Makoto Fujimura Culture Care

As something of an arts pastor, but still not sure if that is the best label for the vocational calling on my life.  I have a passion for artist of all stripes to grow both in their creative ability as well as their walk with Christ. As a result, I am always on the hunt for good books and good examples of artist to share with other artists.   One of the individuals I have found in this quest is Makoto Fujimura. I have mentioned him before in this very blog. Mako was an elder at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, but he is currently head of the Brehm Center at Fuller Theological Seminary.  If you do not recognize Redeemer Presbyterian, it is the home church of Tim Keller.   Mako is blessed with a mediative mind that thinks deeply about faith and beauty.     The Brehm Center is a think tank of sorts for Christianity and Culture. Mako’s latest book is called Culture Care.   The book is good enough to simply share excerpts from and leave it at that. Because quite frankly, he says all that I would want to say in a far better way.

“Sociologist James Davison Hunter noted more than twenty years ago that participants in culture wars employ language that reduces the enemy to a caricature, portraying their ideas as not only false but pernicious, and alienating their humanity. Hunter identifies the culprit in Culture Wars (1991), arguing that a shared weakness “in both orthodox and progressive alliances” is “an implicit yet imperious disregard for the goal of a common life.  This disregard for the “goal of a common life” is the abject faith of our times;  but from this failure we can begin a new path toward Culture Care.  Culture is not a territory to be won or lost but a resource we are called to steward with care. Culture is a garden to be cultivated.” Page 22

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“There are thus significant overlaps for Culture Care not only with Creation care but with Soul Care, which is the spiritual development and psychological integration that can result when we diligently follow good guidance. The work of Soul Care, the work of both therapist and client, is extemporaneous. It cannot be linear but is rather interactive and creative process that responds on an ongoing basis to the shifting needs of the soul.  All effective care providers are in this sense artists of the soul.” Page 27 

“Culture care starts with the identification and articulation of brokenness. It creates safe space for troth-telling. But it does not stop there. It starts with listening and then invites people onward toward beauty, wholeness and healing.  As we become able to acknowledge the truth of our situation and can tell that story, we are encouraged to move into caring for artists and all other participants  in the culture, into creating contexts for deeper conversation, into fostering spiritual growth, and sometimes into problem solving.”   Page 28

CIVA Charotte, Creating the Real and Learning to Understanding

Bruce Herman Portrait of the Artist's Father

This past weekend, March 4 and 5, Tina and I traveled to Charlotte for the first ever CIVA Charlotte symposium, which was sponsored in part by Arts Charlotte and Church at Charlotte.  Over 100 people turned out to hear from visual artists and educators concerning the calling and vocation of the artist.  The keynote speak was Bruce Herman professor of art at Gordon College. 

Dianne Collard addresses CIVA Charlotte

  During Bruce Herman's Friday night talk he spoke about his current work  which now involves capturing individual’s portraits.  As he described his father’s portrait (seen in this post) he talked about finishing the work and feeling as if had captured the essence and reality of his father on canvas.   Bruce stated that as he continues to work with portraits one of his goals is to, “make a painting that feels like a human being.”

It instantly struck me that such a goal, making art that captures a human being, is not limited by the medium.  In one way or another great art universally captures the image, dare we say the icon, of God’s human creation. I am in the beginning process of writing a novel, maybe one day I will share some of it here on the blog.  As such I am attempting to capture through words my main character as a fully formed individual.  The more real I can make him the more impactful the story becomes.  I was moved to tears the first time I finished the Illiad, and had gruesome nightmare while read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.  Obviously, writing with the goal of making a person real does not mean I write only in some hyper-realistic way. It does mean I am trying to capture my character in a manner that the character has substance of his or her own.  The same is true when writing non-fiction, in the art of biography and memoir the quest become to present the subject matter as whole and substantive.

  I imagine that you can see how this notion is not limited to writing and painting. Film of course depends on the combination of these art forms into a solid hybrid whole.  What would your experience of Schindler’s List be if not for the nameless girl in the red dress? Not knowing more than what is portrayed on the movie screen we fully appreciate her wholeness as a human being lost in the darkness of the holocaust. Indeed, it is a small step from this to consider how all art is an icon of reality.  A representation of a truth we cannot fully place our hands around but nevertheless sense and see (either with our eyes or our mind’s eye) as real, whole and substantive.  

I will end at this post with another observation Bruce Herman made this weekend. Bruce pointed out the difference between comprehension and understanding.  To comprehend, from latin,  means to wrap one arms around, or seize a subject or object.  To understand, is to stand underneath or in the midst of a subject. Even to submit to the thing trying to be understood. Just as much as creating artwork that feels like a human being and the idea of all art being an icon, this idea of understanding is just as probative and rich.  I have been in too many leadership situation, sometimes underneath someone’s leadership, and regrettably some of the very things I have lead, where compression of a person, team, or task has been the dominating philosophy rather than understanding said person, team or task.  It is amazing to experience the difference between the two. Indeed it is life giving.  The key difference between the two is humility. A blog post for another time I hope. 

Panel Discussion with Allison Luce, Bruce Herman and Sandra Bowden

Panel Discussion with Bruce Herman, Sandra Bowden, and Carmella Jarvi