Thank God for the Artful Life
Thursday, November 26th, 2009Hello! Welcome to the first written post of Pollyanna Art. This is not just a gallery of art, though it is that. But beyond that it’s a way to give thanks to God, the author of the artful life and discover ways to live it throughout our day. So it is appropriate that I launch PollyannaArt.com on Thanksgiving!
Cheri & Barbara Anne (Which is which??)
So what is Pollyanna Art? Well, for starters let’s meet Pollyanna. Pollyanna was a best selling 1913 novel, by Eleanor H. Porter, that has been considered a classic in children’s literature. Because of her optimistic outlook, even in the face of terrible circumstances, she became the lead character in a series of novels that came to be known as the “Glad Books”. Pollyanna, an orphan surrounded by stern and slightly abusive adults, transformed everyone around her with her habit of playing the “Glad Game”, finding something to be glad about no matter what happened to her.
Sounds pretty good to me, but in recent years, it has become popular to use “Pollyanna” as a sarcastic term indicating that a person is so positive that they are clueless or naïve about reality. Nothing about Pollyanna, suggests that she was simple minded. She just chose to honor her father’s memory and play the “Glad Game” he taught her so that she would always find joy in her life. Our Heavenly Father wants us to play the Glad Game, that’s why he gave us art!
I have spent a lot of years as a teambuilding consultant to literally hundreds of teams and I can report from experience that a team with a Pollyanna is a lucky team indeed. It is the cynics of the world who drag others down. But for some reason our culture has begun to find cynicism more chic or politically correct than joy or optimism.
A parallel move to the dark side has happened in the world of art as our culture has descended into the negative zones. Artists, hailed by the “so called” legitimate art world as true artists, are largely dark, abstract and evocative of tortured negative emotions. The media has been full of scandalous images of irreverent views of God or the crucifix. For this type of expression, these “fine artists “ have received American tax dollars from the Endowment to the Arts and other public funding sources. Uplifting joyful expressions of talented artists, who have honed their skills so that you can actually tell what the art is about, are given little attention as serious art by the movers and shakers in the world of fine arts.
My belief is that art is the expression of the love, beauty and joy God himself places in our hearts and souls. When we produce with our lives beauty, love and joy as a gift offering back to Him, we are creating art! In this way many things we might do become our own kind of art. Art might be a loving cartoon scribbled on a child’s lunch bag, a photo album designed to celebrate a blessed time, a family tree painted as a wall mural, a thoughtfully placed candle, a stool painted with a scene of God’s wildflowers, a beautifully written note, a painting of Jesus, a song of worship, or a fun filled skit. All are expressions of art. When these heartfelt and loving expressions of joy become a way of life, it becomes a joyful, loving, Artful Life.
In my opinion, the tortured, painful, immoral stuff, most frequently passed off as fine art, is a perversion of the gift of art given to man by the Almighty God! So, I am just a Pollyanna about life and art, and I’m proud of that! I think art should make us, and God glad. It should leave everyone a little better because it was expressed! We really have an audience of only one for our art, and that’s God, himself. Who else could matter? Who else could really know what fine art is?
So come on back if you are OK with joy and love! That’s Pollyanna Art! We’ll talk about the artful life. We’ll share examples. And, we’ll talk about the things that might help or hinder our freedom as Americans to live it every day. Live a Pollyanna Artful life and be filled with the beauty only God can give! 8=))