Article-Based Discussions

On Discipline

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Context:

Carey Wallace is an enterprising author and creative catalyst, having published her debut novel, The Blind Contessa's New Machine, in 2010, co-founding and running The Hillbilly Underground (an annual creative retreat in Michigan) and conceiving and installing IAM's Working Artists Initiative.

In this article published by Canadian cultural magazine Comment, Wallace writes:

Discipline is not a mystery.

Its elements are so simple they can seem mocking. Put down the extra slice of bread. Run one more mile. Pick up the pen, or brush, or violin.

It's no more complicated in the creative spheres. But it's every bit as elusive there as it is in the world at large. "I want to make work," people often confess to me when they discover I'm a working writer. "I just never seem to get to it."

The practical solution to their problem barely amounts to a paragraph. Choose a time to make work and hold that time inviolate, I tell them. If you lack inspiration, wait. Don't do anything else. The work will come.

Click here to read the whole article.

Discussion Questions:

Share about an experience when you have been creatively "stuck." What, if any, habits helped you continue to create through that season?
What are the strong habits that make strong work?
Carey Wallace writes, "The question of artistic discipline, the central problem of a working artist's life, is almost taboo, perhaps because the answers are at once so obvious and so daunting. Tellingly, the artists who do have strong habits—the writer you can never see on weekends, because she's always tapping away at a new manuscript, the painter who disappears into her studio every other evening, despite working full-time hours—are the ones who are also carving out names for themselves in their respective fields." Discuss one artist whose work habits you know. Describe them. How does your own art practice compare?
Wallace writes of the correlation between spiritual practice and art practice. How does that play out in your life? Discuss your spiritual discipline and artistic discipline. Do you see the correlation too?
At the end of the day, does artistic success come down to inspiration or discipline? Explain your answer.

Thanks to Jen DeHuff, co-leader of IAM's NYC group, for suggesting this great resource!

A Letter to Young Artists

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Context:
Makoto Fujimura has been called, "one of the best painters alive." His abstract paintings can be seen in galleries, museums, and private and public arenas all over the world. In addition to his exquisite paintings, Mako is a prolific writer of essays and books, which can be found on his blog and web site.

Mako wrote his essay, "A Letter to Young Artists," for Michael Card's Scribbling in the Sand. Today, we would like to reflect on the content of this letter.

Discussion Questions:

What are your earliest memories of your own artistic expression? How does that compare to your current expressions?
Share some reflections on how your artistic expression was affected by formal training.
Mako refers to "future grace." Is this concept, as described in his letter, something you have thought about before? How about now? Share some reflections on the role of future grace in your development as an artist.
"Strict moralism has never produced good art." What do you think of this statement? Unpack it a bit together in the group.
Suggestions for artists in this article deal with creative freedom ("Don't be a critic when you create"), artistic discipline ("Give yourself boundaries and goals; start with small things, like having a small table dedicated to your poems.") and spiritual practice ("Pray. Even if you do not regard yourself as religious, pray. As Simone Weil wrote, “Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.” Artists know instinctively the artistry behind the prayer of the faithful.") Discuss these suggestions as they relate to your own art practice.

(Thanks to Morgan Riles of IAM NYC for suggesting this article.)

One Person's Trash is Another Person's Treasure

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Context:
An old, broken urinal is photographed, and it is immediately elevated from garbage to "art." (*) An artist collects odds and ends, assembles them into a narrative, and in their new configuration, they are placed behind glass in museums, where people pay to study them. (**) Terms like "readymade" and "found objects" are applied to this form of art. Musical instruments are also sometimes constructed from found objects, most notably by street performers and buskers using plastic tubs and metal utensils to create percussion music. No where does the old adage, "one person's trash is another person's treasure," serve more profoundly than in the world of the arts.

For the context of this discussion, please refer to the following articles: "Trash Transformed," Jeffrey Overstreet's review of Lucy Walker's rehumanizing documentary film, Waste Land, and Image Journal's profile of found objects artist Barry Krammes.

We will discuss the concept of how "trash" becomes "treasure" through art, and the power of art and beauty to redeem that which has been discarded, whether human or inanimate.

Discussion Questions:

1. Share a personal "trash to treasure" experience, whether in your art or simply in your everyday life.

2. What are your thoughts on found object art? Do you see beauty in found objects? Explain.

3. What are your thoughts on this community that makes art from the trash that surrounds them? What does it say about them that they create images of themselves, under the guidance of the artist Muniz, from trash? Is this, in fact, redemptive? How so or why not?

4. We usually think of "trash" becoming treasure, but can you describe a time when something that most people would consider "treasure" is treated as trash?

5. Regarding your art (music, writing, compositions, photography, painting, illustration, etc.), what has the role of academic critique played in whether you see your work as "trash" or "treasure?" How has critique influenced how you value your own work?

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_%28Duchamp%29
** http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/beuys/room9.shtml

What is Art?

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

What is Art?
Considerations for conscious art-making: a five-week curriculum based on newspaper and magazine articles.

Week One:
"Art Galleries With Less of a Profit Motive Flourish in Brooklyn"
New York Times, 7 March 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/nyregion/07metjournal.html

What is the purpose of the gallery in the art world? What is the purpose of the gallery in the business world? How does the gallery differ from the museum?
What kind of institutions and organizations function like a gallery in artistic genres other than visual art, such as music, film, dance, and so on?
The owner of Ad Hoc gallery in Bushwick says he is encouraging artists to make smaller pieces, which he can then sell at lower prices. How do you feel about gallerists who make suggestions to their artists? What is the role of the gallerist in the work of the artist? If you were one of his artists, would you take his suggestion?
The article outlines several gallerists who are more motivated by "getting back to the basics, finding good work and putting it up," than money making, How successful do you think this paradigm will be in finding good art? How sustainable is it? Is this a model of working outside the system, or of finding a new way to use the system?
Some of the gallerists in this article talk about "putting artists back into the equation." What characteristics would an art world that puts the artist in to the equation have? How would the gallery contribute? How would the potential patrons or buyers contribute? How would the artists contribute?
Is this a model you see in your own community? Is it one you'd like to see started? How might you become a catalyst for this kind of organization in your region?

_____________________________________________________________________

Week Two:
"What is Art for?"
New York Times, 16 November 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/magazine/16hyde-t.html

Lewis Hyde's classic book, The Gift, posits that art is meant to be a figt, rather than a commodity. How do you feel about this assertion? What would it mean for art to be treated as a gift? Do you think it is possible in our economy?
The article states: "For centuries people have been speaking of talent and inspiration as gifts; Hyde's basic argument was that this language must extend to the products of talent and inspiration too. Unlike a commodity, whose value begins to decline the moment it changes hands, an artwork gains in value from the act of being circulated - published, shown, written about, passed from generation to generation - from being, at its core, an offering." How might this view of art - of increasing in value as it exchanges hands - radicalize the way that artists consider their work? Would this have an effect on how you make your art?
How does copyright law affect you? What do you think of Hyde's stance on copyright law? Should artwork be copyrighted? Is it a necessity, or just an unfortunate product of our society?
The article states: "[The founding fathers believed that] an American's land was his own - he owed allegience to no sovereign - but his ownership imposed on him an almost savred moral requirement to contribute to the public good. According to Hyde, this ethic of 'civic republicanism' was the ideological engine that drove the founders' conception of intellectual property, and to his mind, it undercuts the ethic of 'commercial republicanism' that dominates our current conception of it. Our right to property is not absolute; our possessions are held in trust, as it were. Seen through the prism of early civic Republicanism, Hyde asks, what might the creative self look like? Do we imagine that self as 'solitary and self-made'? Or as 'collective, common and interdependent'?" How do you answer Hyde's questions?
Hyde talks about the myth of the self-made man or the self-reliant artist. Do you agree? Do you consider youself self-made? If not, who was important in your development as a person and an artist?
How might you implement the idea of "art as a gift" in your own community?

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Week Three:
"Clear-Eyed Movies for Hard Times"
New York Times, 17 March 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/magazine/22neorealism-t.html
Suggested pre-discussion watching:
- Wendy and Lucy
- Goodbye Solo
- Treeless Mountain

What is your answer to the question, "What kind of movies do we need now?"
During the Great Depression, many escapist films were made. What do you think about A.O. Scott's assertion that today we want to escape from escapism? What do you think today's Hollywood movies are built around? Is escapism wrong?
In the article, neo-neorealist director Ramin Bahrani states that "Hollywood wish-fulfillment tales - or the faux-independent dramas of adversity followed by third-redemption - did not strike him as hopeful at all. 'They just don't make any sense,' he said, 'They create massive confusion.'" What do you think? Are these films filled with redemption, or empty hope?
Why do you suppose this neo-realist strain of filmmaking pops up in different cultures at different times?
What kind of art ought artists to be making in times of uncertainty?

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Week Four:
"The Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art"
Books & Culture, May/June 2009

http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2009/mayjun/onthestrangeplaceofreligionincontemporaryart.html

Assume for a moment that Elkins' claim - that religious art has no place in the serious art world - is true. Why might that be so?
Elkins' definition of art is "institutional" (museums, galleries, contemporary art publications). He says this is not the philosophical definition of art, but a practical one. What, in your community, constitutes and defines the art worlds? (Think beyond visual art.)
In his response, Bruce Herman asks "not whether religious art has relevance to the current New York or L.A. art scene, but whether or not these art worlds have any place in the bigger picture of tradition." Do you think today's contemporary art world will have a lasting impact into the future? Who are some contemporary artists whom you think may be included in the canon?
James Romaine, in his response, talks about projects such as Richter's stained glass window as an example of the sacred in contemporary art. What do you think of this argument? What do you think, in general, about churches who commission well-known (but not necessarily religious) artists to do work for their buildings? Does this help build bridges, or does it ignore artists within the church? Should a person's religious beliefs batter in that situation?
Respond to Bruce Ellis Benson's questions: "First, why must religious art be ironic and uncertain in order to be accepted as "genuine" art? Second, what would it take for that requirement to change?
Respond to Theodore Prescott's questions: "What change would allow religion into the contemporary art world Elkins describes? If the answer to the question is "no change is possible," what power or authority keeps that world fixed on this one point?"
Do you agree with Elkins' response to the discussion?

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Week Five:
"Tough Times Call for Shrewd Artists"
New York Times, 15 February 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/arts/design/15spea.html?_r=1

The article points out that artists have often found ways to support their endeavors, and even thrive, in the midst of economic downturn. It alludes to this as something particularly built into the American psyche: the populist spirit and, by extension, ingenuity and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Does this seem to you to be an American phenomenon, or is it something particularly human?
In your opinion, have artists such as Thomas Sully, who survive by consciously painting things that they know people will buy, sold out, or are they making a shrewd business decision? Is the art produced less legitimate?
Think back to a time when artists predominately worked for hire, making portraits, triptychs, or other pieces that were commissioned by patrons. Is the situation different today than it was back then? If so, how?
Consider the work of Thomas Hart Benton. From the article: "It was really an encyclopedic commentary on American civilization as he saw it,” Mr. Hyland said. “He wanted to point out that even though there was record unemployment, and people were rummaging through garbage for food, there was a dynamism and spirit that was different in our country.” If this feels a bit like propaganda, it was also what the public craved, Ms. Haskell said. Benton became the whipping boy of Abstract Expressionists during the economic boom after World War II, but in the ’30s, she said, “the realists seemed the most emblematic of the spirit of the times.” Does Hart's work gain or lose legitimacy, or is it unaffected by its circumstances?
How can you, as an artist or someone who cares about artists, help to pull through these "tough times"? How can you help artists in your community?
What is the purpose of art? Should art have a purpose? Does different art have different purposes? When should you consider the purpose before you make the art, and when should you disregard purpose altogether?

Refractions

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

An eight-week curriculum based on excerpts from Makoto Fujimura's book Refractions.

INTRODUCTION

“Art ‘should cause violence to be set aside’ because to Tolstoy, who wrote under totalitarian oppression, art expresses the desire for, and instinct toward, freedom, justice, and beauty.
Tolstoy’s argument for this ideal for the arts continues: ‘The destiny of art in our time is to transmit from the realm of reason to the realm of feeling the truth.’ In other words, the language of the arts translates the universal longing for peace into the tangible experience of the desire for peace. The arts provide us with language for mediating the broken relational and cultural divides: the arts can model for us how we need to value each person as created in the image of God.” (11)

1. What do you make of Leo Tolstoy’s argument that art should cause violence to be set aside?

2. What is rehumanization? What does rehumanization look like in the “ground zeros” of the
world?

3. Fujimura states that “in order to find hope, even in the midst of the broken and torn fragments of relationships, in order to begin to journey into the heart of the divide, we must first wrestle with the deeper issues of faith. We must be willing to be broken ourselves into prismatic shards by the Master Artist . . .” How can art help us in this breaking process? How can it help us heal?

4. Where is the “ground zero” in your community? How can art help address those areas of violence or devastation?

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A SECOND WIND

“An artist needs to be attuned to the nuances and subtleties of life in order to create. For me, this means paying attention to the materials I use. I need to know them in the same way that a writer would know, and love, his or her words. Thus, when I open my jar of azurite to pour coarsely ground minerals into a white porcelain Japanese bowl and ladle in melted hide glue to mix, I begin to attune myself to another reality. The grains of sand being pushed about under my fingers begin to tap into the intuitive creative core of my existence, but this arena also hungers for the sensual reality of earth underneath my fingers. Each grain of sand must be saturated with glue, which forms a protective surface that will act both as a binder and a form of varnish. So I am squeezing out the air in the process of mixing. But I am also squeezing out the unnecessary concerns life, the intrusive voices that prevent me from focusing on the inner core. This daily ritual opens my senses to the reality of creativity. And my senses, soon engaged, propel me into a timeful journey again.” (16-17)

1. At the beginning of the essay is the story of Dana Gioia, who became one of the most celebrated and prolific writers of our time while working as a vice president at General Foods (and later the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts). What do find prevents you from being creative?

2. What is “eternal timefullness”? When have you had an experience of eternal timefulness?

3. What rituals or practices can you instate in your own life to pursue eternal timefullness and that “second wind”?

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BERT'S DISAPPEARING WEATHER MAPS

“Artists are often found at the margins of society, but they are, like the shepherds, often the first to notice the miracles taking place right in front of us. Since sensationalism, power, and wealth dominate our cultural imaginations, we may not be willing to journey to the ephemeral, as the Japanese poets of old have, to see beauty in the disappearing lines or to see poetry in a drying puddle of water. The world seems to demand of us artist-types that we be able to explain and justify our actions, but often the power and mystery of art and life cannot be explained by normative words.” (27-28)

1. Who is an artist? What makes an artist different?

2. How do you practice recognizing the artistry in people we might not normally consider an art – like Bert?

3. What can we do in our everyday lives to cultivate an appreciation of the miracles in front of us?

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FALLEN TOWERS AND THE ART OF TEA

“TriBeCa Temporary would be a small conceptual space, then, a Ground Zero teahouse. After six months of exhibits, performances, poetry readings, and prayer gatherings, we realized the dire need for such “safe” spaces for artists to struggle together, places not found readily in the arts community in New York City. Many artists commented on how liberating it was to exhibit their work, not based on agendas and commercial rules, but simply in vulnerability. In such a space, incomplete gestures were acceptable and even preferred. Perhaps being temporary indefinable is the most honest statement that can be made about our post-9/11 expression. Such incomplete gestures must be made because the reality of the present darkness beckons us to respond.” (54)

1. What is the attitude toward artists and art in your community?

2. Where are the broken places in your community? How can art go toward not fixing, but addressing those places – not go over darkness, but through it, to bring about shalom?

3. How can you cultivate metanoia – a culture of repentance - in your community?

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WHY ART?

“Art is a building block of civilization. A civilization that does not value its artistic expressions is a civilization that does not value itself. These tangible artistic expressions help us to understand ourselves. The arts teach us to respect both the diversity of our communities and the strength of our traditions. I encourage people not to segment art into an ‘extra’ sphere of life or to see art as mere decorations. Why? Because art is everywhere and has already taken root in our lives. Therefore, the question is not so much ‘why art?’ but ‘which art?’ In other words, our worlds are filled with art that we have already chosen for our walls, our iPods, and our bookshelves. We become patrons of the arts by going to see movies, plays, and concerts or by watching television. We are presented with a choice, and this choice is a responsibility of cultural stewardship. Just as we have responsibility for natural resources, so do we have responsibility to be stewards of our culture.” (111)

1. Why is art important? What does Fujimura mean when he says “art is a building block of civilization”?

2. What daily practices might be seen as art? What about cooking? Teaching? Mothering? Conversing?

3. How does art define what people see as life?

4. What would responsible cultural patronage look like in your community?

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PLANTING SEEDLINGS IN STONE: ART IN NEW YORK CITY

“At the same time, disintegration is also unfolding. In the corrupted human condition that hijacks the process of creativity, that blindly forges a new world of engrossment, we disrupt the process of integration. The main cause of this corruption, or the pollution in the aesthetic river of culture, is self-aggrandizement and a type of embezzlement made in the name of advancing the creative arts. As a culture, we do not know how best to address and speak about this problem. We think that any type of progress is good . . . We pollute the cultural landscape with irresponsible expressions in the name of progress and call them freedom of speech. Thus, our cultural landscape is increasingly uninhabitable. If we cannot dwell inside the imaginative landscape of what is offered, then what is the purpose of creativity?” (122-123)

1. How can you understand and steward today’s contemporary art culture as it manifests itself in the culture at large? In your community?

2. How can artists and creative catalysts be forces for reconciliation, not disconnection, between the urban and agrarian, nature and humanity?

3. In your community, how can artists and people in other professions businesspeople, educators, religious leaders, scientists, doctors, government – work together to bring about renewal of culture?

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FRA ANGELICO AND THE FIVE-HUNDRED-YEAR QUESTION

“What is the five-hundred-year question? Well, it’s a long-term, historical look at the reality of our cultures that asks, What ideas, what art, what vision in our current culture has the capacity to affect humanity for more than five hundred years? It’s the opposite of the Warholian ‘fifteen minutes of fame.’ It’s also a question I raise to my teenagers, whose culture celebrates immediate gratification, also seeking after ‘fifteen minutes of fame.’ If our decisions matter and make ripple effects in the world, then should we not weigh what we say and do in light of the five-hundred-year question?” (141-142)

1. How do we look at what we do as human beings – while considering not the next fifteen minutes, or even generation, but the next five hundred years?

2. In your opinion, is it worth considering the next five hundred years? What do the things you do – or don’t do – in your daily life and work say about how far into the future you are looking?

3. How can art, specifically, speak to this five-hundred-year vision? How does good art raise the five-hundred-year question?

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OPERATION HOMECOMING: EPISTLES OF INJURY

“After listening to account after account of Afghan and Iraqi soldiers and their families, here was another revelation: I too live in a war zone. A different milder version for sure, sanitized and better packaged. Photos of the bright new facades of ‘you can have it all’ condominiums, to be completed in 2010, try to convince us that we are all better in downtown Manhattan. Their airbrushed architectural renderings are what a friend calls ‘architectural pron.’ But, nevertheless, I live and raise my family in a place called Ground Zero, and reading Operation Homecoming opened my eyes to see the invisible collateral of a war far away, shadowing us everywhere. However, there are visible scars in culture. The battle is about the imaginative territories of hope against fears, the sacrifice of love against a misplaced devotion, the anger of revenge against forgiveness.” (163)

1. Fujimura points out that art, and our cultural landscapes, are dominated by wartime experiences – from Iraq to Lancaster. How does art help us cope with the war in our lives, communities, and world?

2. How can artists bring a voice to the fragile but heroic voices in the face of violence?

3. Our sacrifices will not end injustice, but we are still called to sacrifice. How can we sacrifice in our art and work?

On Genius and Making Art

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400

On Genius and Making Art - A five-week curriculum based on newspaper and magazine articles.

Week 1:
Late Bloomers
Malcolm Gladwell
The New Yorker, 20 October 2008

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/20/081020fa_fact_gladwell

At the beginning of the article, Gladwell tells the story of Ben Fountain, a "young writer" struggling with little success for eighteen years before publishing his much-lauded short story collection. What strikes you about Fountain's story?
What do you make of our culture's idea that genius is "inextricably tied up with precocity"? Why do you suppose we think this? Are there disciplines in which youth is naturally a hindrance to success?
How do you approach your work - are you a conceptual worker, or are you an experimental worker? Are your goals precise? Why do you work the way you do?
Gladwell says, "On the road to great achievement, the late bloomer will resemble a faillure: while the late bloomer is revising and despairing and changing course and slashing canvases to ribbons after months or years, what he or she produces will look like the kind of thing produced by the artist who will never bloom at all." How has the cultural prejudice against late bloomers (according to Gladwell's assertion) affected your minset when you approach your work, or consider the work of another?
Both Fountain and Foer are celebrated novelists. What are the differences between their approaches? How might they be the same?
Gladwell concludes by proposing that "his or her success is highly contingent on the efforts of others." How can your community help support and affirm the late bloomers among you?

__________________________________________________________________

Week 2:
The Art of Fiction No. 198
An Interview with Marilynne Robinson
The Paris Review, Fall 2008

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5863/the-art-of-fiction-no-198-marilynne-robinson

When asked if she was worried that teaching creative writing (at the highly prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop) would compromise her creative energies, Robinson responds that teaching actually offers a reprieve. Which of your pursuits threaten to sap your creative energy? How might they present a blessing in disguise?
What do you make of Robinson's assertion: "I don't like categories like religious and not religious. As soon as religion draws a line around itself it becomes falsified. It seems to me that anything that is written compassionately and perceptively probably satisfies every definition of religious whether a writer intends it to be religious or not"?
Robinson asserts that views of beauty change across cultures, and are sometimes morally reprehensible. She says that we have our own versions of that now, but that it is simply human behavior, not a sign of some special moral decline. Do you agree or disagree? Can you think of cultural definitions of beauty that are morally reprehensible? What about ones that promote truth or goodness?
Robinson says that "I don't try to teach a technique, because frankly most technical problems go away when a writer realizes where the life of a story lies . . . When people are fully engaged with what they're writing, a striking change occurs, a discipline of language and imagination." Do you have practices that help you fully engage with your work? What changes occur in your work when you are fully engaged?
Even as accomplished a writer as Robinson says that for her, the difficulty of writing "cannot be overstated," and that she is "incapable of discipline." Do you find that encouraging, or discouraging? How can you encourage your community toward honest admission of difficulty?

__________________________________________________________________

Week 3:
Can Creative Writing Be Taught?
Louis Menand
The New Yorker, 8 June 2009

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/06/08/090608crat_atlarge_menand

Do you think creative writing - or other creative work - can be taught?
What, in your mind, is the greatest drawback of higher education in creative fields? What is the greatest benefit?
Have you engaged in or considered attending classes in your discipline? What was your experience? How did it affect the way you viewed your own work?
What is the rule of education and apprenticeship in the arts? How has that role evolved over time?
What is a practical way in which your community might be able to replicate the most helpful aspects of an educational program amongst yourselves?

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Week 4:
The Truth About Writers
J. Robert Lennon
Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2009

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-caw-off-the-shelf21-2009jun21,0,6269733.story

What do you value most in your creative life? Is it time? Inspiration? Collaboration? Space? Soliture? Noise? Coffee?
Be Honest: How much time do you spend actually practicing your discipline?
What do you find to be the most compelling distractions in your work? What can you do to eliminate those distractions?
How can your community support one another in actually practicing your art?

__________________________________________________________________

Week 5:
The Case for Working With Your Hands
Matthew Crawford
New York Times, 21 May 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html
(Note that this article is an excerpt from Crawford's book, Shop Class as Soulcraft.)

What distinction does Crawford make between different kinds of labor? Where, do you suppose, does art-making fit on this spectrum?
What do you do with your hands - other than your art - that gives you a sense of fulfillment? What could you do without?
What is the distinction between craft and art?
When have you experienced the "visceral experience of failure"? What did that do for your sense of responsibility and self?
How do you, through your work, try to reach for the "good life"?

A.R.T. Part 2 - Reconciliation

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Discussion Resource:
IAM | June 2006
"R. Reconciliation" by Makoto Fujimura
Art reconciles materials, such as paint, body, movement, or sound. Artists, therefore, are naturally involved in a reconciliation work. But, of course, in the current cultural paradigm, artists have been known as the leading instigators and agitators...

Discussion Questions:

1. Is all art transgressive? Is all good art transgressive? (Note: one definition of "transgressive" is "to pass over or go beyond (a limit, boundary, etc.)" and "to go beyond the limits imposed by

2. What are some areas of brokenness within your culture, faith communities, and the arts? Where do you see a need for reconciliation?

3. What are some of the major stumbling blocks for reconciliation? How does that apply to the arts and artists?

4. Mako talks about being a peace breaker, being a peace faker, and being a peace maker. How does each of these tendencies play out in the arts? If our goal is to be a peace maker, how might we do that through art?

5. What happens when we approach art as a means to another end (i.e. reconciliation)? Should we "use" art for reconciliation? If yes, how? If no, why not?

Avoiding Wallpaper

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Discussion Resource:
Art:21 Blog | August 5, 2009
"Avoiding Wallpaper,"

Discussion Questions:
1. Describe the space in which you work/create. Is it clean or cluttered? Colorful or plain? Noisy or silent? Expand and describe your space and process.

2. How do the visuals (or lack thereof) in your space affect your work?

3. How is your space affected by the presence of others? Are you able to freely create when you are not alone in your space?

4. What if you don't have space dedicated for creating? How can you creatively make space?

5. Do you welcome people into your creating space, or do you keep your space private, a la a sanctuary? How much of your process do you share openly?

6. Does art expand our ability to imagine?

(NOTE: It is suggested that you tackle a few, but probably not all of, the following. In a group of 3-10, it is likely that one or two of these questions can result in the conversation taking off on it's own. Let it! These are merely here to help steer the conversation when needed.)

(This article was the source material for the September 15, 2010 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

What’s a Culture Snob to Do?

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Discussion Resource:
Vanity Fair | August 2009
"What’s a Culture Snob to Do?"
Pity the culture snob, as Kindles, iPods, and flash drives swallow up the visible markers of superior taste and intelligence. With the digitization of books, music, and movies, how will the highbrow distinguish him- or herself from the masses?
By James Wolcott

Discussion Questions:

Why are people's identities tied with their possessions? What other definitions of identity are there? Which frameworks of identity have prevailed throughout history?
Where is the line between "cultural snobbery" and "keen connoisseurship?"
How do you identify with your possesions? How do you relate to others based on their possesions?
Wolcott suggests that our stuff will shift from expressing our aesthetics to expressing our ethics. Do you agree or disagree? On what grounds might he be holding this forecast?
Do you take Wolcott to be more of a prophet figure--reproving cultural waywardness--or a nostalgic luddite simply complaining about the changing times?

(This article was the source material for the July 22 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)

Home Sweet (Urban) Homestead

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Discussion Resource:
The New York Times Magazine | 5 July 2009
"Home Sweet (Urban) Homestead"
A new kind of preservation society attends a D.I.Y. dinner party in Oakland, Calif.
By Christine Muhlke

Discussion Questions:

What is "urban homesteading?"
What might be some reasons that people are so eager to learn it?
Are we, in fact, disconnected? How has this come to be, or why do people think we are?
What is your experience with food as it relates to family, community, city?
What is the relationship between food and our connectedness? Between food and community? How can it help? Can it hinder?

(This article was the source material for the July 15 IAM New York Wednesday Morning Discussion Group.)