Transpositions has facilitated a symposium on art, kitsch, and faith.  A series of articles on their blog have got us thinking…

-Do we participate in Christian kitsch (even without realizing it?) How does this participation with kitsch affect us? 

Drew Dixon, in his article “Wearing Out the Faith,” answers:

“Many resort to a ritualistic stance on kitsch. As is often the case as Christians, our passions wane but we maintain rituals–so as we give ourselves over to kitsch, it becomes the way we decorate our cars, bodies, and living spaces. In moments of weakness or failure when we realize our lives don’t match the testimony of our garments and Facebook statuses we are faced with a dilemma. The Christian either attempts to cut ties with kitsch altogether or finds comfort in them–as we imagine them to be expressions of our values and priorities. The former position may seem ideal but is ultimately marred by self righteousness and is impossible to maintain. The latter is a precarious position akin to polishing the outside of the cup (Matthew 23:25-26).

“Christian” kitsch is going to be a part of our lives–it is utterly unavoidable. We can remove our bumper stickers, throw away our T-shirts, and refuse to project our spirituality through social media but kitsch will find us out.

…

Kitsch can make us “think more highly of ourselves than we ought” (Romans 12:3). Thinking of ourselves with “sober judgment” means refusing to define ourselves by our outward projections. And whether we make any attempts to divorce ourselves from kitsch or not, we must be willing to divorce ourselves from it in spirit, and focus our attention on our testimony and our relationships. If our shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and Facebook statuses were cleared away would our closest friends see Christ in us?”

-But why is kitsch bad? Isn’t it just a “lesser good,” a “lower art,”–mediocre, maybe, but certainly not dangerous?

Tim Gorringe, in “Feeling Good about Ourselves While Evil Goes Unchecked,” answers:

For Gorringe, kitsch is “the refusal to be honest about pain and evil; second, that looking at kitsch two tears fall, one at the subject and the other which notes what a tender emotional being I am to be moved by this. Kitsch, we can say, is a particularly vicious version of emotivism…we have to ask why there is no kitsch in the Christian Scriptures. It is not that the texts are shy of emotion: to the contrary. But throughout there is an insistence on seeing reality, seeing it steadily and seeing it whole. Kitsch ducks this insistence.

Is the flight from reality of kitsch characteristic of the People of the Book, in which reality is kept so squarely in view?

…

The emotional dishonesty of kitsch prevents us from facing our own fear and our own shadow.

…

Nothing is more remarkable, in the Messianic writings, than the fact that resurrection story never becomes simply a ‘happy ending’ but rather speaks of hope for God’s peace, justice and coming kingdom.  Christians are not called to be puritans, to deny laughter, tears and joy, but their Scriptures generate a structure of affect in which kitsch has no place. Kitsch, in fact, is one of Satan’s prime stratagems to undermine the gospel, to turn it from something which turns the world upside down to a cheap tinsel decoration which helps us feel ‘good about ourselves’ (one of the mantras of our contemporary culture) whilst allowing injustice to go unchecked. Hundertwasser may have been right that we will never have a world free of kitsch, but we could at least see to it that it does not become part of Christian DNA.”

So for Gorringe, kitsch is a dangerous denial of reality, an attempt to escape from pain, a self-validation of our own thin emotions, and has no part in a Christian worldview, which should be engaging with the reality of suffering, and the real hope of renewal.

-So how does kitsch fail as art? What can art do that kitsch cannot?

In “Wounded for Our Visual Transgressions…” , Betty Spackman addresses this question:

“Good art opens the mind and emotions. It stretches one’s perspective, questions one’s beliefs, agitates apathy, and invites one to explore the mysterious. It can be, I believe, a manifestation of the sacred. Religious kitsch, on the other hand, with its general goal of preaching, is without ambiguity, without questions, without mystery. It closes the mind, confronting or comforting the viewer with prescribed answers.

…

Paradoxically, the simplistic nature of kitsch both conceals and reveals the vestiges of wonder, the underlying mysteries of faith, through the most garish of guises and a disturbing exhibitionism. In a way, kitsch represents a closet desire for spiritual reality, and the creative longing to manifest mystery. In this sense it is a kind of faith in drag.

…

She addresses the importance of visual culture in faith:

“Faith says we shouldn’t need to see but perhaps more than ever we are in a generation of doubting Thomases. However Jesus did not shun Thomas’s desire for visual aids. He bared his chest and opened His hands. He exposed His wounds and offered the possibility that they be handled. I’m sure that moment was as awkward as it was beautiful; sentimental and profound at the same time. I long for this humility and generosity of spirit and pray for us all as artists that this kindness be manifest in the art we put on the street, sell in the store or hang in the gallery, and that we might be able to invite whoever might want to, or need to, poke their fingers at it.”

Spackman claims that in acknowledging the failures of kitsch, we are also affirming the power and potential of art–to open our eyes, to make what we believe material, to reflect truth and inspire response.

From “A Conversation with David Foster Wallace,” interview by Larry McCaffery, Dalkey Archive Press, 1991, via Culture Making.

David Foster Wallace explores what art is, and why it matters that it believe in something. He argues that if this world is only full of badness, then “bad art” would just be–appropriate art.  But humans are more (and long for more) than this “badness,” and flat, shallow art is classified as such because it does not reflect those longings.   Foster Wallace seems to be arguing (inadvertently, perhaps) for art that encompasses the darkness of the world, while also offering a vision of redemption and brilliance in the face of all the badness.

He says:

“Look, if the contemporary condition is hopelessly… insipid, materialistic, emotionally retarded, sadomasochistic, and stupid, then I (or any writer) can get away with slapping together stories with characters who are stupid, vapid, emotionally retarded, which is easy, because these sorts of characters require no development. With descriptions that are simply lists of brand-name consumer products. Where stupid people say insipid stuff to each other. If what’s always distinguished bad writing—flat characters, a narrative world that’s cliched and not recognizably human, etc.—is also a description of today’s world, then bad writing becomes an ingenious mimesis of a bad world. If readers simply believe the world is stupid and shallow and mean, then Ellis can write a mean shallow stupid novel that becomes a mordant deadpan commentary on the badness of everything. Look man, we’d probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid everything is? In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what’s human and magical that still live and glow despite the times’ darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.

…

If you operate, which most of us do, from the premise that there are things about the contemporary U.S. that make it distinctively hard to be a real human being, then maybe half of fiction’s job is to dramatize what it is that makes it tough. The other half is to dramatize the fact that we still “are” human beings, now. Or can be. This isn’t that it’s fiction’s duty to edify or teach, or to make us good little Christians or Republicans; I’m not trying to line up behind Tolstoy or Gardner. I just think that fiction that isn’t exploring what it means to be human today isn’t art. We’ve all got this “literary” fiction that simply monotones that we’re all becoming less and less human, that presents characters without souls or love, characters who really are exhaustively describable in terms of what brands of stuff they wear, and we all buy the books and go like “Golly, what a mordantly effective commentary on contemporary materialism!” But we already “know” U.S. culture is materialistic. This diagnosis can be done in about two lines. It doesn’t engage anybody. What’s engaging and artistically real is, taking it as axiomatic that the present is grotesquely materialistic, how is it that we as human beings still have the capacity for joy, charity, genuine connections, for stuff that doesn’t have a price? And can these capacities be made to thrive? And if so, how, and if not why not?”

THE LEATHERS-SNYDER B&B (in support of the New City Arts Initiative*) is auctioning: A Night of Murder, Mayhem and Mystery!

It was a cold March evening, in 1892—a party was about to begin in the stately home of Captain and Madame Ne’erdowell, when a murder was discovered! All guests attending the event were implicated. Was it Professor Poindexter in the Parlor, Scarlet O’Hara in the Hothouse or Chef Clementine in the Kitchen?

OR maybe it was YOU?!

Bid to win a spirit-filled evening at the Leathers B&B and discover who among your friends is the true culprit!

- Participants receive clues in advance and attend in character.

- Guests will enjoy champagne, hors d’oeuvres (provided by Everyday Cafe), and dessert during the evening, while roaming through the Victorian Inn!

- Game scripts for 6-8 participants (… costumes are up to you!)

Bidding begins at $400—approx. donation of $50-66 per person. Bids accepted through Feb 25th. Murder by appointment only, subject to availability of Inn. Send letter of intent to Susan or call 434-974-7285.

*Auction to benefit Arts Forum April 20-22, 2012. This event is a collaborative effort among Charlottesville arts organizations, local businesses, and the University community. A few of the many presenters include Dean Dass (UVa McIntire Department of Art), Maggie Guggenheimer (Piedmont Council for the Arts), Steve Taylor (Second Street Gallery), Jamie Bennett (National Endowment for the Arts, Chief of Staff), Howard Singerman (UVa McIntire Department of Art), Nicholas Wolterstorff (Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture) and Greg Kelly (The Bridge PAI). — You can find a full presenter list and description of the event here.

Ever wished that there was some kind of cupid cyclist to deliver delicious baked goods to your crush’s door?  Ever lamented at the lack of adults willing to dress up as cherubs and–using some eco-friendly mode of transportation–spread love and scones?

Well, then get ready for the 8th annual Bake ‘N Bike fundraiser to benefit Books Behind Bars and Community Bikes. Every year Bake ‘N Bike raises well over $1000 for these organizations, and with your help, they can raise even more this year!

This fundraiser will be held on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, February 14th, all day, but orders should be placed in advance. For a $15-20 donation, cherubic bicycle-riding cupids will deliver a half dozen freshly baked, heart shaped, fairly traded chocolate chip scones – complete with a homemade card – to your door (or your honey’s/friend’s/co-worker’s door) in town. If you want to get scones but you live outside town, the scones will be available for pick up at the Quest Book Shop.

Place your orders soon! To do so, please call Patrick Costello at (703) 785-2186 or email him!

If you are interested in volunteering the day of, or helping with publicity in the weeks before, please let Bake ‘N Bike know here.

Many of you have been hearing about this forum recently, and we couldn’t be more excited to announce it formally in the coming weeks. Pending some additional funding*, we are about ready to open the website for registration and invite you to Charlottesville in April for an event we’re calling a forum because a conference sounds, so, well, conferenc-y.

Some of your favorite people will be presenting in pairs. Dean Dass and Adam Wolpa. Maggie Guggenheimer and Steve Taylor. Greg Kelly and Kate Daughdrill. Russell Willis Taylor and Jamie Bennett. Howard Singerman and Nicholas Wolterstorff.

Ben Wardell is going to be dancing alongside a performance arranged by Isaac Wardell.

And we’re going to feed you well (thanks to A Pimento).

It will be at The Haven, Christ Church, and Random Row Books on April 20-22, 2012. Registration will be open soon. We’re anticipating that we’ll keep it around $99/person, and we’ll have a handful of scholarships available. That price gets you admission to 6 sessions, a secret dinner, a lovely performance, and a Sunday brunch. You’re practically saving money by hanging out with us in late April.

If you’re in town, we’re excited to organize a weekend of awesomeness for you. If you’re out of town, we’re excited to finally bring you here!

*If you are interested in sponsoring this event, we’d love to have you on board. Email Maureen with inquiries.

Last Friday, New City Arts gathered for the fourth edition of Round Table, a lecture series purposefully staged in people’s homes around town.

Although the word “hobby” is often scrutinized, the word does describe the series’ thread: what people care about. The premise of Round Table is that specialization in our work has led us to new forms of isolation (says Harry Frankfurt), and while we might be really good at what we do, many of us are also experts on something else– something that we care about… like chairs.

Round Table IV was, in fact, on chairs. Much of the lecture was actually about the history of art and craft. Though, that was all just a set up to talk about chairs.

Nicholas Wolterstorff, a brilliant philosopher most known for his work on peace and justice, has written a handful of essays on the topic of craft and has spent much of his married life collecting chairs with his wife, Claire. He brought one of these chairs to the Lanterman’s living room, where he presented and we discussed– while eating carrot cake, scones, and truffles made by Erin Sheets, and sipping wine, graciously provided by the Taggart’s.

Near the end of the discussion, someone asked Nick, “Why chairs? Why do you care about good chair design?”

Nick paused and replied, “Ennobling the ordinary. Good chair design ennobles the ordinary.”

We’ll just leave you with that, a few photos of the evening, and some anticipation for February’s event on fashion.

Round Table was initiated by Philip Lorish, the brains and facilitator behind the event. If you have questions about participating, we’d love to hear from you. Just email Maureen.

We recently updated our Resources tab to point you to this amazing resource over at Piedmont Council for the Arts.

PCA has compiled a comprehensive listing of arts volunteer opportunities, available tickets, calls for entry, arts classes, free and low-cost arts events, among other artsy things that might peak your interest.

One of the most valuable resources is this listing of arts scholarships, grants, fellowships, and internships. The Bridge wants an intern. ArtCorps is looking for artists to live and work in Guatemala or Belize this June. The Naomi Winston Scholarship will provide up to $5,000 for young artists to pursue advanced training in art. And there’s more!

Look around– you might find an opportunity that you didn’t know you were looking for!

In “Birmingham is Not New York: 5 Cautions for Arts Ministry,” P.D. Young presents several questions and challenges to Christians and churches interested in starting an arts ministry.

He encourages Christians to listen and see, first and foremost.  To listen to and see the contemporary art scene, to become familiar with contemporary artists and the work that they are producing.  He encourages Christians to listen to the secular discourse on art, and not be content with the only reading and referencing what Christians have written on art–Christians who are often admittedly not experts.  Dan Siedell and his book God in the Gallery is an excellent exception; a book by an excellent art scholar, focused on how to thoughtful engage with contemporary art as Christians.

He encourages Christians to allow their vision to be shaped by their local arts culture.  Why try to bring a certain arts culture to a region that is already vibrant with art in another tradition?  Celebrate what is already alive and vibrant in your community, says Young.

Young questions phrases such as “redeeming art,” that have become common in Christian dialogue about engaging the arts. “The language of redeeming art has become ubiquitous within the evangelical blogosphere. Evangelicals seem to possess a collective zeal combined with an even stronger confusion about how to “redeem” or “engage” art. I do not think it can be, but if you insist on attempting to “redeem art,” be as painfully clear as you can about what that means. If you want Christian artists to find clever ways to communicate the Christian message in their works, then say that. If you want to find contemporary bronze serpents that point to Christ, then say that. The grandiose language of redeeming art is unhelpful at best.”

Young advocates honesty, openness, and careful, active listening as the basis for any arts ministry. No attempts to trick viewers or artists, and no false assumptions about what art is, or what it should be.

And isn’t that how Christians should engage every part of the world, not just art–loving and celebrating the beauty and vibrancy that is there, and struggling to understand the brokenness and glory that exist side by side?

Taylor Harris at C-Ville Weekly has written a wonderful bio of Ebony Walden, a former NCAI board member. Read it in its entirety here.

“Finding beauty in brokenness. Rebuilding the ruins. Giving voice to the voiceless.
These phrases are more than talking points for 31-year-old Ebony Walden. They are the juxtapositions that have shaped her life.
After graduating from Georgetown and the University of Virginia, Walden made it a mission to empower others. This year, she will train Charlottesville residents to affect change in their communities through the city’s Neighborhood Leadership Institute.Now a planner with the city’s Neighborhood Development Services, Walden has long been passionate about redeveloping urban areas. “Particularly,” she says, “low-income African-American areas, because I grew up basically pretty poor and on welfare.”

…

The multi-talented planner sees poetry as another way to express agency. In 2009, she founded WordSmith Poetry and began hosting monthly jams. Last year, she traveled to 17 countries on her Poetic Justice World Tour.

“The world is such a beautiful place, but it’s also such a broken place,” says Walden. “I think there’s a lot of beauty in the broken spaces.”

…

On confidence:
“It really comes from having your identity in the right place. It’s having my identity in Christ
—that I know who I am. That I’m completely loved and completely accepted…All I have to do
is be me, and that’s great. I have a lot of flaws, but I think I’m coming into what it means to be completely myself, because that’s who God has made me.” “

The Haven’s Second Annual Art Auction, “There’s No Place Like Home” is Thursday, December 1st at 6pm!

We’re looking for art submissions, especially for the Homemade Pop-Up Shop.

At New City Arts, as the weather cools and the holiday season rolls around, we begin looking for any excuse whatsoever to start little homemade projects.  The kind that seem a little frivolous, a little indulgent. And here’s a great excuse to start a couple projects and donate them to the Pop-Up Shop!

Anything handmade and full of love–from jam to jewelry to handknits to those weird little woven potholders.If you can make it, we will take it!  And it all goes to a great cause: supporting the Haven in their care for the homeless community in Charlottesville.  Contact us here for more information, or if you’re interested in crafting (and let’s be honest, who isn’t!)