You know who you are
Something Playful
She stared back at me incredulous, and said, “You mean they forget?”
—-Howard Ikemoto
This anecdote comes from a book I read last year called Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland.
The author writes that “making art is a common and intimately human activity…” and “…the difficulty artmakers face are not remote and heroic, but universal and familiar.”
Here’s a question to get us going on the M is for Humanity Monday:
When did you forget how to draw?
How can we reconnect with our playful, creative, expressive element of our humanity?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alex McManus on -
Thanks for both of those links. How in the world can someone have such recall? Since we're on the subject. Here's a video of M Operative Rich Brimer (Southern California).
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Permalink Reply by Nicolas Nelson on -
"To see spiritually, we must often learn to see beyond the "symbols" of what we think we are supposed to see or experience and get to what we are actually seeing."
...funny you should bring this up, David. My wife is a core-group leader of an ecumenical women's bible study (CBS). She has led a core group for many years; more than ten. Many dozens of women from all streams of judaeochristianity have flowed through, and one trait common to every stream is persons who are utterly unable to "see" the words in their Bible. (Not everyone from any particular persuasion, but always someone from every persuasion) Occasionally the blind will outnumber the seers, making creative conversation impossible.
When a person cannot see the sentences in their Bible, but only the symbols of what they are "supposed to see", the wonder and power vanishes. Persons usually capable of normal conversation shift speech patterns, speaking clichés threaded together like charms on a child's bracelet. This drives my wife nuts, though she handles it graciously in person.
One example from a discussion about Genesis 1:
Q: According to Genesis 1:1-2, who was present at the earliest moment of creation?
Raising her hand eagerly, Bible in front of her open to that passage, one woman said "The Father, Son and Holy Ghost!"
Another woman, a relatively new christ-follower, said "There's no son here. It's just God and the Holy Spirit."
Argument ensues. The first woman, an honored leader in her own church and proud to have been "raised in the faith", simply cannot see the 35 words (NIV) as they are written. The symbol in her mind is too bright and strong. The second woman, struggling to find her niche in the Body of Christ, begins confused and ends incredulous, wondering what, literally, is wrong with this woman who can read her own mail correctly (one hopes) but either cannot understand the question as written, or cannot see the verses as written.
Most frustrating for my longsuffering wife is that the NEXT QUESTION leads folks to other verses that establish the unseen presence of Christ in the first moments of creation, since he is NOT mentioned in those first two verses of Genesis... the symbol was not misleading, it was true. But it blinded its possessor to the actual content of scripture in front of her.
This is extremely dangerous and I don't know how to address the problem systemically in the Body of Christ. We need a whole lot of Red Carpet Room experiences, a whole lot of drawing lessons, a whole lot of neuroanatomy training... if so many christians, so many LEADERS, can't see their Bibles through their symbols, we are in big trouble.
Or am I overstating the problem?
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Permalink Reply by Alex McManus on
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Terrific story, Nic. I guess reading is all about learning to see too. Reminds me of the Star Trek episode when hostiles try to break Jean Luc Picard. They try to make him see five candles when there are only four.
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Permalink Reply by David Quattlebaum on -
This is particularly true of scripture, as you mentioned. i spent 12 years "out of church" and during that time just read scripture for what it said instead of what i was taught it said. When I did, I discovered an incredible, personal, loving and miraculous God that longs to spend time with me, and longs for me to tell others about that. Inside the institutional church, often "seeing" excludes love, even though Jesus reminds us that this is the main thing.
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Permalink Reply by Rich Brimer on -
Hey Alex, thanks for the post of this video. I have a new video from my current art show called "Faces" on my personal blog... http://richbrimer.com/blog/?page_id=480 and if you want... on that same page, there is also a download link for the Quicktime video that you can repost you like.
I stopped drawing twenty years ago, when I got married. Life changes and priorities caused me to leave behind a very creative gift that God built into my being. We often put pressure on ourselves, or live up to outside pressures to conform to standards that are unnatural for us, in order to be "accepted" in society... in our social circles... in our families... in our church. I went through a time of self-discovery about 6 or 7 years ago when I was struggling in my marriage and church and business. Life was full of stress and I felt like I was bending in ways that I was never meant to bend. Being the flexible person that I am, I stayed bent up for a long time. Then... I began to draw again. I started dreaming what being an artist would look like. I began to be around people that were like me... creative ones with pent up desires to explore the universe of non-conformity. As an artist, I can get my innerlife out on a piece of canvas for others to absorb... and reflect on. There is a natural ability in us all to be creative and to draw outside of the lines that society has drawn around us. I want to dream the Dream and draw... and paint... and sculpt these dreams to share with others. I have come to realize that the final piece of work is not the purpose of the art... for me, it is the process of creating that has the most affect on me and my thinking and even my being. The final painting is a recording of the process, which is why I like watching the above video. It reminds me that we are all in process. When a painting is done, then it takes on a life of its own, beyond the process. It is able to speak directly with others in a different language than I could ever speak in. Having started drawing and painting again has been life changing for me and my family. Now I want to help others find the artist with-in and begin to draw again.
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