This morning, I realised, something new…. that art is not about something that is perfect.
As a child I would try to draw a picture, but I wanted it to be a good representation of what it was supposed to be. As I grew up, that requirement of it being a particular standard never diminished, but grew so it now it needed to be beautiful, it needed to be clear, it needed a ‘wow’ factor, it needed to be perfect! But in my eyes it never was beautiful, it looked awkward and it was certainly not perfect! So I made the assessment that I am not an artist. I can create – knit a jumper, sew a quilt even crochet a penguin, but I am not an artist! And with everything I made I knew the flaws, the errors and I knew there was someone out there who could have made a better job!
Sometimes, I felt Father God wanted me to thread paint* a picture during worship on my sewing machine, but even though I would feel Holy Spirit all over me while I was doing it, I was never happy with the result – it was never good enough.
Recently, while sitting during the worship I had a sense that I should do another thread painting. So I asked Father God, for a picture. I did not sense anything. “Maybe I should sketch out a picture first,” I thought. With pen in hand, no ideas came, complete blankness. But then the urge to start “doodling” came! I sensed Holy Spirit, but nothing but doodles were created. At the end of the worship time I did not understand what that was about.
Then a few days ago, I received a circular newsletter from a quilting website that I follow with a link to a YouTube video, of the Gee’s Bend Quilting group – “How a group of women perfected the art of quilting”**. I just loved this video. It touched deep inside of me and I felt Holy Spirit start speaking to me through it….
My whole concept of what is art changed.
I realised art is not something that is perfect. It can be anything if my essence is in it, if it is created from the inner place within myself. It is not something that is technically correct, it is something of me that I am ‘happy’ with.
AI can never replace art. AI can create a picture or text for a Life Insurance sales brochure, but it cannot create art.
Art is something created from an individual, communicating something from its creator, even about its creator. There is in a piece of art something grounded, something from the person, something of their character and their life’s experiences.
It can be a piece of writing, some music, a dance, a picture, a sculpture, a cake, a quilt, a piece of clothing. If I can imagine it and then create it, it is art!
Pieces of art should not be compared. There should be no competition. There are no errors or flaws. It is what it is. Everything is part of the whole – it is a piece of art!
What is important is what it carries!
Art can portray different emotions – joy and celebration, peace and tranquillity, adventure and the unknown and also it could portray violence and hatred, or depression and death.
It can communicate a message… or a story… or provoke a discussion.
It can create a memory.
Art can release life or death!
Art is the product of a creative process. I am beginning to realise (this is what Father God was saying when I was only doodling in the worship time) it starts with playing with ideas, colours, shapes and effects. It is playing with the chosen medium. I remember Rick Wienecke*** once saying that when he creates a new piece of sculpture, he plays with the clay until it starts talking back to him. Playing then leads into development and then creation. It feels like I have to touch my inner person, even my inner child to access this creative process.
[I think of the associated thoughts: God the Creator; God creating the earth from His Kingdom; For us to access the Kingdom we need to be childlike. Could it be we need to access our inner child to access the Godly process of creating? ]
Potentially, using my whole being in this creative process, accessing my inner core which is made by Father God in His image – touching something of His essence in me, I could be releasing something from Heaven to earth, communicating something of the Father to the world. This in turn could be also my worship back to the Him!
Now I know it does not need to be perfect! I do not need to compare it to anything else. It just needs to come from me as I yield to Father God.
The potential is enormous!
As we yield ourselves to Father God, being intentional for the creative, letting go of worldly concepts of perfection, comparison and competition, taking up a childlike stance and begin playing…..wonders will be created…and we can all do it!
*Thread painting is creating a picture with stitches on a sewing machine with the dog-feeds down, so you can move the fabric in a free motion creating a picture.
**Link to the video mentioned How a Group of Women in This Small Alabama Town Perfected the Art of Quilting | Op-Docs
*** Rick Wienecke Fountainoftears.org
Featured photo is of Maud Lewis’ home, now located in Halifax, Canada in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Maud Lewis was a unique lady who, despite suffering severe pain all her life, painted the “the brightest and most joyful pictures”. She lived in poverty most of her life in this tiny house which she painted, inside and out, with joyful flowers.