Play is the exultation of the possible.
–– Martin Buber

Our most recent Culture Making Collective was another great evening of inspiration and fun. The purpose, once again, was to think and interact about creative ways in which certain aspects of culture inspire us to be "culture keepers" –– intentionally stewarding good forms of culture.

This time Lance Odegard facilitated on the topic of STRICT JOY: Creativity and/as Play. Through lecture, discussion and LOTS of interaction, we were invited to ask ourselves what it would look like to occupy our work, our lives, our place in the world, playfully. We made up games, drew pictures, did improv theatre, mirror-danced, and watched Brian Blade embody joy while playing drums (see video below).

We always end the evening by creating a DO list –– ideas to act on that which inspired us. This time our list is fairly short. (That's because we were playing so hard. Obviously.) So there's lots of room to add to it! Please do so using the comment field below. And all, of course, are invited pick something from the list and DO it sometime in the next few weeks. After you've done it, we encourage you to either comment here or write a full blog post about your experience and send it to me: nelson (at) www.artisanvancouver.ca. OK, here's the list:

1.) Watch play in some form [children, animals in a park, actors on a stage, more Brian Blade!] and ask yourself how might this lead me to play more fully?

2.) Do something playful with your body that serves no other purpose other than sensing joy.

3.) Make a date with a friend and play for one hour.

You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment.
–– Annie Dillard

Nelson Boschman piano, arrangement
Adam Thomas double bass
Kenton Wiens drums

download for free

purchase on iTunes (all proceeds to Communitas Supportive Care Society)

We had our third Culture Making Collective evening last night. Almost 30 of us gathered to hear Derek Weiss –– J.R.R. Tolkien enthusiast and Faramir's biggest fan –– give a wonderful talk on Why Tolkien Matters in an Age of Social Media. Our purpose again was to think and interact about creative ways in which his art inspires us to be "culture keepers" –– intentionally stewarding good forms of culture.

As is becoming our usual practice, we built a collaboratively-derived, multiple choice "DO" list -- a bunch of ideas to act on that which inspired us. All who attended (as well as anyone reading this) are invited to pick something from this list and DO it sometime in the next few weeks. After you've done it, we highly encourage you to either comment here or write a full blog post about your experience and send it to me: nelson (at) www.artisanvancouver.ca. Oh, for those who were present last evening, if I've missed any DOs or I've phrased them wrong, please either email me or amend it yourself in the comments section. Here's the list. DO something!

1.) Post something on social media that connects you with your past.

2.) Take a social media fast: quit Facebook, Twitter, etc. for a month –– or perhaps during the season of Lent, which begins March 9 and lasts for 40 days.

3.) Craft a hand-written letter to a friend or a politician.

4.) Pick one or two people to connect with in a way that is NOT Facebook. Like, call somebody.

5.) Instead of posting your pics on Facebook, host a slideshow party in your living room.

6.) For musicians or pseudo-musicians: instead of writing, playing, videotaping and posting your self-proclaimed silly songs on YouTube for an "imagined" audience, try playing them for real people, in real life, in real time.

7.) READ The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Everyone present last night had seen the films, but only about half had read the books. Read it by yourself, read it aloud to someone, or listen to an audiobook version. Whatever you do, read.

Help-Portrait was truly amazing. God provided the perfect weather, people served with enthusiasm, and many were blessed as a result. Thanks to all the Artisan folk who came out and helped make it happen. To read and see more images on UGM's blog, click here. Next year's date is already set: Dec 03, 2011. We'll definitely be involved again, so if you missed out this time, this video will hopefully help whet your appetite to participate next year! For more videos, click here.

Help-Portrait Vancouver 2010 (Thank You) from Steve Tan on Vimeo.

We had a great time at our first Culture Making Collective evening. Almost 20 of us gathered for an evening to have a fresh listen to the music of Sufjan Stevens and think about creative ways in which his art inspires us to be "culture keepers" -- intentionally stewarding good forms of culture. But we don't want this to be simply an intellectual exercise. So we came up with a kind of 'multiple choice' list -- a bunch of ideas to act on that which inspired us. All who attended (as well as anyone reading this) are invited to pick something from this list and DO it sometime in the next few weeks. After you've done it, we highly encourage you to WRITE a short blog post about your experience and send it to me: nelson (at) www.artisanvancouver.ca. Here's the list. Happy choosing!

1.) Listen to a Sufjan album in one sitting -- and NOT as background music. This is a way of counter-acting our short attention spans.

2.) Listen to an album by a different artist in one sitting. What is one album YOU would recommend doing this with? One person suggested listening to an album in a style you're not familiar with.

3.) Host an iPod party. Listen to music with people, to hear what they hear, how music resonates with them, intersects with their lives, reveals something theological (e.g. about God or humanity).

4.) Attend a live show by a local artist, to intentionally support local and independent musicians.

5.) If you're musical at all, write a new song and share it with at least one person.

6.) Make a piece of art based on one of Sufjan's songs -- either the lyrics, the emotion of the piece, or the atmosphere it creates in your imagination.

7.) Study your own place of origin (this is in response to his Fifty States project; learning how geography informs memory and meaning).

8.) Listen to an album in one sitting with lyrics on paper. With your laptop screen shut, so you're not tempted to be distracted by email or other stuff.

9.) Join Kenton's Bicycle Band; being planned for Critical Mass in April/May 2011. Anyone with a bike and a voice and/or instrument that can be played while riding a bike is welcome. They may try to rehearse in parking garages.

10.) For those that draw or sketch; utilize the idea of the 'one-inch window' to develop attention to detail.

Last night was our second Culture Making Collective evening. This time, our film-geek-in-residence, John Giesbrecht, facilitated a closer look at the films of Darren Aronofsky. Our purpose once again was to think and talk about creative ways in which his art inspires us to be "culture keepers" -- intentionally stewarding good forms of culture. Here's our collaboratively-derived, multiple choice "DO" list -- a bunch of ideas to act on that which inspired us. All who attended (as well as anyone reading this) are invited to pick something from this list and DO it sometime in the next few weeks. After you've done it, we highly encourage you to either comment here or write a full blog post about your experience and send it to me: nelson (at) www.artisanvancouver.ca. Oh, for those who were present last evening, if I've missed any DOs or I've phrased them wrong, please either email me or amend it yourself in the comments section.

1.) Go and see Aronofsky's latest film, Black Swan, on or after December 1. Do this with a group of friends, and then discuss it afterwards.

2.) Watch a movie by yourself, either at home or at a theatre. Choose something you wouldn't normally watch (making sure it's a meritorious, truth-telling film). This enables you to engage a film without being concerned about whether other people are enjoying it or not.

3.) After you've watched a film, sit silently through the entire credit sequence to allow the film to sink in more fully.

4.) Oscar season is upon us! Try to go see as many of the Best Picture nominees before the award show airs in February.

5.) Come to one of the upcoming 'ARTISAN Secret Series' film nights. Stay tuned for more on that.

6.) Make a short film and score it ourselves.

7.) Many within our culture tend to be well-attuned to their favorite actors, caught up in the celebrity buzz. This has its place, of course. And while some of us may long for a world without tabloids, movies can't exist without actors. But something happens when you also begin to watch films through a Director's eyes. To begin doing this, ask questions like: Why was the action framed in a certain way? Why was that character off-screen while speaking? Why was one scene told with rapid cutting while another consisted of one shot held for five minutes? Why was music used in one scene and not in another? Do we recognize any opposites in the movie (light/dark, good/evil, male/female, etc.)?

8.) Watch a series of films by the same director. Think of one of your favorite films, find out who directed it, and watch more of their work to learn about their style and vision for filmmaking.

9.) Research the people and organizations who finance risk-taking films like Aronofsky's. Anyone know how to find this kind of stuff out?

10.) Read the screenplay of a film before watching it (or the novel on which a movie is based). How would you imagine it being portrayed visually? How did your vision measure up to that of the director?

11.) Watch films by a favorite screenwriter.

12.) Check out Ron Reed's amazing Soul Food Movies blog. As many of you know, Ron is the Artistic Director of Pacific Theatre and a serious movie buff. He's working on a book called 1000 Soul Food Movies: A Guide To Films With A Spiritual Flavour. If you're looking for a trustworthy take on 'films that feed the soul', check out his blog regularly and often.

13.) Re-watch a film you didn't particularly like the first time, but other people you trust really did. How did your experience change after 'giving it another chance'?

It’s no secret that downtown Vancouver is about as diverse a place as any on the planet. You have extreme wealth and extreme poverty backing onto the same alleyways. You have ethnic groups from all over the globe, with over half of downtown residents having a first language other than English. You have a higher percentage of people living alone than anywhere else in the GVRD. And in addition to the 70,000 people who live there, tens of thousands more flock downtown each day and weekend to work, party, attend sports, arts and cultural events. But amid all this diversity and activity, the one common thread is a desperate need for the healing and wholeness only God can give. The rich are just as in need of a Saviour as the poor. The only real difference is that the wealthy don’t recognize their need, or they don’t let on that they do. Just like the poor, they self-medicate in a bunch of ways to help themselves face life. The only difference is that they have the means to do so outside of plain view.

The various ethnicities within downtown represent a host of religious affiliations, and while spirituality may be in vogue among a growing segment, Vancouver is still the place where most people filling out religious surveys check the box marked “none”. And in the middle of all this, there are only a handful of vibrant downtown churches. If Tim Keller is right when he says, “As the city goes, so goes the culture”, then the church needs to be strategic about placing itself right in the centre of that place of influence. That realization impacted us very deeply.

This morning I read a section that was too good NOT to quote here. I've headed this post "Refractions #1" because I fully expect to quote Fujimura's work more than just once in this context!

On pp.69-70 he writes:

"Art is an inherently hopeful act, an act that echoes the creativity of the Creator. Every time an architect imagines a new building, an artist envisions the first stroke of a brush on a white canvas, a poet seeks a resonant sound in words, or a choreographer weaves a pause in layers of movements, that act is done in hope; the creator reaches out in hope to call the world into that creation. And what if the creator reaches out to the Creator, the source and origin of creativity? Would not God be delighted? Even if no one else sees that offering, God alone can see. The treasures to be stored up in heaven (Matthew 6:20) can be our creative act done in faith. The Bible tells us the story of this creative God, who treasures his creatures, even as fallen and as desperate as we are. Jesus calls God "our Father in Heaven" (Matthew 6:9), and we are called God's children (Romans 8). The Bible tells us that God rejoices in our acts of creativity, just as any loving father would dote on his child's wild drawings..."

]]> [email protected] (Nelson Boschman) Art Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:15:26 +0000 /blog/4-art/24-art-and-creativity.html /blog/4-art/24-art-and-creativity.html

A friend of mine, singer/songwriter Carolyn Arends just wrote a great article for Christianity Today, called Saying More Than We Can Say. The subtitle is "Why the arts matter even during a recession". You all should read it.

Here's a wee excerpt to whet your appetite:

"But the arts do even more than help us believe in transformed realities: they kindle faith in unseen realities. My own sense of transcendence is nurtured primarily by beauty—in the created world (mountains, oceans, wildflowers) and in the world we help create (poems, songs, sculpture). By convincing us that there is something more than the material realm of atoms and synapses, the arts open a vista to belief in God."

NB

]]> [email protected] (Nelson Boschman) Art Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:15:26 +0000