Page 18, Crystal Valley Echo & Marble Times
As I See It A MONTHLY COLUMN BY BRUCE GLEDHILL
The true value of art One of the best events of the year in our community is the annual Redstone Art Show. I’ve never had work displayed there, but for a dozen years I’ve been an attendee and purchaser. I’m not an artist in the traditional sense. I’m not a painter, sculptor, poet, or dancer. But I know how valuable art is because it can be inspiring and point to truth. Our art reflects God who is creative and often communicates in nonverbal ways. God’s artistry is evident in everything from the vast but intricate design of the universe, to the amazing diversity of color, texture and design in plants and animals and the microscopic fractal patterns of crystals. The diversity and quality of work at the Redstone Art Show reflects God’s creativity, but can’t rival the flagrant creative beauty of the universe. At the top of the stairway in the church building is a metal sculpture from Father Benedict at the local Benedictine monastery. It seems appropriate to have a piece of art from there, because the Benedictines say beauty is “truth shining into being.” Beauty can illuminate things inside of us and thus change us. It can motivate us to think in a new way, to dream, or to grow. C. S. Lewis said whenever we see beauty it comes to us as “patches of God-light,” like glimmers of sunlight piercing a dark forest. Down through the centuries, the Christian community has usually been a proponent of the arts, supporting and encouraging sculptors, painters, and musicians. The Bible speaks highly of those with gifts of artistry and craftsmanship. Much of the art that has survived from the early centuries in Europe was commissioned by churches. Art pieces held and displayed in a church building had greater stability through the passing generations than those in private ownership. Annie Dillard has written, “We are here to abet Creation and to witness it, to notice each thing so each thing gets noticed. Together we notice not only each mountain shadow and each stone on the beach, but we notice each other’s beautiful face and complex nature so that Creation need not play to an empty house.” So many of the works at the Redstone Art Show each year help us see the beauty of creation in a fresh way. It seems to me that the visual is God’s preferred teaching tool. Statements in verbal form affect our minds, but through the visual God can touch our heart and our imagination. Bruce Gledhill is the pastor at the Church at Redstone
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