometimes we even grill hot dogs at his house and she would promptly faint from SHEER DELIGHT.

Anyway, I really like my job and enjoy it, for the most part.  I am actually using my degree (which was THEATER, so…that’s incredible) and could my parents be more proud of this fact?  No, they could not.  Lately, however, I’ve noticed a slight change taking place in my daily workload.  There’s a script I should be writing and there’s also some mundane administrative duty I need to perform.  Normally, I would slough off the admin task, as admin tasks are boring and I would rather die.  But not lately.  Lately, the admin task seems more appealing.  The looming script deadline hangs ever over my head, but boy, have I made some spreadsheets!  You simply would not believe the spreadsheets.

I know what this means for me.  It means I’m stuck.  I stare at assignments and NOTHING comes to my mind.  I get up, walk around the building, see the baby, get some tea, and I’m stuck.  The fingers fly over the keyboard for the spreadsheets, but not for the scripts.

I pretty much know why I’m stuck.  Here are a couple of reasons:
There’s a baby.  She’s cute and cuddly, but also a sleep sucker.
I have no creative outlet outside of work.

It’s really that last one.  Even my free time is mostly spent writing freelance, so still work.  It’s very fun work and I enjoy it, but my brain is at maximum capacity.

So, I’ve got to find a cure.  I mean, this is my job.  My job is 10% spreadsheets, and people will get suspicious if all these spreadsheets start popping up everywhere.

I trolled the internets for some solutions.  It seems many people have this problem.  Art-Slam says I need to change the scenery and flip the script.  John Cleese says I need to go on auto-pilot for awhile and see where my whims take me.   E-How (yes, I have stooped to E-How) tells me to write down my goals, do something different, and not be afraid of support.

In The Phantom Tollbooth, Milo is rescued from the Doldrums by a dog with a ginormo clock embedded into his side named Tock.  So I’ve got to figure out what my Tock is.  Any suggestions on getting out of these old, sleepy Doldrums?

I’m all ears, internets.