Art Appreciation

Tonight there is no class because of Halloween, and next week I'm going to miss my ILM class because my wife and I are in Italy. We're on a bus tour with about 30 people visiting Florence, Assisi, Venice, and Rome organized by a Priest who is a friend of ours. It's one of those "get on the bus" ... "get off the bus" sorts of trips, but we're both pretty excited about it anyway. Once we reach a city, we stay in the hotel until we leave that city, so we don't have to constantly pack and unpack the bags, or have them outside the door in the hall at 6:00 AM every day. We're pretty excited about visiting the Cathedrals, where we expect to be overwhelmed with the beauty and grandure, and where we'll be able to celebrate Mass just about every day. How cool is that!

 

We're also looking forward to visiting the tourist spots and spending time in the museums, where my wife and I hope to see some of the famous art that we studied in school and seen only in books and on TV. I recently read an article about a local Art and Wine festival and the writer mentioned his love of art; although he also admitted a sever lack of talent suggesting his stick figures were the worst he'd ever seen. Have you noticed how art seems to have taken a back seat to feelings? Today it's more about making the viewer feel something than it is about the art work. Unfortunately it's easier to make someone feel disgust or anger than it is to evoke a sense of beauty, truth, or grace. It doesn't require much artistic talent to disgust and anger viewers or a trained eye or skilled hand; it simply takes a willingness to please art critics.

 

It is much harder to create something beautiful, something lovely to look at and pleasing to the eye, something where we as viewers praise God for giving that person their artistic gift. The gift from God to create something beautiful, whether it’s on canvas with brushes, or in marble using hammers, or on paper using  a few crayons, it is a reflection of the beauty that God has created in the world. When art is properly used, we see it and bless God for giving someone that sort of talent. If you have artistic talent, use it wisely rather than crudely, and weather you do or don't have artistic talent look for art that reflects God's sense of beauty and creativity, because whatever is pure and lovely reminds us of God, and it reminds us for whom we live our lives.