Grace + Necessity: Part I

I went to a new church this morning. As it generally goes, the congregation was given a few minutes to make introductions amongst ourselves. I turned around to be quickly greeted by a middle-aged woman eager to know the details of my college career. Upon hearing that I'll be graduating with a degree in Studio Art, she proceeded to encourage me towards grad school as soon as possible -- after all, to teach I'll need a Master's degree... I interrupted her... 

"Actually, I'll probably just be an artist." 

She awkwardly shifted her eyes around the room. Finally, she seemed to find some bit of relief. She proceeded to tell me about her artist friend who works on her "art hobby" because of her husband's great job, and about how I should really learn about drones (because apparently, artists who use drones are the ones who go far). 

"Maybe..." And I drank the rest of my coffee while she described her new boat. 

And I was thinking... (click to see)

As I drove home from the service, I was bummed by the degree of misinformation this woman had. My sadness wasn't really because of her, though, but due to my realization that the majority of my small world probably wonders the same thing. What the heck would one do with an art degree? 

I think Rowan Williams knows. The artist would make art. That's what he/she is called to do; that alone has intrinsic value. And because of that, whatever he/she creates also has intrinsic value. 

On page 15 of Grace and Necessity, Williams says "[the] artist as artist is not called on to love God or the world or humanity, but to love what he or she is doing." For me, that sentence sums up the majority of Part I's confusing verbiage. 

According to Williams (at least, I think...), honing our gifts + interests glorifies God! I think God delights in a math nerd celebrating the solution to an equation, a teacher being tickled by the progress of a student, a parent taking pride in their child, and certainly in an artist creating. 

But before I go babbling on further, watch this video: The Gap by Ira Glass

So good, right? (Thanks to Nicole for sharing this with me a year or two ago.) I hope you're all encouraged by this.

As the video admits, "For the first couple years that you're making stuff, what you're making isn't that good." But that's not where it ends. Makers are supposed to make (no matter what the results look like), and that alone is beautiful and will lead to even more beautiful things. If Williams were here to watch this with us, I think he'd agree. He claims that art which is created for the sole intent of being beautiful or making a difference in the world will simply fail to do so. It's ok to simply let art be art; it exists because it draws from reality, and reality exists because of God. If we love what we're doing, we're doing something right. 

I think that's pretty beautiful. 

Sources:

Williams, Rowan. Grace and Necessity: Reflections on Art and Love.  

Sax, Daniel. "The Gap by Ira Glass," Vimeo.

"First Day of Camp," giphy.com