Category Archives: Commentary

Young artist chronicles a decade of work

30 Wednesday Nov 2016

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josh-tiessen-a-decade-of-inspiration-coverArtist Josh Tiessen has packed more into his 21 years than some of us have packed into two, three or four times as many.

The Stoney Creek, Ontario resident was born in Russia to missionary parents, moved to Canada and has traveled internationally.

He began creating art as a pre-schooler under the tutelage of his Russian nanny. After moving to Canada, Tiessen, mentored by a retired wildlife and pet portrait artist, created his first significant wildlife work at 10: a chalk portrait of Aslan from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A year later, “Aslan” and other works were displayed the Artway on Two in Burlington’s Joseph Brant Hospital.

Tiessen how has a decade of exhibitions under his belt, along with a number of national and international accolades: at 15 he was mentored by esteemed Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman in a Master Artist Seminar, at 17 he was the youngest person juried into the International Guild of Realism (IGOR) and at 19 received IGOR’s “Creative Achievement Award.” With these accomplishments and a number of requests from friends and fans, Tiessen has put together and published his first monograph: Josh Tiessen: A Decade of Inspiration.

Josh Tiessen hopes people looking at his art will feel the sense of ‘wonder and awesomeness’ that is in the natural world all around us

About half of the book is an intimate and detailed biography which includes family photos, samples of his early work (including “Aslan”) and photos of Tiessen working at his craft or out in public. While someone might think this would be self-indulgent for a 21 year old, in Tiessens case it isn’t. I’ve had the chance to interview Tiessen on a number of occasions and reading through the book found myself learning even more about his life than I had in the interviews. By the time you’re finished reading these chapters, you find yourself amazed by a competent, intelligent and professional young artist.

The second half of the book chronicles Tiessen’s art from some of his early still life images, beginning wildlife paintings (his specialty) to his latest works which combine realism, fantasy and metaphor. Tiessen accompanies each image with a note about it’s development and, in many cases, the spiritual meaning that can be drawn from it. As he states at one point in the biography:

“Although Josh’s art is not necessarily religious in subject matter, he tries to illustrate the beauty and diversity of creation and the image of God in human creativity. He sees his artistic ability as a gift from God. As a contemporary artist in the 21st century, he would like to be a positive and uplifting presence in the art world. Josh says that he hopes people looking at his art will feel the sense of ‘wonder and awesomeness’ that is in the natural world all around us.

As he begins each painting Josh prays, asking God to work through the process. As a result, just like the little penguin family, metaphorical and spiritual meaning seem to be infused into his paintings and people often comment on the analogies they draw from them.”

While I only had a chance to view an electronic version of Josh Tiessen: A Decade of Excellence, I can only imagine what the print product will look like. I’ve watched, through social media and his e-mail newsletters, the progress of some of Josh’s works. This monograph is a fitting tribute to the life of a young artist who has just begun a lifelong journey.

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For more about Josh Tiessen and A Decade of Excellence go to http://www.joshtiessen.com/

To listen to the latest Arts Connection interview with Josh Tiessen, go to http://tinyurl.com/hyjcmez

 

 

Thin tome on preaching has much to say to artists

12 Thursday May 2016

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Telling the Truth - coverA number of my writer friends have been fans of, or influenced by, the works of Frederick Buechner, an American writer, theologian and Presbyterian minister who has published more than 30 books. I’d yet to dive into Buechner but had him on my someday-read list.

A recent conversation with storyteller Brad Woods prompted me to shift Buechner to my to-read list. Brad and I were talking about a new play I’d been working on and he suggested a read through Telling the Truth: the Gospel as tragedy, comedy and fairy tale would be helpful.

Written to aid preachers, Telling the Truth shows how the gospels “record the tragedy of human failure, the comedy of being loved overwhelmingly by God despite that failure, and the fairy tale of transformation through that love” (from the book’s front cover flap).”

The more I read, the more I realized Telling the Truth had as much to say to me, as a writer, as it did a preacher. The used copy I bought from amazon.com was already marked in black, so I used a red pen to highlight what struck me as significant, like:

“But to preach the Gospel is not just to tell the truth but to tell the truth in love, and to tell the truth in love means to tell it with concern not only for the truth that is being told but with concern also for the people it is being told to…The preacher must always try to feel what it is like to live inside the skins of the people who he is preaching to, to hear the truth as they hear it.”

Let (the artist) use (art) which (does) not only try to give answers to the questions that we ask…but which help us to hear the questions that we do not have the words for asking…

The further into the book I delved, the more convinced I became that Buechner’s observations applied to all art forms. Writers, painters, sculptors, playwrights, actors, filmmakers, photographers, storytellers, singer/songwriters, etc. all want to share the truth of God’s love as found in the Gospel. Color, palette, imagery, metaphor, simile, realism, character, setting, etc. are the tools used to portray the truth that so many seek. Rephrasing Buechner, we can read:

“Let (the artist) use (art) which (does) not only try to give answers to the questions that we ask or ought to ask but which help us to hear the questions that we do not have the words for asking and to hear the silence that those questions rise out of and the silence that is the answer to those questions. Drawing on nothing fancier than the (art) of (the artist’s) own life, let (the artist) use (art) that help make the surface of our lives transparent to the truth that lies deep within them, which is the wordless truth of who we are and who God is and the Gospel of our meeting.”

Anyone who has read Buechner knows his books aren’t an easy read. I know I’ll find myself returning to Telling the Truth to try to glean a little more from his words. Until then, I take the book’s last paragraph as both a challenge and an encouragement:

“Let the preacher tell the truth. Let him make audible the silence of the news of the world with the sound turned off so that in that silence we can hear the tragic truth of the Gospel, which is that the world where God is absent is a dark and echoing emptiness; and the comic truth of the Gospel, which is that it is into the depths of his absence that God makes himself present in such unlikely ways and to such unlikely people that old Sarah and Abraham and maybe when the time comes even Pilate and Job and Lear and Henry Ward Beecher and you and I laugh till the tears run down our cheeks. And finally let him preach this overwhelming of tragedy by comedy, of darkness by light, of the ordinary by the extraordinary, as the tale that is too good not to be true because to dismiss it as untrue is to dismiss along with it that catch of the breath, that beat and lifting of the heart near to or even accompanied by tears, which I believe is the deepest intuition of truth that we have.”

 

New year a time of promise, wonder, excitement

14 Thursday Jan 2016

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january-calendarA new page. A clean slate. A blank computer screen. An unpainted canvas. An unfilled calendar

For those of us in the arts, these phrases – new page, blank computer screen or unpainted canvas – take on a different meaning. Instead of representing a metaphorical new start, these phrases literally depict the start of our creative process.

Last year I began setting goals instead of making resolutions, some of which were vocationally related. Some I accomplished (finish The Fall of Niagara, begin the outline/treatment for The Fall of Tecumseh and continue work on the Stone Churches Project). Others weren’t (start a Love Inspired historical romance, start the outline for a book on the intersection of faith, arts and Canadian culture and find funding for the Arts Connection broadcasts on 94.3 Faith FM). One vocational project I hadn’t planned, but completed, was co-writing and seeing the Audience of One Christian Theatre Company production of the musical Meet You at the Manger.

I’ve continued this practice and created a list of vocational goals for 2016: find a publisher for The Fall of Niagara, continue the first draft of The Fall of Tecumseh, complete the photography and research for the Stone Churches Project, work on an other play for the Audience of One and look at the start-up of an event photography business.

The concept of goal-setting can seem to fly in the face of the creative spirit.

To some, the concept of goal-setting can fly in the face of the creative spirit. Until a year ago, I was more like the boy who shot an arrow at the side of the barn and painted the target around the arrow. Some targets were missed, but others were hit. And that encourages me. My experience last year showed that goals can be as motivating as an editor’s deadline.

As artists who are Christian, spiritual growth may not be among the list of vocational goals, but I hope it’s a life goal. Topping my list of goals in 2015 was the desire to maintain a consistent devotional life with daily prayer and Bible reading. The one-year chronological plan through the YouVersion smart phone app was key to meeting the last part of that goal.

Working on my 2016 goals, topping the list, again, was a desire to grow spiritually through prayer and study. As the calendar turns a page and I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to me, I pledge my faithfulness to God. I don’t know what this year will bring—happiness or pain, loss or gain, health or illness—but I know that God will be in the midst of it all, carrying me through whatever happens.

My new year’s wish is that your blank slate, unwritten page, unpainted canvas, empty computer screen will be filled as God breathes His creative spirit into your life.

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Portions of this column appeared in the January 2, 2016 edition of the Guelph Mercury column “Make the spiritual a priority in your new year.”

Keep God from getting lost in the craft

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

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Creación_de_Adán_(Miguel_Ángel)Does God get lost in the craft of our art?

I have to admit, after being a journalist for three decades, the craft of writing stories can – and sometimes has – become rote.

Working on an assignment recently reminded me of how much I need to keep God foremost in all I do. It started out as one of those days when everything seemed to go wrong. To top it all off, it seems my new domain service had problems with one of its servers – the one that held my e-mail accounts. Including the one with the e-mail that had the phone number of an interviewee whom I was already late calling.

I eventually tracked down the number, called, and in the normal chit chat mentioned the e-mail issues. The interviewee immediately offered to pray for the situation. Again, confession time: I have to admit my immediate thoughts were less than charitable. I needed to get to the interview and prayer seemed superfluous. (I later found out the server needed to be rebuilt and I was left without business e-mail for the day.)

“May our days begin in prayer,/Communing with our King,/May our hearts be filled with joy/As His praises now we sing.”

Upon later reflection, I realized I had become so focused on what I considered a routine task that I’d left God aside. And when reminded about it, I almost became resentful.

Perhaps our human tendency to rely on self is the reason two of the books on arts I’ve read recently place our relationship with God at the forefront.

The first section of InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship’s 7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers is titled “Time with God.” The section’s articles, short stories and poems all focus on ways in which the writer (or artist in general) can, and should, stay in touch with God. Sharon Cavers, in her poem “A Writer’s Prayer” suggests in the last verse: “May our days begin in prayer,/Communing with our King,/May our hearts be filled with joy/As His praises now we sing.”

J. Scott McElroy, in providing guidelines for beginning an arts ministry in his book Creative Church Handbook places “start praying now for God’s guidance” as number one and “invite artists to meet and pray” as third. “God has a plan for the arts and creativity in your church, and if you listen and wait he’ll share it with you and others,” writes McElroy about praying for God’s guidance.

While I haven’t taken a formal survey, I would hazard a guess that I’m not the first creative Christian who needed to be reminded that God needs first place in all I do, including the crafting of my art. And I probably won’t be the last.

 

Contests: love them, hate them…just don’t let them define you

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

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The Word Guild recently announced the winners of the 2014 Word Awards (you can read the whole list here: https://thewordguild.com/2014-award-winners-announced). My congratulations go out to all those who either won or were shortlisted. Over the last few years, I’ve had a chance to interview a number of them and, without reservation, can say they deserve the accolades they’ve received.

The announcement reminds me, though, of my own love/hate relationship with awards.

It’s not because I’ve never won an award. During my three-decade-long career as a journalist, I’ve entered, been nominated for, or placed, in awards from the Alberta Christian Writers’ Fellowship (now the Inscribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship), God Uses Ink, The Word Guild and the Canadian Church Press, the Guelph Mercury Christmas Story Contest, Word Alive Press Publishing Contest, Fellowship of Christian Newspapers Awards and City of Edmonton Book Award.

And I’ve seen awards from three sides: as an entrant, as a judge and as a co-ordinator.

But I’m still ambivalent.

Why?

First, the hate. Awards can provide a writer with the biggest letdown possible. I’ve been shortlisted for an award and attended the ceremony. I’ve sat on the edge of my seat, waiting for my name to be called (try doing that in a kilt at a formal award ceremony) and then watching as another writer walks down the aisle to collect their award.

The feeling of impending loss is even more devastating when you’ve been given the evening’s program and you see who has been nominated in the same category. I can recall at least two times when I looked at that list, that I realized I was coming away with an honourable mention. And, to be honest, the works which were awarded, were better than mine.

I can’t let either a win justify or a loss negate my worth as a writer.

Topping off rejection experience at the award ceremonies are the emotions that arise from reading the judges’ comments about your entry. I’ve often wondered if the judges read the same piece I’d written, based on their feedback. At time it feels like you’re going through the five stages of grief in a matter of seconds because the heart and soul you put into your work has been ripped from your chest.

But, then there are the years when you’ve actually won, which brings the love. I recall, at one awards ceremony, sitting behind a writer whose name was called for one of the organization’s major awards. At first the writer sat in disbelief before saying “that’s me!” And in an instance, they were running towards the podium and tried to catch their breath to offer words of thanks and acknowledgement.

Winning an award, for many writers, seems like a validation of their choice to spend hour upon hour staring at a blank computer screen, fingers poised over the keyboard as they sweat drops of blood until words appear on the screen.

Even an honourable mention can be seen as a partial validation and the hope that, with a little more improvement, the bigger prize can be theirs.

Despite my ambivalence toward awards, what I have learned over the years is that I can’t let awards define me. I can’t let either a win justify or a loss negate my worth as a writer. Those of us who can’t not write know that awards are nice, but in the morning we’ll be back facing that blank screen, waiting for the words to fill it.

Has the Christian music industry died? It might be a good thing

03 Wednesday Jun 2015

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downhere onstagedownhere on their farewell tour in Cambridge, Ontario in August 2009 ((C) Quail Communications)

During the early to mid 1980s I had the privilege of freelancing for Alberta SonShine News, a monthly Christian newspaper distributed to churches in Edmonton, Calgary and points in between. A chance meeting with editor Peter Fleck led to a gig covering the burgeoning Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene. This led to interviews with almost every Christian artist who came through Edmonton including: Michael W. Smith, Barry McGuire, Armand Morales (Imperials), Georgian Banov (Silverwind), Steve Taylor, Randy Stonehill, Phil Keaggy, etc. The highlight of this period were interviews with Christian rock pioneers Larry Norman and Glenn and Wendy Kaiser (Rez Band).

Even when CCM wasn’t my main beat, I maintained an interest in Christian music as a the editor of ChristianWeek Ontario and the host of Faith Journal and Arts Connection. So I found the following analysis intriguing: http://theweek.com/articles/555603/who-killed-contemporary-christian-music-industry?utm_content=buffer824c9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer where Tyler Huckabee writes: “The descent of CCM is a reflection of America’s waning interests in Christianity as a whole. The precipitous dropoff in CCM sales has left Christian labels and artists staring into the void alongside their pastors, scratching their heads, wondering where they went wrong.”

This seems somewhat simplistic and hyperbolic. A few more significant factors have contributed CCM’s death rather than the rise of the nones, some of which Huckabee points out.

 Canada’s CCM industry has never paralleled the American CCM industry

I need to point out that Canada’s CCM industry has never paralleled the States’. There have been a few Canadians – downhere, Connie Scott, Daniel Band, Quickflight, Manafest – who have broken through the American CCM juggernaut. But some, like downhere, left the CCM industry to pursue an indie path.

Why?

First, until the 1990s, Canada didn’t have Christian radio, a key contributor to CCM’s success in the U.S. Many Canadian Christian music pioneers – Salmond and Mulder, Arlen Salte, Daniel Band, Steve Bell, etc. – toured heavily to build a fan base.

Second, Canada’s size and lack of large cities lead to mainly regional instead of national fan bases. Musicians in southwestern Ontario could travel from Toronto to Windsor and play for hundreds of church youth groups and coffeehouses. Travelling the same distance, or time frame, western Canada’s musicians had maybe dozens. Those who did gain a national fan base spent even more time on the road.

Back to the main point: I see two key reasons for CCM’s demise:

1) CCM became more of an industry than a ministry. Musicians were pressured to create music that sold, not necessarily minister. Some CCM musicians have been able to do both but the pressure to create that next hit sometimes stymied both ministry and creativity.

2) New technologies have created significant shifts in every industry, music included. The goal for most musicians had been signing the ever-elusive recording contract. Record companies would then take care of marketing and promotion while the musicians made music. With the rise of iTunes, CDbaby and myriads of other music distribution channels, musicians have become marketers, tour managers, promoters, etc. – taking all the risks but gaining all the benefits.

Has the Christian music industry died? Only in the same way the mainstream music industry has died.

Is this a good thing? I think so. The change the Christian music industry has/is going through means artists can focus on creating the music they feel called to create. Not the music dictated by an industry.

Demystifying the artistic process

21 Thursday May 2015

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Art is hard.

Let me put that another way: creating art is challenging.

The vast majority of arts’ consumers – readers, music lovers, gallery attendees – only see the results. Few know of the struggles artists face taking a piece from conception to completion. This is one of the reasons, when I interview artists on the Arts Connection broadcast (shameless plug: Mondays at 9:30 p.m. ET on 94.3 Faith FM and archived at www.selawministries.ca), I specifically ask them about the process: Where did the idea come from? How long did it take? What was the  most challenging part of the process? What part was the most satisfying?

While the answers vary, they help the artist demystify the process and make the creation of art more understandable and accessible to the consumers of art.

For example, I have a musician friend who has been working on a CD project for the past three years. I’ve witnessed the challenges that have arisen, the frustrations faced and the anticipation of a near-completed project. When the CD is finally released, most of the people who will listen to it won’t have the faintest idea of the figurative blood and literal sweat, toil and tears that went into the CD’s creation. All that will matter is whether or not they like what they hear.

Social media has helped pull back the curtain that separates the artistic process from the finished creation. A novelist friend frequently posts updates on their social media feed about the progress of their latest novel. A landscape artist I’ve interviewed posts photos and videos that show the progress being made on current projects. And I’ve frequently posted updates about the progress on a novel I’m working on.

Demystifying the process also helps artists avoid the standard small talk comments which follow the “‘What do you do for a living?’ ‘I’m a writer, musician, etc.'” opening: “I was thinking of doing that at one point but I decided i needed to get a real job” or “I’m thinking of taking up writing once I retire.”

But there will always be those who think creating art is easy and anyone can do it. Smart phones and programmable digital cameras have made everyone think their Ansel Adams. Desktop publishing programs and print-on-demand publishers have created a plethora of Margaret Atwood wannabes. And the list continues based on the various technologies available such as video editing software, etc.

For those of us who are dedicated to our craft, we know how challenging it can be. We know the long hours devoted to creating a work. We know the pain of staring at a blank canvas, an empty computer screen or an unmarked music score as we wrack our brains for the correct colour, word or note. But we also know the satisfaction of a completed creation – or at least a creation we’re now releasing to the public because we know a piece is never really completed since there’s always a tweak here or there that can be made.

So let’s put paintbrush to canvas, fingers to keyboard, chisel to stone, eye to viewfinder, hand to instrument and create art.

No matter how challenging it is.

Exposing ourselves through our art

14 Thursday May 2015

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Meet You at the Manger scriptLast night ranked among the top 20 of the most exciting and most anxiety-inducing experiences I’ve had as an artist.

I’ve dabbled in theatre, starting in high school as an extra with the Ridge Players, which started out with Gilbert & Sullivan works, eventually expanding to contemporary musical theatre. I started out as part of the chorus in my first couple of musicals, graduating to Boy #1 in the next two. I took part in church-produced production as an adult and became part of a church drama team.

Even though I enjoyed treading the boards, writing was still my first love and began writing sketches and plays. All, at the moment, unpublished and unproduced. But God intervened last December when, through an Arts Connection broadcast, I met Kim Pottruff, artistic director of Audience of One (http://www.audienceofoneguelph.ca), a new Christian amateur theatre group in Guelph.

While researching the company’s website, I noticed they were looking for playwrights. So I mentioned to Kim that I had a few plays gathering dust in my computer and wondered if she’d be interested in reading them. By the beginning of February, I was writing the script to a musical which, if all goes well, will be staged in December.

Which brings me to Wednesday, May 13, where nine people gathered to read through, aloud, for the first time the script of Meet You at the Manger.

You’d think after three decades as a journalist and author, I’d be used to setting my words free for others to read

You’d think after three decades as a journalist and author, I’d be used to setting my words free for others to read – never knowing what readers thought of them. A table reading is an entirely different experience. You’re sitting there, with your words exposed by another’s voice, disappointed when a particular word or phrase didn’t quite work and excited when people laugh at the right time.

But that’s the tension we face as artists. Without a reader or an audience or a viewer, the book or play or movie or music or painting are simply exercises in self expression that will gather dust. And for those of us who are trying to impart a Christian worldview through their art, that message is muted and our calling is unfulfilled.

While we may worry about the reaction to our work, we can’t let that prevent us from making it public. We do need to make sure our art has been polished and perfected as much as possible. But there’s a point when we have release our art even if we don’t think it’s perfect.

And that’s the point I reached with Meet You at the Manger . I know it still needs work. But I also needed to hear other voices speak the words of the characters. And I dreaded the first read-through. I feared the changes that might be suggested. I worried they wouldn’t understand what had been written.

All in vain.

For the most part, the readers gave positive feedback. Except for a few words or lines here and there that needed to be changed, and a section that relies more heavily on the still-to-be-completed song than the script, they liked it. They really liked it.

This is only the first step setting the play free. There’s still opening night and the play’s run before a live audience. And the jitters that will come.

For now, it’s back to proofing and polishing.

Exploring Jesus’ journey from Gesthemane to the tomb through art

06 Monday Apr 2015

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For the second year in a row, Guelph’s Lakeside Downtown invited about a dozen artists to use their talent to depict the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. One of the unique things about Lakeside Downtown is the number of artists – writers, poets, painters, musicians, storytellers, graphic designers, etc. – that are part of the  congregation.

This year, about 500 people walked through the downtown church plant of Lakeside Church (http://lakesidechurch.ca/) and experienced the various interpretations of Jesus journey from the Garden of Gesthemane to the tomb.

By way of disclosure, Lakeside Downtown is my home church. And my part in the Art of the Cross event was to create a photo journal of what was going on. I’m posting a few of the photos here and the rest can be seen on my Facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/kbv3swh)

Phil Irish 1Elora artist Phil Irish created this depiction of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. Most of the pieces of paper with lips on them came from those attending the event. Phil provided the paper and lipstick and those attending provided the lip prints – making this an interactive piece. For me, it made me wonder if I could, or have, betrayed Christ as easily as Judas.

Community Choir 3The Art of the Cross event was the debut of the Lakeside Downtown Community Choir. Comprised of members of the congregation and the community, the choir provides an opportunity for people to share choral music no matter their faith, or non-faith, background.

Community participationA large cross, made from kraft paper, took up a good part of the floor in the Lakeside Downtown’s gym. Those who came, adults and youth alike, were invited to create their own interpretation of either the event or the Stations of the Cross, making it a truly interactive time of meditation and reflection.

Phil Irish - paletteThis shot of Phil Irish’s palette, for me, sums up everything about the event and my experience as a writer and photographer. It represents the chaos of the artistic process, from the discordant sight-reading of a new piece of music to the mixing of color for a painting. But out of this chaos, through practice, practice, practice – be that rehearsing a section of a piece over and over until it rings out in harmony, painting over a section of a canvas, experimenting with exposures and f/stops, or working on the umpteenth draft of a story – that chaos begins to form a cohesive work of art.

And those cohesive works of art can touch people in a way nothing else can. It can stir emotion. It can evoke questions. It can bring healing. But most of all, and especially in an event such as this, art can reflect to us the cross of Christ.

Is the message more important than the medium?

12 Thursday Mar 2015

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Here’s a conundrum: how do you critique “bad” art without coming off as someone who doesn’t understand that the “message” is more important than the work?

Let me define a couple of words in that sentence first:

“Bad” is being used in the context of art that still needs work. Art that probably could have used a bit more skill or technique before being presented to the public. Or art that simply doesn’t make the grade.

“Message” is being used in the context of the Gospel message and/or general biblical message.

I’ve often found myself in this conundrum. When I was worked at a secular newspaper, I had to attend the performance of a local, amateur musical theatre group which specialized in Gilbert & Sullivan musicals. This particular performance of “The Pirates of Penzance” was truly terrible. Most of the singers were past their prime and if you can’t hit the notes, G&S musicals are unforgiving. Fortunately I didn’t have to write a review, but just report on the fortitude of the players in producing the play.

I’ve also found myself in this situation as a Christian journalist, and now blogger. Theatre performances that just didn’t hit the mark. Books that could have used better writing or editing. Musicians whose songs could be better written or CDs better produced. In most cases, I’ve tried to be gracious in my comments, often biting my tongue to keep my more cutting opinions from being voiced.

Occasionally I’ve found a few people with whom I could share honestly. In many cases they’ve actually recognized the shortcomings and have learned lessons to be used for the next time. And the conversations we have about improving the art form have both been encouraging and enlightening.

Most of the time, though, when I’ve voiced criticisms, I’ve be accused of missing the importance of the message in the medium. I’ve been told it’s not important the book be better written or the play be better performed. People have been exposed to the Gospel and that’s all that matters.

The implication is that God can use art in spite of the quality, or lack thereof. There’s truth in that philosophy. E.g. God used an ass to get his message across to Balaam (Numbers 22: 21 to 41). Therefore God can use bad art to get across His message of salvation.

But why should He have to? When I look at the scriptural record describing the construction of the Tabernacle or any of the versions of the Temple, I see artisans who were so humbled by the responsibility that they produced the best work they possibly could.

My intent has never been to be curmudgeon or to disparage the art or artist. But I believe we can all strive for excellence in our art. Any choice to be satisfied with less than excellence dishonours God and dishonours our art.