Art/Literature/Poetry

Lots-o-Links 1.18.12

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The Death of the Fringe Suburb

For too long, we over-invested in the wrong places. Those retail centers and subdivisions will never be worth what they cost to build. We have to stop throwing good money after bad. It is time to instead build what the market wants: mixed-income, walkable cities and suburbs that will support the knowledge economy, promote environmental sustainability and create jobs.

Seven Tips for Talking with Your Neighbors About Jesus

For whatever reason, it’s easy for Christians to clam up and get weird when talking about their faith in the day-to-day. Here are a few tips to make bridge those inhibitions and get the conversation going...

An Appreciation of Bird By Bird by Anne LaMott (get it at Amazon or on Kindle)

I thought I was teetering on the edge of crazy with no way to explain to anyone for fear they would quickly need to catch a bus. I was not crazy, or at least not in an inordinate way. With each turn of the page a brilliant sky of possibility opened up to gaze in. Now I might look crazy to some when looking up into that firmament. But, I knew I wasn't the only one. 

Richard Baxter on Meditation

The duty which I press upon thee so earnestly, and in the practice of which I am now to direct thee, is, “The set and solemn acting of all the powers of thy soul in meditation upon thy everlasting rest.” More fully to explain the nature of this duty, I will here illustrate a little the description itself-then point out the fittest time, place, and temper of mind, for it.

Groundhog Day is coming, and it's Groundhog Days in Woodstock, IL -- the movie Groundhog Day was filmed in Woodstock, IL 1992 and released in 1993. Watch it again this Groundhog Day. And if you are in the Chicagoland area, stop by Woodstock for the festivities.

Bad Art & the Tortured Beauty of the Cross

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Wonderful, thoughtful discussion between Scotty Smith (Pastor, Christ Community Church, blog), Greg Thornbury (Union University), and Mike Cosper (Sojourn Music) on good art and bad art. I've been thinking through some of themes they discuss as they relate to some music I've been listening to this year. I'm working on a post on one singer/artist in particular who I think many Christians would hate, but for all the wrong reasons.

Anyway, that post is for another day. Watch this great discussion (via). And by the way, this is the best video thumbnail of my friend Greg Thornbury EVER.

Curator | Excellence in the Arts

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The_arts

Curator Magazine has this excerpt from Franklin Einspruch on excellence in the arts & middlebrow taste...

So I have worked out a pragmatic answer: Excellence is art’s reproductive drive. Excellent traits in art trigger the feelings, emotions, and attentions of the viewer. Thus aroused, an artist sets out to reproduce those traits in a new arrangement of materials. Thus the cycle begins anew. It’s not subjective or objective because it’s dynamic……

We don’t use the term “middle art,” and in my opinion there is no middle art. There doesn’t have to be, with so much overlap between high and low. There is, however, middlebrow taste. Middlebrow taste is a kind of chickening out of taste, in which you settle for familiarity instead of demanding excellence……

Go high, go low, but demand it. Whatever you do, don’t chicken out.

Read the rest: High and Low: What is Excellence in the Arts?

A True Work of Art

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David murray

Joe Thorn told me about this great video about art from David Murray. You should keep up with David's blog: HeadHeartHand. Joe has a post going up about it, which I haven't seen. He predicted that after watching the video I'd post on it first. Sorry Joe. 

At the end of the video, which you should watch in full, where he discribes some pieces of art and shares glimpses into their meaning at the Grand Rapids Artprize Festival, David says this: 

"Some beautiful pieces with some really moving messages. What heights? What depths? What hopes? What fears? Exploring our un-creation and calling us to re-creation. And that's really all art can do. It can call. It can summons. It can point. It can raise questions. But it can never be the answer. Jesus Christ alone is the answer. When we find him we stop asking 'What's next?' He is God's hand reaching down to our hand. His peace calms our confusion. And it's only through Christ that we can do all things. Jesus Christ is the answer. He can take our darkness and chaos and transform them into beautiful light and order. And that is a true work of art." (visit David's post)

Review of Courageous & Christian Art

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White Horse Inn posts a review from Anthony Parisi on the Courageous movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I resonate with the reviewer's take on the state of Christians and this kind of "art." If you have seen the movie, what are your thoughts on the review? Even if you haven't seen the movie, does the review reflect your concerns about how some Christians do art? Here's a teaser...

While surely produced with good intentions, Courageous is likely to further entrench the misguided culture wars and bring harm to the Christian witness in the world.

Don't Miss The Art You Missed

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Art

Was pointed to a new podcast that I am thoroughly enjoying. It's called The Art You Missed. From the website...

The Art You Missed explores, freely and with an open mind, acts of creation that are in danger of being overlooked amidst the ever-widening stream of the world’s new art... 

The Art You Missed embraces the artistic impulse and adds this premise: all art is forever new...

The Art You Missed is not merely an academic or historical exercise, but is rather an active meditation on the permanent revolutionary impulse at the core of art...

The hosts, Samuel Melden and Fritz Byers, talk music, poetry, and various other kinds of art. 

If you like the podcast, and I think you will, check out their Kickstarter Campaign. Also follow and "like" them out on Twitter and Facebook.

Summer Wakes the Bear Who Sleeps

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Summer wakes

Just got Summer Wakes the Bear Who Sleeps by Aaron Youngren and Charles Perrault in the mail for review. It's a book of poetry, one-act plays, sermons, and essays from St. George Rides the Dragon Press. Intriguing. Aaron is pastor of The Line in Chicago.

“Ah, now I see. For this she sleeps. She sleeps the winter gone, as do all of her kind. She sleeps for rest.” “No. The sleep she has chosen is a sleep without rest, a sleep tormented, a sleep that ends in death.” So begins an exploration of human frailty through the lens of fairy tale, image, one-acts, ritual, and poetry. Along the way: volunteerism as modern indulgence and doubt as modern fundamentalism; a father who tries to be a brother, and a brother who won't let him; a heretical text; a ship's captain who wants nothing more than to leave his wife and children. “So you have done all, you have sent all, and still she did not turn. There is nothing more to be done.” “No. There is still one more to send.”

National Poetry Month 2011

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Allen_Ginsberg

It's April! That means another National Poetry Month is underway! Hope to have a few good posts on poetry and poets. What a wonderful art. To kick off NPM2011, here's famous Beat poet, Allen Ginsberg, with his most famous poem, Howl (from Howl and Other Poems). Instead of giving you the longer poem in text, here it is read aloud by Ginsberg. What better way to read a Beat poet than by hearing a Beat poet. HEADS UP: He uses language some might find offensive. But I think it's important to understand.

Listen: Part I & II (includes text of poem) | Part III & Footnote

From Poets.org (great site) on the Beat poets...

Beat poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast, although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. The end of World War II left poets like Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Corso questioning mainstream politics and culture. These poets would become known as the Beat generation, a group of writers interested in changing consciousness and defying conventional writing. The Beats were also closely intertwined with poets of the San Francisco Renaissance movement, such as Kenneth Rexroth and Robert Duncan.

The battle against social conformity and literary tradition was central to the work of the Beats. Among this group of poets, hallucinogenic drugs were used to achieve higher consciousness, as was meditation and Eastern religion. Buddhism especially was important to many of the Beat poets; Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg both intensely studied this religion and it figured into much of their work.

Allen Ginsberg's first book, Howl and Other Poems, is often considered representative of the Beat poets. In 1956 Lawrence Ferlinghetti's press City Lights published Howl and Ferlinghetti was brought to trial the next year on charges of obscenity. In a hugely publicized case, the judge ruled that Howl was not obscene and brought national attention to Ginsberg and the Beat poets.

Samantha Barks as Eponine

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My family loves to watch and listen to Les Miserables. We own the 10th Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert DVD. Today we've been watching the The 25th Anniversary Concert and I was taken by Samantha Barks' rendidtion of "On My Own" from the character, Eponine (Lea Salonga is also amazing on the 10th Anniversary edition). It's one of my all time favorite songs, and it's here for you. Lyrics are below if it's new to you. Also look to DVR the concert as it's showing on PBS right now.

And now I'm all alone again nowhere to go, no one to turn to
I did not want your money sir, i can not hear 'cause i was told to
But now the night is near
And I can make believe he's here

Sometimes I walk alone at night
When everybody else is sleeping
I think of him and then I'm happy
With the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head

On my own, pretending he's beside me
All alone I walk with him till morning
Without him, I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever

And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us

I love him, but when the night is over
He is gone,
The river's just a river
Without him the world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers

I love him, but every day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world would go on turning
A world that's full of happiness that I have never known

I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own

Family Worship & Bible Reading

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HT002018

I'm learning & growing to be the pastor of my family I've been called to be, and I'm enjoying leading them better in family worship and Bible reading. The recent Desiring God Pastor's Conference message by Joel Beeke on family worship was convicting and encouraging. You should check it out.

Right now we have five main resouces for family worship &/or Bible reading (singing resources aren't listed). For the most part our kids read Scripture in the morning and we use the other resouces at night. Let me know what resources you have found helpful in the comments below.

1. The Bible | Each of our kids has their own ESV Bible (compact Bible for my boys, my daughter has a prettier one). They are reading James every day in the mornings, sometimes on their own and sometimes with me and/or Molly.

2. ESV Study Bible | Same text with notes that help the family when we need a few interpretive helps on a passage. We have a copy permanently stationed in our living room for the kids to open if they need to check notes on their own. They don't do this much yet, but will get the hang of it.

3. The Story of God for Kids | Created by the good folks at Soma Communities in Tacoma, Washington. My family LOVES this. Well written and helpful notes for using it well, good questions to help it sink in. I have been reading it off my Kindle to them. Last night Elijah was peppering me with questions as he is piecing together the larger "Story of God" from the lessons blending together. Wonderful resource. Check out their other resources for adults and small groups.

Operation World

4. Operation World: A Prayer Guide to the Nations | Eye-opening for our kids as they learn about the world and the needs of the world from a missionary perspective. They love to thumb through the pages and learn about a new country. We are putting little biographies of missionaries in their hands and they want to learn about those countries today. We want to teach them to pray BIG prayers to our BIG God for our BIG world. UPDATE: Commenter reminded me of Window on the World, an Operation World of sorts for younger kids. We have that and the kids like it a lot.

9781433521942

5. Four Holy Gospels | Just got this in the mail yesterday. It's the most beautiful Bible I've ever seen, with artwork by NYC artist Makoto Fujimura. Our family was able to meet Mako and attend the Crossway Books release event for the project. We now plan on using the Bible at least once a week (Sundays) to take turns reading aloud from a Gospel together before we leave the house to gather with our local church. It's nice to add a substantial piece like this into our family worship & Bible reading that will last through the years as a family treasure.

Four Holy Gospels & Makoto Fujimura

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Mako Large

I was invited to Crossway Books in Wheaton for the release of the Four Holy Gospels project featuring the ESV version of the four Gospels in a giant book format illuminated through the artwork of Makoto Fujimura.

The whole family got to attend and I really enjoyed it. Upon arrival the crowd was abuzz, the sugar water was flowing, appetizers were being served, and within a few minutes my wife and four kids found and "cornered" Mako. I was busy talking with Collin Hansen who introduced me to Stan Guthrie, an editor at large at Christianity Today. Then I noticed Molly talking to Mako and looking for me. That's a good woman. So I ditched Collin and Stan, who (I think) understood my abrupt departure, and went to talk to Mako.

Mako Four He was kind and humble. We talked about his church, Redeemer in NYC, and his time at Resurrection Presbyterian during their time as a plant. I mentioned how much I have enjoyed his book, Refractions, which really is a great book on faith, art, and culture. So glad I got a chance to interact with one of my favorite artists of any stripe. Then the presentation got formal as Mako and others spoke.

The Four Holy Gospels really is beautiful. I'd love a copy, but can't afford one just now. It's $130 (cloth) through Crossway (or $350 leather, wow), but you can get cloth on Amazon for $73.40. I can imagine sitting down with my family every night and reading through the Gospels illuminated by this great artwork. 

Crossway's post after the event explains the art...

Mako Letters

The Four Holy Gospels incorporates five large-scale paintings, including the frontispiece, “Charis-Kairos (The Tears of Christ)” and four opening plates (one for each of the Gospels); plus eighty-nine initial letters (each painted, and many adorned with gold flecks and foil) specifically created for each chapter opening; as well as more than seventy individually-painted reflections and embellishments complementing the Gospels.

I do hope many will take advantage of the opportunity to own this unique piece of art. I'm grateful to Crossway for the invite, and grateful for the chance to look through this beautiful book and meet Makoto Fujimura. Visit Mako's website, read some of his writings, and follow him on Twitter @iamfujimura.

Mako Tree

Wholeheartedness - Antidote to Exhaustion

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“The antidote to exhaustion is not rest but wholeheartedness.” David Whyte

Read this very helpful post by Chuck DeGroat on wholeheartedness & integrity: "What's wrong with your pastor?" This post will be helpful for pastors and all Christians. Outstanding.

The quote comes from David Whyte's book, Crossing the Unknown Sea, which is now in my Amazon cart.

Judging An Album By Its Cover

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Discovering good music is fun. I like to find music in a variety of ways, but it's nothing earth shattering. For the most part I read reviews and have trusted sources and sites.

But I've noticed something recently that isn't always true, but pert near. If you can appreciate an album cover as good art, you are more likely to enjoy the album as good art.

With this idea in mind I went over to check out the recently released albums at Amazon MP3. A screen cap of 5 are below. Which albums are going to be artistic? Which will "say something?" And which are more likely to tickle your ears for a minute maybe and then dissolve as something forgettable?

AMP3 Covers

I've checked out all five. The first is a soundtrack and isn't quite the same category as it uses movie art and the album is a score. The next three are pics of the artists in various forms. Juvenile is there to look tough-ish. Enrique Iglesias is there to look good for chicks and I guess Cascada is there to look good for men, though odds are it's chicks who will listen to her. Notice you get four faces (and some body on the fourth). But the album on the right is different.

5113nHzhFzL._SL500_AA280_ I haven't heard of Kathryn Williams or her album, The Quickening, until a few minutes ago. Her cover art caught my eye. The colors are odd, old, aged. There's both structure (lines and shapes) and busyness (clutter). I want to see what the bits and pieces are. Looking more closely we see it's a doll house. It seems worn, cheap, and as far as dolls are concerned, empty. What does that mean? The first albums try to convey something quick and seductive. "He's tough," or "She's hot." The final one is trying to tell me something. Trying to get beyond the heat of the moment and talk about something real, lasting, important. The first few tell me everything, which isn't that much. The last one only gives me the doorway for what I hope will be much more. I want to go there. If I try to be succinct, the first few appeal to "lust" (of one sort or another) and the last is about "life." 

After listening to samples from each of them learn that my impressions are correct. William's lyrics and music is artistic, rich, thought-provoking. The rest are nothing special. 

Looking into this album there's another interesting fact. This album was released in February in the UK. Check out the original cover. I don't feel at all weirded out being a dude and buying the album above. The doll house is odd enough that it doesn't seem girlish. But the original cover found through the link seems more like a real, modern day doll house. Less likely to pick up that album. Funny how it works, but that's my reaction.

Judging an album by it's cover doesn't always work, of course. But for the most part as a means of music discovery, I've been pretty pleased whenever I judge an album by its cover.

Tim Keller on Creation & Creativity

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Tim Keller "Creation & Creativity" Clip from Redeemer Video on Vimeo.

"God was an entrepreneur. He brought something out of nothing. He brought order out of chaos. And why did He do it? He did it, not because He had to, He did it because He wanted to. He did it for the joy of doing it. Creativity, it was just a joy to do. It wasn't a means to an end. It was the end itself. And this, I think, is important because we're made in His image. And therefore you don't really need a reason to create or to start something new. You don't really need a reason. Because...there's a sense in which God did not have to do it. He did it for the joy of doing it. And when you and I know we're made in the image of God it shouldn't surprise us that for a lot of us, especially those who are gifted in this particular area, we do it because we're just reflecting our Creator."

NPM: Philip Larkin - Home is so Sad

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"Home is so Sad" by Philip Larkin

Home is so sad. It stays as it was left,
Shaped to the comfort of the last to go
As if to win them back. Instead, bereft
Of anyone to please, it withers so,
Having no heart to put aside the theft

And turn again to what it started as,
A joyous shot at how things ought to be,
Long fallen wide. You can see how it was:
Look at the pictures and the cutlery.
The music in the piano stool. That vase.