A trendy bar in San Francisco’s Mission District makes a space for art

Sis asked me about my word for 2015. Each year we choose a word to focus on, one that embodies a concept we wish to understand on a deeper level. This year she is focusing on the goodness of God. My word is beauty.

We do a word study to define the term, and we read Scripture and books on our chosen topic to expand our understanding, This year, we will spend a year looking for goodness and beauty in the ugly and mundane.

I suspect she has chosen goodness because she is marginally involved in a situation that is not good. How did my pick happen? Through a confluence of two unrelated events, I chose to focus on beauty this year.

Beauty and the Arts

The first event: Describing her creative process at a recent Poets & Writers Live event, an artist suggested that when we stop pursuing perfection and begin to explore what is ugly, that is the place where art begins. I was mulling that over when I moved to the next chapter in my morning read, True Paradox: How Christianity Makes Sense of Our Complex World, by David Skeel. The chapter title was “Beauty and the Arts.”

The author maintains that a Christian’s sense of beauty helps us see the true nature of the universe, “a glimpse that is both temporary and real, and which suggests that the world is not as it should be. To idealize beauty is to deny a central part of our experience, the author contends. So in that sense the artist is right.

Art that is true to the reality we experience will portray the dynamic tension between what we long for and what we suffer. I don’t think she means to say that art begins with ugliness, but that it doesn’t happen without exploration of corruption. No wonder art is so provocative!

Beauty in the sacred spaces

The panel of artists also discussed the concept of leaving space in a work of art to make room for contemplation or conversation. This was on my mind as I was planning for a totally unrelated second event.

I’m helping a friend deal with clutter. I needed a strategy. A friend suggested I read Psalm 31. As is typical, David is feeling besieged. He says, “You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in spacious places.” And that is where it all came together. If I can help my friend create space, the result will be beautiful.

Beauty appears in sacred spaces. Art acknowledges the tension between our longing for beauty and the reality of life in an imperfect world. Moments of beauty connect us with God, in appreciation, contemplation or conversation.

Is there a word you would like to adopt this year?

I have more to say about what I heard at Poets & Writers Live in my January newsletter. If you are interested and aren’t a subscriber, sign up in the box at the top right of this blog.