The Stifled Arts (and Karitos)

"The only writer you should compare yourself to is the writer you were yesterday," -David Schlosser

After every conference, most notably the Christian Arts Conference, Karitos, I always feel a bit conflicted. 

Part of me is inspired, ready to take on my artistic projects with valor. 

But the other part of me is exhausted and resists coming back into reality. 

check out Karitos here: www.karitos.org

And I think that's kind of a beautiful thing. 

Since I'm hard at work on my novel, and since it's a Christian novel with some prickly content, I've realized something, and it directly pertains to Karitos. 

*Context: to understand where I'm coming from, check out my blog post where I define Christian art.  

One of those is that because I live in such an art-saturated world and mindset, when I come back into reality from Karitos, whether it be work or school or even my own church, things seem . . . wrong. Off. 

And this is because the arts are stifled. Everywhere. And since they're not stifled at Karitos, I have this notion that everything else should be like Karitos. But unfortunately, it's not. 

I can only imagine the healing and restorative power that would go through my church if we had live painters during worship and the sermon. If only we had more space and resources so that everyone who wanted to dance could have a garment and more than enough elbow room. 

Yet, you might argue, that the average church - even a charismatic church - doesn't have the artistic manpower to have professional painters and dramatic sketches and such. 

But I vehemently disagree. There are creative people everywhere - you just have to look a little harder.

This begs the question: why, in even the most spirit-filled churches, are the arts being stuffed down? Why are the arts, and to a larger degree, the Holy Spirit, never allowed to blossom to their full potential? 

The simple answer is that we're afraid. Or, rather, they're afraid. 

But I believe the answer can be more complex, and it can't all be pinned down on the "them" in this equation. 

There's all too often this disconnect between artists and . . . normal people, even in the secular world. 

And this is because the artists, too, are afraid. Everyone's afraid of the arts. 

The key is for the artists who understand their place, and their work, to take the first step in introducing the "normal people" to the Christian arts, so they aren't afraid of them anymore. 

And sometimes that involves putting ourselves out there, even to the people who we think will judge us, think we're weird, not take us seriously. 

Because none of that will matter if even one person is touched by the love and message of Jesus Christ in our especially avant-garde art. 

Which brings me to something Randall Flinn, one of the main stage speakers at Karitos, said, loosely:

"As a Christian artist, if you lose your relevance in the culture, your art loses it's redemptive power."

Christian art is not something to be afraid of. As long as it stays in check with the Holy Spirit, Christian art should be accepted and celebrated in the many forms it takes.

~

I could go on about this for years, but I digress. The arts in the church is an infinitely complex discussion, and I can't cover it all in a simple blog post.  

But a jumping point is this:  the artist must first understand themselves and their place in the church before trying to explain or share it with others. 

Leave your thoughts down below! I'd love to continue this conversation!

~The WordShaker

PG-13 Material in Christian Art

"We write down made up stories to tell the truths we wish we could say out loud," - Linda Schreyer

We've all read The Hunger Games, we've all seen The Breakfast Club. We all know that violence, sex, language and other adult material is rampant in secular media, and, for the most part, we've come to accept it.

But what about adult material in Christian art? Everyone's heard about the ridiculously idealistic Christian movies with terrible scores, everyone has seen the Amish-clad and excessively boring Christian fiction section. For the most part, Christian art is squeaky clean, because, in order for it to succeed, people believe it needs to appeal to that homeschooling mom who gasps in horror at four letter words and won't let her kids watch anything secular. 

There's plenty of Christian media that caters to those kinds of people. 

But what about the rest of us?  Do we have to suffer through cheesy movies, only watching them because they're Christian?  Do we have to read idealistic fiction because it's the only 'pure' thing out there?

Absolutely not. 

But first, the term "Christian art" needs to be defined. In simplest terms, it can be art created by a person who is a Christian, but this can branch off into many different subcategories. 

1. Art that has no Christian themes or motives, but is just creative expression for the sake of sending another message or just art because art is awesome. 

2. Art created specifically for Christians to consume. This art is the most prevalent, and is the squeaky-cleanest. This is meant to uplift and enforce the reader's already Christian beliefs. 

3. Art created to speak to people - to teach them, to comfort them, to uplift them. Whether those people be other Christians - who, remember, are just as broken as the rest of us - or secular people who need to see a message of love in a visual, auditory, or written way. The third definition is usually the most racy. 

Examples of the third definition:

King's Kaleidoscope: A Prayer

Hot by Laura L. Smith 

And this third definition is what I've always found most appealing, especially as I've matured. 

As I grew older, the squeaky clean, cookie cutter and idealistic 'Christian art' wasn't doing it for me anymore. For a while, I searched for Christian books, bands, movies, but came up mostly empty handed. I couldn't find the substance and relatability along with good execution, so I turned to secular art, and, on some level, was able to find all of the above things. 

But still, I was missing something. And the lacking I found in both Christian art and secular art (especially books in my case), inspired me to write two novels which reflected what I knew that Christian art was lacking:

Violence, Sex, Language, Drugs, and Adult Themes

Not that these things are good, but that they are real. The hard things in life are what has made God send his Son to die for our sins, for us. And erasing these things from Christian media only perpetuates the myth that Christians are perfect, or, that once you become a Christian, you will be perfect. 

Including the hard things, the bad things, the dirty things, in your art adds the reality, the relatability, and makes the story of redemption and the saving grace of God even more impactful. 

So hey, by all means, throw some blood at your readers, swear a little, let it all hang out. 

But make sure it's got a good reason. 

~The WordShaker

Karitos 2016

"We do not write to be understood. We write to understand," -C.S. Lewis

Karitos, the Chicago-area Christian Arts event of the year is over, and every time, I wish it didn't go so fast. Even though it was longer this year, it still flew by. 

There were things I loved, and things I was so disappointed about, but I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything. Since I missed last year due to vacation, it was so great to be back in community with other creatives. 

@minimadi16 and me

I saw wonderful familiar faces, like amazing artists Linda Harris-Iorio, Lynn Zuk-Lloyd, seasoned veterans in the writing community, as well as new people that I'll connect with over the year and next year. 

I took some fantastic classes, especially from newbie Howi Tiller, in the theater department who taught classes that I could apply to my writing. 

One of the best was Healing Art from Lynn Zuk-Lloyd. The presence was so heavy, and this was evidenced in everyone's artwork. This is a quick and arguably terrible oil pastel about the epidemic of self harm in my generation, and how God just wants to love them beyond anything they can imagine. 

However, there was a few things that extraordinarily disappointed me. The writing program sucked. Some of my favorite teachers like the wise and captivating Jane Rubietta were nowhere to be found. The deep and technical classes were traded out for discussion based and inspirational classes. While they would benefit a budding and unsure writer, they are extremely shallow and unfitting for a seasoned writer sure in their purpose. 

I found the theater classes, especially ones taught by Howi Tiller, to be enthralling and extremely applicable to my writing. I took a music class for the first time, which was really scary. It was Developing Your Musicianship Through Improvisation, and while it was another good class with an amazing teacher, it still was pushing me out of my comfort zone.

But what disappointed me so much about this wasn't as much of that I didn't learn more about Christian writing, but that I missed the Christian writing community. I missed talking with them and relating to them and being with them. Because, more than anyone else, they're my people. And I missed them. 

Yet again, I got an awesome necklace from the eccentric and amazing Linda Harris-Iorio. This necklace is hand made, and is titled Word Warrior: It's time to write! This lady is awesome I want her to be my grandmother. 

But there were many other, overall significant things of Karitos. God was definitely growing me in the other arts, getting me out of my comfort zone with taking zero writing classes and mostly theater, art, and music classes. I'm secure in my writing, He knows that, we all know that, and I couldn't learn anything, I couldn't grow in the ways I needed to by taking the writing classes (obviously), and I took a step of faith by going to classes I probably never would have taken otherwise. 

Fun times. 

With all of the violence and disarray going on between the races, it was beautiful and downright glorious to see people of every tongue and nation, every age and background, together just shouting praises to God. It truly was a slice of heaven on earth. It was a God-sent example of true Christian unity. 

And I believe that this is significant. It's going to change race relations, one hug and one conversation and one smile at a time. 

Overall, Karitos was thebomb.com. I look forward to going every year. 

~The WordShaker