Upcoming Months: Remember Field Trips?

Remember being a kid and the excitement of a field trip. You got to be away from school halls, books and paper. Instead, you got to engage something through first-hand observation or experience.

Well, over the next few months you will have the opportunity as an artist to embrace field trips again. The idea is simple; gather, go see some things, get to know one another as artists and talk about what we saw.

So, here is what is happening:

Sat. February 27th: Trip to Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor's home in Milledgeville, GA

Sat. March 13th: Danielson Show in Athens, GA

Sat. March 27th: Atlanta Architectural Tour with host architect, Thomas Hardy

Sat. April 10th: Easter Garden Tour with host landscape designer, Brendan Butler

Fri. May 14th: Art Gallery Hoppin' with host artist, Jeff Guy

(This is just a short list, more details will follow.)

For each of these, we will meet at the church on said day and carpool to our destinations. If you wish to join us, email me (Jeff Guy) and I'll add you to our numbers. Mark your calendars and I hope to see you there!

"Advent" & Other Poems by Scott Cairns

As Advent comes to a close, I still need reminders to be watchful, to repent and guard the mystery of Christ’s birth in my heart. If I don’t, I know what the outcome will be. The holy feast of the Lord’s nativity will be swallowed up by the traveling-eating-partying-shopping mania around me. It’s happened before. I found one such reminder this morning in a podcast by poet and professor Scott Cairns—“Flesh Becomes Word: The Incarnational Poetry of Scott Cairns.” A fitting title for the season, no?

Scott begins with his poem “Advent,” which is typed below. He continues with several others that are well worth hearing (even if not strictly Advent-themed selections), so I hope you'll stick around for the full episode.

Listen here.

Advent

Well, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas—everywhere, children eyeing the bright lights and colorful goods, traffic a good deal worse than usual and most adults in view looking a little puzzled, blinking their eyes against the assault of stammering bulbs and public displays of goodwill. We were all embarrassed, frankly, the haves and the have-nots—all of us aware something had gone far wrong with an entire season, something had eluded us. And, well, it was strenuous, trying to recall what it was that had charmed us so, back when we were much smaller and more oblivious than not concerning the weather, mass marketing, the insufficiently hidden faces behind those white beards and other jolly gear. And there was something else: a general diminishment whose symptoms included the Xs in Xmas, shortened tempers, and the aggressive abandon with which most celebrants seemed to push their shiny cars about. All of this seemed to accumulate like wet snow, or like the fog with which our habitual inversion tried to choke us, or to blank us out altogether, so that, of a given night, all that appeared over the mess we had made of the season was what might be described as a nearly obscured radiance, just visible through the gauze, either the moon disguised by a winter veil, or some lost star—isolated, distant, sadly dismissing of us, and of all our expertly managed scene.

-from the Compass of Affection: Poems New and Selected

Upcoming Events in our Community

I want to take some time to let you know about what is coming up this month in our community.

Tomorrow, Tuesday December 1st, we will be having our monthly Artist Community Night at Tilt Coffee. We will meet at 8pm. These evenings are a great way to give and receive encouragement as artists and as fellow believers, to connect with others in our community, and to hear about what others in our community are currently working on. If you haven't been able to make it to one of these evenings yet, I encourage you to make it out to Tilt tomorrow evening! If you have any questions feel free to email myself or Jeff Guy.

Also Monday 7th we will be having our second 5x15 night at Trinity Vineyard. 15 artists of varying disciplines each with 5 minutes to share and present. Whether you are an Artist or Art Patron, you won't want to miss this evening!

Trinity Artists 5x15 06-08-09: Thomas Hardy

Architect, Thomas Hardy shares a great project with us.
(my apologies for the lack of video posts as of recent)

on spiritual practices and art-making

Walking Home From Work

Acrylic and Thread on Canvas, 38" x 56"

by Whitney Stansell

It's striking how parallel the spiritual practices are to the disciplines required of an artist. Meditation, prayer, simplicity...

Annie Dillard, in her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek* says:

"The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But - and this is the point - who gets excited by a mere penny? It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won’t stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty, bought a lifetime of days" (pg 8)

God, with his "generous hand" has given us the gift of creation. One of our roles as both artists and believers is to delight and wonder in this creation. It's an exercise in slowing down, stopping to smell the dogwoods, and finding the pennies. It's an exercise in both contemplation and meditation. And it's a necessary part of our growth as artists and Christians.

It requires patience - there is a discipline to slowing down and taking notice of the small stuff of life. As adults we have largely lost this practice, but spend any time with the Trinity Kids and you'll surely want to recover the fascination (and accompanied delight) in carpet patterns, tiny bugs and cloud formations. Finding pennies will once again make your day, and you'll be brimming over with delight and wonder.

Certainly it requires humility - as an artist, recognizing you are not the source of the inspiration, the good idea, or even the materials themselves. In other words, swallowing your pride and realizing the gifts (these little pennies) were placed in the world by someone bigger than ourselves. We can't take credit for that, no matter how cool we think our art is. It requires, as Dillard puts it, a "healthy poverty" and that requires the discipline of simplicity.

As you walk, or drive through the streets of Atlanta, may your eyes be opened to find pennies everywhere. And may Trinity's arts community in turn, become a community that has cultivated "a healthy poverty and simplicity."

* This book is available through the Trinity arts library. See Jeff Guy to borrow a copy (or choose from many other titles).