A Glorified Recipe

This Week in the Studio

Oh, how I had looked forward to taking a “break” after last weekend’s Sip and Shop. I was going to let myself off the hook and rest, and do things besides art.

I laugh. God laughs. We all laugh. I couldn’t stay away, ya’ll! I love it too much! It didn’t help that I had what I consider very good sales at the Sip and Shop. Feeling validated is always good for a creative.

(By the way…you can help me out by letting me know of any craft shows or farmer’s markets in my area that are indoors or have indoor spaces available. I would love to participate in these.)

So I’ve been potting this week. I’m still quite focused on clay and not so much on pastel at this time. Other artists continue to assure me that this is ok, normal, and the break from painting will not do my practice harm. I hope they are right!

Here is a photo of some things I’ve created this week:

I’ve also elected to go ahead and begin making test tiles for my glazes. I’ve collected 25 jars of different glazes…and I’m drooling over a few more I’ve found online (am I addicted yet?). Time to start keeping records.

A glaze test tile is just a bit of clay that is glazed and fired as a reference to remind the potter what the glaze looks like. Here are the tiles waiting to be bisque fired before glazing:

I have to have a sample of each glaze on one brown and one white tile, since the color of the clay will effect (affect? I can never remember) how the glaze appears.

We are still three weeks away from the next Arty Party on October 1st. Be saving your pennies and inviting your friends, because these wares will be available during that party…and they are cheaper for my partying friends than they are for anyone else!

Happy to report that Reginald has been adopted! He was sent off to his new home yesterday.

Approaching Craft

Last week I promised I would be posting about a person who gave me to push to think some things out biblically. Here is the result (with great thanks to my friend Cathi over at  Scita Scienda who is both a very thoughtful author and a fine editor for her help with making sure this message is clear.)

“I don’t think that answers the question though.” Sam commented. “That’s just restating the issue. I’m not disputing the things you said but the question is, “how do we do those things?”

It’s not easy to find solid support as a Christian artist. I don’t mean the financial kind…naturally that can be a struggle whether you are Christian or not. I mean the kind of support that teaches, encourages, corrects and challenges an artist to grow and glorify God in their artwork.

My search continues, but one place I have found to gather with other Christian believer artists is Artists for Christ, a Facebook group.

One day last week, a post appeared on the page asking for a response to the question, “How should an artist approach their craft that glorifies[sic] God?”

What would a biblically sound, practical answer to that question look like? I’ve been looking for the answer for nearly a decade, or perhaps longer. My answer on the day of the post was, 

“Everything your hand finds to do, do it with all your might as unto the Lord. Eccl 9:10

Just like everything else we do.

Love your viewers. Do good to those who hate your art. Abhor evil motives for art. Cling to good in art. Do not lag in diligence in your art. Be fervent in spirit in your art. Romans 12:9-11. It’s not hard to know the answer. Just open your Bible.”

What’s the Recipe?

But Sam didn’t find what he was looking for in my comment, and I get it, I understand. Because that is the question I have been asking and will continue to ask until I am in Heaven before the face of Jesus.

I think, though, that I can unpack my answer to a certain extent to help us all be able to apply it daily as we create.

“Just open your Bible” can feel dismissive if you are searching for a practical, applicable answer. It’s like saying “Just open the fridge” to a guest in your house who is famished, instead of being a loving host and preparing a meal for them. So Sam, here is my humble attempt to set a hearty, nutritious meal before you. Just be aware that I can only prepare what is in my own fridge, and that I’m no certified chef.

And whether you consider yourself an artist or not, you may find some morsels to masticate for your own endeavors. 

The List of Ingredients

Ecclesiastes 9:10 instructs us “Everything your hand finds to do, do it with all your might as unto the Lord.” Our hands should be dedicated to working hard and doing our best. What are some ways we can implement this in our artistic pursuits? God has brought me to understand a few practical ways to do this.

1. Invest time. As we invest time into our art, our skills will improve. We don’t become skilled artists overnight anymore than we become godly Christians overnight.
2. Invest in education. Learn from more skilled, wiser artists the things we need to know to improve. Take a workshop. Look up a Youtube video. Ask a question in a Facebook group, even if you are afraid it is a dumb question.
3. Invest in good supplies. The children of Israel gave their gold, silver, bronze and precious stones, rich fabrics and their own labor to construct the tabernacle. They didn’t go looking for the cheapest alternative so they could “try it out and see if they liked it”. Even if you are a beginning artist, your efforts, however bad they may be (and they will be, that’s ok!) will be more glorifying to God and more satisfying to you if the materials you use are higher quality. Cheap supplies make cheap art.
4. Invest in prayer and Bible study. We should feed our faith and our understanding of God and His ways and practice becoming more like Christ. He is the Great Creator, and the One we can learn best from.

Good Recipes Feed Many

As you can see, these actions are all applicable to the entire life of a Christian, artist or not. Are you a banker? An engineer? Plumber? Stay-at-home mom or dad? You can take this same approach and invest your time, education, good supplies (or as good as you can afford), prayer and Bible study to become a better, more Christ-like servant.

There are many, many passages of scripture that will guide the Christian to know “the will of the Lord.” My pastor often says that if we just open our Bible and find all the scriptures that actually state, “This is the will of the Lord,” and then act on those, we will have enough to do!

…But this Meal is for You

The Lord brought Romans 12:9-11 to my attention back in January as I was meditating on my plans for 2022, and I settled on it as a verse to concentrate on this year. I have been applying it to my life and art, and here are a few things God has graciously revealed to me.

 

1. Love your viewers/collectors/listeners. We can ask ourselves while creating each artwork how we can make it rewarding, beautiful, engaging, lovely, true so that the attributes of God Himself are communicated in a lovely way? Our art doesn’t have to be a portrait of Jesus or have a cross in it to do this. After all, “the heavens declare the glory of God”. Psalm 19 goes on to list out many ways that God’s “art” communicates his love and mercy for us all…and none of it is a portrait of Jesus’ face. Does your painting’s composition capture and lead your viewer’s eye to the focal point? Does your ceramic bowl have a lovely shape? Have you removed any sharp edges? Is the necklace made to last? Is your music singable and relatable, with deep, doctrinally solid and encouraging lyrics?
2. Do good to those who hate you–or your art. Did I post one of my paintings on social media and get some negative comments? How did I respond? Am I upset because I got no likes or shares? Do I think the message of my painting is clear, but others aren’t sure what I’m communicating? Have I responded in love, generosity and kindness?
3. Abhor evil motives for art. Is there any pride motivating our creativity? Do I think my singing is better than another person’s? There may be some of this in everything we do…we are fallen beings and we still sin. But spirit-led evaluation of and repentance for these things are important.
4. Cling to what is good, both in your daily life and in our art. Do the best you can, paint the best you can, draw the best you can, sing and play the best you can. Clinging is hard work!
5. Do not lag in diligence. Being diligent in our artistic pursuits means that we can’t just rely on having a “good message” if our art is subpar. Just because it’s based on a scripture or a vision you think you received from God doesn’t automatically validate a piece of art. We must be careful that we glorify God in creating from our best ability.
6. Be fervent in spirit in our art. I am not entirely sure of all that this means. What does it mean in our daily life? That we investigate our motives, that we follow what we know of God’s will in every endeavor? That we should nurture our creative passion with both appropriate rest and diligent engagement regardless of popular opinion and trends so that we don’t lose our will to create and serve God? I think those are ways to do that. 

Get in the Kitchen

Finally, bringing glory to God in our creativity requires a posture of humility–to always be evaluating our creativity by what we know glorifies God. Romans 14:23 states “whatever is not from faith is sin.” How can we make sure that our creativity is from faith? Romans 10:17 answers “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” 

What did we learn on Sunday at church that you can apply to our art or music today? Are we in the Word daily? Are we applying that which we know to our life AND our art?

I hope this helps you, Sam, to see what I meant when I said “just open your Bible.” It can seem like too simplistic an answer, but I’m hopeful that now when you open your Bible you will be able to start seeing how it can help us approach our craft in ways that glorify God.

That’s more than enough for this week. I pray our glorious Creator blesses you with the ability to see the music, hear the colors, and awaken the wonder and worship in your heart while we’re apart.

Godspeed,