an excerpt from Philip Glass’ film, Koyaanisqatsi . . .
Psst–If you find this post interesting and think others might as well, would you mind taking a minute to stumble it? It would mean a lot to me.
Life out of Balance
June 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Art and Theology Podcast: An Interview with Dr. Reg Grant, Part 1
November 18, 2008 By 7 Comments
In this podcast, I speak with Dr. Reg Grant, professor at Dallas
Theological Seminary, published novelist, actor, and apparently tap-dancer. In this part, Reg shares how two films affected his life (good timing with November’s Artuality on movies!), and we begin our discussion of
the artist’s pursuit of truth.
Dr. Grant taught me about story structure and arc and character development.
This podcast runs four and a half minutes.
Striving to be Good
September 10, 2008 By 2 Comments
On The Writer’s View 2 (a yahoo group for writers where we discuss craft, market, and career), Cecil Murphey asked:
"’I want to be an excellent writer,’ he said.
‘What qualities make a writer excellent? How do I develop as a writer?’
Before you respond, the resident curmudgeon believes that writers fit into one
of three categories. [He doesn't mind if you disagree with him.]
1. The Mechanical Writers. They know and practice the rules but their writing is
dull and lifeless. They’re like the pianists who hit the right notes, but it’s
not good music.
2. The Okay Writers. They write; they sell. But there’s something lacking. It’s
not bad writing. I like to say it this way: Their writing is as good as 50 other
writers, but it’s not better than the 50.
3. The Gifted Writers. They combine the spiritual gift with hard work and
produce quality. They may not be top sellers; they may publish little. But their
goal is quality, not quantity.
WHAT MAKES AN EXCELLENT WRITER?
Can average/mediocre writers become excellent writers?
How much of being a writer is a gift or talent and how much is the result of
hard work?"
I expanded in my answer to what makes a good artist, or what makes good art and what makes bad art (what are we striving toward and from what are we moving away). Here’s what I said:
"Because beauty is found in who God is as Trinity and what He does as
Creator, Redeemer, and Re-Creator, I believe there are objective
aspects to beauty. As I strive to develop, there are dangers that
threaten good art:
1. Art that is sentimental–it refuses to delve
into the depths of pain and ugliness or it refuses to emotionally move
beyond that (nihilism) (balance of the cross and resurrection)
2.
Art that is super-saturated in culture and doesn’t move beyond that
(following trends rather than working from the vision of the earth’s
resurrection)
3. Art that is manipulative
4. Art that is self-centered (merely wanted to express myself)
5. Art that refuses to explore (stubbornly clings to tradition)
6. Art that is escapist or a form of distraction (escape into feelings,
entertainment–now I have that song stuck in my head, "Feelings, nothing more than feelings…")
7. Art that is subjected to the utilitarian
8. Art that is mellodramatic
9. Art that is elitist–’Intelligence does not eliminate. It invites’ (Haven Kimmel).
Good
writing or storytelling, then, evokes people to think about things in a
fresh way, balances simplicity and feasting, is energetic, exposes the
depths, transforms, improvises, is based on the beauty of God and God’s
work and moves toward the vision given us of the future resurrection."
How would you answer the question?
