2/3/2021
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| "Not a bad public, that." from YouTube. |
Creative Expression
These 200-word cough-ups, or—as dad would call them—“vignettes,” are, I’m noticing, the slightest scratch for the itch to create a work of art.
My creative artistic endeavors heretofore have mainly been of the performative type: piano recital, choral accompaniment, choral vocalization, dramatic presentation, poetry recital. My artistic appreciation ranges more broadly, naturally. I’ll appreciate any good mode of artistic presentation. But my own taste tends toward the performative.
The idea of “art for art’s sake” has always rung hollow for me. Is this a deification of the artistic form? Is art really the god of Art, to whom all artistic offerings must be dedicated? Lame. Idolatrous. Why not, simply, make perfectly the normal connection and dedicate all artistic offerings to God, for “God’s sake?” This is the dignity of Sacred Art and why it is held, at least in theory, in highest regard among all artistic endeavors.
I’m compelled to lookup Aquinas definition of art—off the top of my head, it’s the faculty of man’s soul ordered to the making of things in accordance with beauty or goodness. I need to brush up on this. The development of the faculty requires practice—some have greater or lesser natural talent than others. But it can and must be practiced. “Do it a million times.” Or ten thousand times. Or, how about at least once or twice, for starters?
Choosing a medium
Language Arts. Musical Arts. These seem to be my first, go-to forms. Not so much the imagery or the design. Who knows why? Who cares why? Does it matter? Is it my particularly extraverted social sensibility that prefers to witness the participation of those who might be affected? I think so. This is also why Fr. Ron’s insight into God’s witnessing the hidden efforts was so helpful for me. Bolt captured it in the early exchange between More and Rich. “You’d be a fine teacher, perhaps a great one.” “Who will know it?” “You, your pupils, your friends, God. Not a bad public, that.” The performance is for God’s sake. Always.
