On the most beautiful day in November, a couple of friends from the NewSong art ministry and I headed down to Philadelphia for the day to check out some art galleries. Our first stop was the one I was most excited about, White Stone Gallery. I had been to their gallery before when they were located in Lancaster, but soon after that they moved to Philly. I had also remembered talking with the owners a little bit and noticed how friendly and open they were so I was excited to see what conversations might come from having 3 other Christian artists with me when we arrived there. Nothing had changed. One of the owners, Susan Hooks, was there and still as friendly and willing to talk with us as if she knew us. She shared with us the process of going through entries they receive for a juried show they host each year and why they choose the particular art AND artist they include in the show. It's not always just because of the art. She also mentioned the challenges of representing a Christian gallery to a secular market and media, but with those challenges progress and change has started to happen in some of the people she's met. There have been times when visitors have been in tears after viewing some of the art and they didn't necessarily know what it was about or that Christ was behind the theme. I can only imagine the impact that this gallery has had on the public and hope to one day get back into the gallery scene to experience it for myself.
Aside from the encouragement of Susan, and inspiring artwork I saw that day at the many galleries we visited, I was definitely challenged as well. I have always struggled with artists that do the same subject matter over and over and over again. For instance, the show that was up at White Stone Gallery was all about divers. That was it! Every single painting was a diver in a different position. Despite the fact they were in beautifully arranged poses and made you feel the movement of the dive, I couldn't get past the fact that that was the whole show. So as the 4 of us were having lunch that day and enjoying some lively art discussion, it hit me. I was reminded by a comment Susan had made earlier about pursuing excellence in our art and not accepting anything less than that in other artist's work. One of the reasons Christian art has grown a bad reputation for being hokey or cheesy art is because we don't want to offend the artist who may not have much talent in that area, so we show their art and label it "Christian art." But if we went to a recital and had to listen to a "Christian" pianist butcher a piece by Wagner or Mozart, we'd get up and leave at intermission and probably never go to another recital by Christian pianists again. So, there is definitely a line that needs to be drawn between the artists pursuing art as a profession and those who just want to use art as their personal expression.
So, I have to remember this with my own art. Just because God has given me the ability to creatively express myself through painting doesn't mean that I can produce whatever I want and expect people to accept it because the inspiration was from God. I am required to pursue excellence in all that I do and remember that most of all, my art represents who God is, therefore, the end product must reflect excellence because that is who God is! And if this means doing the same subject matter over and over again in the pursuit to master that subject, then that is what I should do. The artist at White Stone Gallery definitely mastered the subject of divers, whether or not it was in pursuit of excellence, the entire show was evidence of an artist who had worked hard at refining their art.
