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Page 2 • Faith Today
Faith Today • Page 3
had been cut into 1-foot square
tiles for glazing and firing. Nearly
completed when I saw it, the tiles
were being reassembled on a large
table like giant pieces in a jigsaw
puzzle.
I was looking at the sculpted
face with its stern black eyes and
flowing beard and started to move
my hand above it as it rested on
the table. Then I drew back, lest I
do something I shouldn’t.
“Go ahead," my friend said
laughing. “It’s as solid as a plat
ter. Besides,” she added,
“sculptures have to be touched to
be appreciated. 1 molded it with
my hands and I like people to
Took’ with their hands.”
I ran my fingers along the
features and commented that it
must be a thrill to create
something like this. “It’s more
than a thrill,” she said. “For me
it’s a religious experience.”
She must have seen some glim
mer of surprise or questioning
because she went on to give me a
biblical lesson connecting the ar
tist’s work with God’s creativity.
“Think back to the Book of
Genesis,” she said. “How did God
make Adam?”
I knew, of course, that God
fashioned Adam “from the clay of
the earth.” As I was speaking she
almost magically fashioned a
primitive looking man from a
small mass of red clay she picked
off a battered work table near the
wall.
Then, with more care, she
began to sharpen the expression
in his eyes and on his face. “We
artists make figures,” she said,
“but our real art is in having the
deepest in the human spirit shine
through the clay or the marble or
the oil.”
“Do you remember the pro
logue to the Gospel of St. John?”
she asked me. “The word became
flesh and made his dwelling
among us and we saw his glory.’
“That’s my work as a sculptor.
To create human flesh out of clay
in a way that allows the glory of
God to shine through,” she con
tinued. “It doesn’t have to be a
religious subject. But whatever I
create, you have to see the
humanity.”
I recalled this story for my
friend who wondered at the pre-
Christian art and some of the
modern, abstract art in the
Vatican’s art collection and its
connection with religion.
“Art is not just an illustration
for teaching religion or the
Bible,” I told him. “More impor
tant, art is an attempt to portray
what goes on inside us, to make
the struggles of the human spirit
visible and to put us in touch
with what is best in us.”
(Father O ’Rourke is on the staff
of the Family Life Office in the
Diocese of Oakland, Calif)
Etching by Marvin Hayes, from GODS IMAGES. Copyright © 1977 by Oxmoor House, Inc. Reproduced with permission.
'From the cloy
of the earth../
By Father David K. O’Rourke, OP
NC News Service
»
D uring the American tour
of the Vatican’s great
art collection a few
years ago, a friend ex-*
pressed surprise at the
breadth of the holdings. After
viewing the collection in San »
Francisco, he told me, “I ex
pected to see the religious art but
1 was really surprised by how
much Greek, Roman and modern*
art the church has collected.”
Then he asked a question peo
ple commonly ask: “Why are the
popes and the church so in
terested’ in all kinds of art, not
just religious art?”
I can answer that question, as I
{)id for him, by telling a story.
A few years back I was invited
to the studio of an artist I had
met. She was a sculptor and was
working then on a rectangular,
brightly colored ceramic relief of
a prophet. She was designing it
£or the altar wall of a local
church.
The 10-foot clay sculpture with
raised features and flowing robes
The silent language
By Katharine Bird
NC News Service
I n many ways, the chapel
of the Dominican Retreat
House in McLean, Va., is a
piece of art in its entirety.
Its beauty comes from its
lovely wooden walls and the huge
windows which allow the sunlight
to filter in through the trees
outside.
The focal point of a side altar is
an unusual tabernacle crafted by a
Dominican sister and adorned with
multicolored glass which refracts
the light. The chapel’s serenity and
beauty puts one in the mood for
prayer and contemplation.
A church with a quite different
kind of beauty is Notre Dame
d’Haiti Mission Church in Miami,
Fla. Its central artistic feature is a
striking mural painted by a young
Haitian artist.
Situated in a prominent position
by the front altar, the mural uses
the vivid colors loved by Haitians.
It features a brilliant blue ocean,
an island green with trees and a
portrait of Haiti’s patroness, Our
Lady of Perpetual Help.
The lovely mural in an other
wise plain church helps to create a
prayerful environment where Hai
tians feel at home and drawn to
worship.
Both the chapel and the Haitian
church illustrate for me what pro
fessor of art and art history David
Ramsey identified in an interview
as the goaj of church art.
Paying attention to a church’s
artistic environment isn’t "art for
art’s sake,” said Ramsey, who
teaches at the College of Notre
Dame in Belmont, Calif. Art plays
a sacramental role by putting “us
in the presence of the sacred in
special ways.”
Art is “a silent language,” he
emphasized, but a language which
has a special capacity to speak to
us about God through beauty.
“You can know and understand
things through art sometimes bet
ter than through the written
word.”
One of Ramsey’s goals is to pro
vide education in the ways art can
help to create a suitable environ
ment for worship. He said he finds
that many people are unaware of
what artists are doing today in the
church.
Many people seem to think “that
the church disengaged itself from
art" after the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance, he said. So a first step
is to “see what has been done and
what is being done now.”
Ramsey is the founder and direc
tor of the Archives of Modern
Christian Art developed at the Col
lege of Notre Dame as a resource
for people and parishes interested
in what artists are doing in the
church today. The archives collects
books, periodicals and pamphlets
on contemporary church art and
has compiled a list of some 200 ar
tists active in creating art for chur
ches today. It also is building an
audio-visual library of slides of
modern church art.
A carefully chosen piece of art
in a church can establish a power
ful setting for worship, Ramsey
stressed. Part of the appeal of a
true work of art, he added, is that
it usually is created from materials
such as stone or wood, or lovingly
painted or drawn by hand, not
made of synthetic or plastic
materials.
Ramsey’s discussion with me
focused on the visual arts, which
he identified as “all the visual ob
jects within the church which
assist the community at worship.”
These include the building itself,
craft works such as banners and
wall hangings, paintings and
statues, and the objects used in
worship such as vestments and
chalices.
He believes that art can put peo
ple in the frame of mind to meet
God with “broader and deeper
perception.” The ultimate goal of
art in a church, Ramsey added, is
to place people “in a situation
more receptive to the presence of
Christ in their midst.”
(Ms. Bird is associate editor of
Faith Today.)
No 'carved idols' here!
By Father John Castelot
NC News Service
W hen archaeologists
investigated sites in
the Holy Land that
they felt sure were
ancient Israelite
towns, they discovered a helpful
pattern. As they dug through the
layers of debris, they found many
signs of Israelite occupation: pot
tery, utensils and the like.
Then, suddenly, something
became clear: In reality, they had
reached a level of pre-Israelite
culture.
How could they be sure? The
carefully sifted earth yielded a pro
fusion of art objects: amulets,
figurines of fertility goddesses and
other religious symbols. But the
Israelites were forbidden to make
visible representations of anything
whatsoever:
“You shall not carve idols for
yourselves in the shape of
anything in the sky above or in
the earth below or in the water
beneath the earth” (Exodus 20:4).
The practical reason for this pro
hibition was the real danger of
idolatry. The surrounding nations
all made representations of their
gods. It was too easy for people
then to end up adoring the works
of their own hands.
But the prohibition also reflects
a realization of God’s total
otherness, his transcendence. God
is so completely different from
anything in creation, from
anything even imaginable, that it is
impossible to represent him
artistically.
There were those who inter
preted this commandment strictly.
As a result they practically stifled
all artistic expression, at least pain
ting and sculpture. Others evident
ly were more flexible. For in
stance, cherubim were installed in
the very Holy of Holies, atop the
Ark of the Covenant.
One of the most surprising ex
amples of Jewish religious art is
the mosaic floor of a synagogue at
Tiberias, on the shore of the lake.
It dates from about the fourth cen
tury. The colors are still strikingly
vivid, although it helps to throw
some water on them and wash
away the dust.
At the four corners of the pat
tern are female figures representing
the seasons. On one side is the
Torah scroll flanked by two
candelabra, with flames blowing
realistically in the breeze. Most
astonishing is the centerpiece, a
representation of the zodiac, with
the names of the 12 signs in
Hebrew. This type of mosaic art
appears in other synagogues from
the same general period. However,
these are exceptions to the general
rule.
Hebrew artistic inspiration ex
pressed itself in other rich ways,
especially literature and music. It is
not for nothing that the Bible has
been on the best-seller list for so
long. All acknowledge it as a
masterpiece of human literature.
The Book of Job, for example, is
accounted one of the high points
in the history of human literature,
and the artistry of Luke is almost
proverbial. It would be difficult to
assess the Bible’s immense in
fluence on later language and art.
But there is something paradox
ical in the fact that a culture
which produced little or no paint
ing and sculpture, furnished the in
spiration for many of the
greatest paintings and sculptures of
all time.
(Father Castelot is a professor of
Scripture at St. John's Seminary,
Plymouth, Mich.)
■■■■■■■■
BMHMI
■■■■■■■■■■■
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Artists are among those who express the faith of God’s people.
Works of art constitute one of the “languages” of faith — a faith
which reaches not only into the mind, but into the heart. Through
their creative endeavors, artists express faith and draw the human spirit
more deeply into faith. Their work is a reminder that because of its
poetic aspect, faith stirs when the spirit soars.
•You can know and understand things through art sometimes better
than through the written word, David Ramsey tells Katharine Bird.
What do you think he means?
•Artists generally are recognized as creative people. But all people
are creative in some ways. What are some of these ways? Can the Spirit
of God shine through the creativity of people like you, as it does
through the creativity of artists?
•Are there ways for you to bring your creativity to bear in drawing
those in your home more deeply into faith. How?
•«?>
Second Helpings. The church speaks in stories, symbols and through
its rituals. These reflect the poetic and creative aspects of the church, writes
Gertrud Mueller Nelson in To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Communi
ty Celebration. The church, she says, “celebrates our cycles and seasons,
inviting us to see and engage and feel and touch and be aware and grow
and be transformed.” She adds: “In its creative function, the church speaks
directly to the heart, a heart which hears symbols.” In this book the author
provides useful suggestions for families and communities who want to
celebrate the great seasons and feasts of the church year. Her suggestions
include simple crafts that help bring out the significance of a special day
or feast. Many ideas for family observances at special times of the year are
included, for example ways to foster home customs for St. Nicholas Day
Dec. 6, and how to set up an Easter breakfast table that is “a feast for the
eyes.” (Paulist Press, 997 Macarthur Blvd., Mahwah, N.J. 07430. 1986. Paper
back, $9.95.)
Your Will Can Be A Prayer
Your Last Will and Testament can be
more than a legal document. It offers
an opportunity for serious reflection
and prayer — a holy process of putting
all things in order.
That’s because writing a will requires
more than a mere listing of posses
sions. It’s also a time to review the feel
ings you have for your family, friends
and the Church. Doesn’t it make sense
that such an important document be an
extension of your faith? Your will then
becomes a statement of your belief in
God and His Church.
Extension’s latest will planning
booklet, “Your Will Can Be a Prayer,”
offers suggestions on how you can
make the drafting of your will a simple
spiritual exercise. Write today for a free
copy.
m
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