catapult magazine

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Christian art and the cino editorial policy!

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geoffh
Mar 18 2003
04:03 am

Read this and was amused at the level of doubt!

Christian art (if there is such a thing) does not automatically equal good art, a concept which so many churches fail to recognize but we seek to acknowledge by publishing a body of work with artistic integrity.

Mmm, I was wondering if it was only me, perhaps a lone Englishman and new member of cino too, that the doubt mentioned here is all pervasive in the cino-intellect, or am I being too analytical? Is this notion of doubt a product of a kind of cultural pessimism and our lack of ability to produce distinctive, communal Christian art? Is it all to personal, individualised, esoteric to have a cultural impact? Does it actually get out of the saltcellar? Why do we doubt that there is the possibility of a distinctive Christian art? Are we being conditioned to enter slumberland?

ZZZZZZ!

Geoff Hall

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kirstin
Mar 18 2003
10:49 am

you’re right, Geoff, to question the wording of our editorial policy. since that was written last fall, we’ve definitely been on a journey away from whining about the state of things and toward creating a positive vision for the Church—and Christian art, as well.

the re-write will definitely require some re-evaluation…

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BBC
Mar 18 2003
03:46 pm

This is an interesting topic. I tend to look down my nose at the sort of art I see in Christian bookstores (Geoff, last time I was in your fair country, there weren’t any specifically Christian bookstores — but that was in 1988 and things may have changed a bit since then — over here they are a genre unto themselves - at any rate- ). Because it tends to be painfully cheerful to me in a way that seems untrue.
At the same time, when I walk through the modern galleries of Chicago’s Art Institute, I am often struck by how antogonistic art is in our era. It seems calculated to alienate or make fun of the viewer.
Is there a genre of art out there being made by Christians that i don’t know about — an art that celebrates both communications and community on the one hand, and truth (even when it is ugly) on the other?

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geoffh
Mar 19 2003
04:05 am

kirstin:

I love the site, it looks so pertinent to the needs of many cultural activists. A positive vision for the church needs to encompass the arts, but also art education, art galleries, exhibitions, patronage and art criticism! I think that’s what puts so many people off, they see the scale of the work and think, ‘I can’t do this on my own and I don’t know anyone else who does’! We therefore need to be good pastors, good enablers and builders of communities, in a word good ‘disciplers’, if indeed that is a word! So your website is crucial to spreading hope to the many of those marginalised because of the gifts they have received from God, but of which the church is strangely suspicious of.

BBC:

Yes, we do have a few christian bookshops in England, however I find them un-inspirational and sadly culturally superficial. They seem to major on salesmanship of the gospel, ’I’ve tried it, it worked for me and it can work for you too!’ kind of messages. Are we discipling the nations or just selling another product on the shelves of Woolworths?

I have an MPhil in Education (with particular reference to art education — you may have guessed!) from a Paganista University and have recently started a group for undergrad and recent graduates in the Bristol and Bath area (South West England). This started as a result of one of our congregation (I go to an Evangelical Anglican Church in Bristol due to the fact that God has a bigger sense of humour than me!!) was told that her faith was ‘inappropriate for a student at this college’. So it was red-rag-to-a-bull-time and I counselled her how to proceed with such blatant discrimination. I should point out that in England you are not permitted to discriminate against Muslims, Jews, homosexuals, trans-sexuals, people that want to talk to trees or need counselling because they were abducted by aliens that all looked like Jack Nicholson, but it is fair game to treat Christians anyway you like.

We (the group) are hoping to put on an exhibition at Bristol Cathedral and apply ourselves to being activists in the arts. Learning how to put together such things, get funding, produce videos etc for the public. The learning curve will be steep, but I think we all feel there is a need to be a cultural activist in pagan england.

Art has gone through a debunking of sorts. Socialism striking at the heart of what was seen as bourgeois culture. It is not only anti- christian at times but anti-art! However, God’s first commission to us was one of cultural engagement. This hasn’t been dropped by God as a lawful pursuit for the erstwhile Christian, but basically ignored by the evangelical church in this country. Things are changing, but young budding christian artists are inculcated week in and week out from our pulpits, with the idea that art is a dubious activity and that we are only hear to preach the Gospel anyway! It is then difficult to teach them about things like a distinctive christian art, they don’t have the visual language to pursue their calling. One of modern (early twentieth century) art’s aims, was that it was endeavouring to break from the past and this meant, in part, the destruction of a visual language that had been developed and handed down via the historical christian community. We have lost the vision to educate artists with this visual language, in fact the language and wherewithal to develop it, has been lost under the rubble of twentieth century modernity.

Ooops, sorry that sounded like a sermon.

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grant
Mar 19 2003
06:12 am

If I may suggest an alternative way of stating that objectionable statement at the beginning of this topic, we should distinguish between “art done by Christians” and “Christian art” (because I believe there is or will be such a thing some day).

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geoffh
Mar 19 2003
10:35 pm

Hi Grant,

What is objectionable? That the editorial policy was pessimistic, or that it dared to mention the unmentionable ‘Christian art’? ‘Some day’ sounds a little forlorn. Doesn’t it all depend on educating those with cultural gifts to reflect the christian worldview in more thorough terms than just their ‘personal religious’ (church) commitments?

Geoff

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grant
Mar 23 2003
01:55 pm

I just meant the pessimism. Wasn’t that what you were responding to?

I’m not sure what you mean by defining Christian art as something that transcends " ‘personal religious’ (church) commitments", but the question as to whether Christian art exists right now or as something yet to come as a question whether Christian art is a process or an end product.

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geoffh
Mar 24 2003
03:44 am

Hi Grant,

What I meant about transcending the artist’s personal religious commitments was to question the view that art is just self-expression, a purely subjective aesthetic exercise. Should Christian art go beyond the worldly perception that ‘art is self-expression’? I think it should, but to do that you need a communal dynamic, but we are a long way from that.

“…whether art is a process or an end product”? I would say that it is a process towards creating an end product, not one or the other. The end product can be a drawing, a painting or a sculpture, but whatever it is, it is not complete in itself, but opens up a dialogue, a conversation between the object and the viewer and/or between itself and other works of art. It can be a response to someone else’s art, as we have seen recently with the MatissePicasso exhibition. Good art isn’t the end of the matter, it is the beginning, it elicits a response, be it one of wonder, of questioning, of rejoicing, of grieving. To this end art is open and not closed. For me bad art is a one-shot stop, you see it once and that’s fine, but when you go back you feel it has nothing else to say, other than what you have learned already. Call it superficial art!

Geoff

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grant
Mar 24 2003
07:47 am

Amen to the need for a communal dynamic! And to the marriage of process and product. One of the great testaments to this relationship of process and product is Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev. Entrenched in 1 Corinthians, Tarkovsky shows that what one sows, one will reap. The Barbarians in the film take care in their practice of violence, and everything they do yields destruction. The artists (makers) in the film lovingly find their materials and the end product is a work of love. But not all Christians are equipped to see Tarkovsky in this way, so the difficulty of having a communal sense of good art becomes evident.

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geoffh
Mar 26 2003
03:04 am

Hi Grant,

What is really needed I suggest, is for our churches to be more culturally aware (and dynamic) in their teaching. What we seem to agree on is the circular problem of the need for educated christian art, which needs christian artists, who need galleries and art-dealers, who need informed patrons and buyers of art, who need to be educated culturally! How do break this circle? Any ideas?

Geoff

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Norbert
Mar 26 2003
03:18 am

CINO is a good start.
Little by little, I think the posters here are coming up with some fantastic ideas. As soon as the network is up it may be easier to make these ideas practical. I keep thinking back to the “music industry” thread. I think that has been one of the most successful threads to date as far as the mission of CINO goes. I certainly hope threads like that and this continue.