Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Art and Christianity

Art and Christianity are interconnected. More and more I understand that (thanks to the inspiration from my LivingRoom friend Michael's exhibition) to create a sculpture, to compose or sing a song, to act in a drama, to write a story, to paint a picture, to choreograph or dance, to design a powerpoint or multi-media presentation or to make a film etc. can all be incarnational activities. The artist is a servant who is willing to be a life-giver. As Madeleine L'Engle once said so beautifully, "in a real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary, who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command."

We are made in the image of God, and since He is the creator, we are all creative artists (or there is a creative artist in all of us). Creating is the act of God, it is core to His nature and so when we return to our Genesis we return to our Image Maker, the ultimate Artist. He made the elephant and the rose, the man and the woman, the seagull and the sea, the stars and the starfish, the koala and the clouds etc. He certainly is a humourous Artist.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for that, Kitty. Creativity is the dominant attribute of our God. This is how we tell the authentic from the counterfeit: creatvity vs destruction.

Blessings and bliss, Brigid

Amanda Hunt said...

I completely agree with you on this. I did a visual arts degree last year and found that there is a lot of misconception within Christianity about art and it's usefulness to the church. I just see it that God gives each of us gifts and abilities and we are to use those to serve and glorify him.
He certainly has a sense of humour in his art, you can just imagine the conversation "hmmmm, so I've created horses in every shade of brown I can, what else can I do...? I know, STRIPES!". How much fun would that have been!

Tab said...

Ah! This is great! Tonight I'm doing an overdue assigment on the image of God and how we reflect it. I'd being trying to find somethign on art :) Thanx mate!!! Hope you don't mind me referencing u.

Kel said...

I agree with Amanda
sometimes we can take ourselves and art too seriously, but it should be a lot about joy and fun and becoming like a little child again, for theirs is the kingdom

Kitty Cheng said...

Thanks Ladies for all your encouragement and comment!

Brigid,God's creative attribute is so amazing isn't it? And it's so true that we can tell the authentic from the counterfeit through creativity and destruction.

Yes Amanda, imagining God's creation process is such an inspiring thing to do, in terms of our own creativity. Haha I'm sure it would have been fun for God to careate horses with stripes :-)

Tab, great that this is useful for your assignment. All the best for your studies dear.

Hey Kel, you know how I always tell you that I don't know how to draw, and I think I draw like a child. It's comforting to read your comment about becomeing like a little child! Thanks for that!