A Budding Manifesto on Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
The 19th and 20th centuries are filled with art manifestos that speak powerfully to the aesthetic developments and the social, religious, and political upheavals of a particular time and place. None of these art movements were revolutionary, but rather emerged from decades of political or social strife, fermentation in academia, the hit and miss of studio practice, and lots of conversations with friends around too much wine. In time, these manifestos faded away but provided the counterpoint for the next movement. Art is evolutionary not revolutionary.
This is a budding manifesto on spirituality and the creative imagination in a time when our country faces profound pressures … political demigods, Christian nationalism, global pandemic, and a positive “wokeness” to systemic racism, gender identity, economic inequalities, and impending climate disaster. After nearly six years of focused collaboration a myriad of creative and spiritual folk to respond to our current divisions, it is time for Portiuncula Guild to begin to articulate a methodology for our work in the community … how it is being lived out in the gallery shows at Goose Creek Studio, in our partnerships with the God in the Gallery and Bread for the Journey conversations, our website blog posts and social media presence, and especially in the work and prayer at Thomas Chapel.
The search for ways to respond to our current situation seems overwhelming. However, it is precisely in these moments throughout history that the brightest of religious thought, spiritual practice, and works of the creative imagination have emerged. Art museums, as well as the sacred stories, prayers, and songs collected in the holy books of the world’s great religions, are repositories for such hope for humanity in times not unlike our own. Art and spirituality blossoms at these liminal moments in human history. This moment provides us with not only a unique opportunity to explore the connection between spirituality and the creative imagination, but also the connection between the world’s great religions and humanity’s continuing search for hope and healing in times of great change.
We have good partners in this experiment. We have been blessed with the opportunity to collaborate with a myriad of local creative and spiritual folks whose work embodies the deeper truths of faith and our life together in community. We are blessed to live among a myriad of artists, artisans, poets, musicians, cooks, writers, actors, yogis, mystics, and farmers whose life and work is not only grounded in faith, but whose vision may hold the key to new ways to understand church, community, truth, and the worship of God.
To understand how “artworks” differently at Thomas Chapel, we need to first remember the ways the arts have traditionally been utilized in religious worship/rituals/spiritual practice …
The dilemma with this last category is that ideological and permanent forms of religious expression can leave little room for additional creative expression as the community grows, changes, or evolves. Ideological works tend to celebrate a binary that communicates differences rather than foster inclusion. Permanent works can also reinforce old ideologies long after the community has moved on. And finally, permanent works can foster a creative “laziness” in which a community is reassured by the past success or prestige instead of being challenged to cultivate creative expressions or spiritual practices that reflects the complexity of the present moment.
Thomas Chapel avoids the permanent and ideological by operating like a “kunsthalle” … an organization that does not collect art or display a permanent collection, but rather is a place set aside for new, experimental, site-specific, and temporary works. The distinctiveness of Thomas Chapel is that the all the art is set in the context of religious assembly or spiritual practice. Art in this context is not intended to be viewed in isolation as in a gallery or museum, but rather juxtaposed to sacred stories and rituals, the cycles of the seasons, and the rhythm of human life. Some works at Thomas Chapel are site or event specific, some stay for a season, and some are used to adorn the space between gatherings. All work and prayer at Thomas Chapel are at the same time real and experimental.
So … what do we mean by experimental?
How humanity looks at art and how humanity participates in religious worship has been radically reconsidered in the past few decades. Since the dawn of the modern world, ways viewing art and ways of gathering for religious worship have evolved into a “spectator sport.” The participant is reduced to a passive observer … left to quietly, and individually, contemplate their inner life through the vision and lens of another. Humanity has given its voice to the skill or craftsmanship or the expert … whether pastor or poet.
Art museums and religious institutions … as well as scholarship in the fields of spirituality and ritual studies … are challenging this hierarchy as a problematic pattern for both creative expression and spirituality growth. There is growing experimentation with more active, collaborative, and inclusive ways for participants to experience and engage both art and spirituality. Portiuncula Guild wants to join that growing chorus of voices that breaks down the division between art maker and viewer, or between religious expert and spiritual seeker.
But debunking the old patterns for art and worship are hard and will require a dramatic shift in consciousness. This shift in thinking requires both the artists to rethink their roles and responsibilities, their egos in the creative process, the allure of the marketplace and prestige, and their role in the life of the community. This is the core of what it means to be experimental ... relearning how to make and display art.
Many will argue that this is not a new concept at all, but rather a return to a more ancient way of understanding both art and religion. For most of humanity’s history, the artist and the shaman utilized their skills and vision to be in service to the community. Their work was never in isolation, but always in connection with rituals and sacred stories. Through this collaboration, both the artist and the shaman sought to bring healing and hope to the present struggles. Likewise, the creative and spiritual imagination that individuals bring to the gatherings at Thomas Chapel are woven into … and around … and in service to the broader reason for the gathering.
This concept continues to both value and need the individual insights, vision, or skills of creative imagination. In fact, all religious assembly requires the artist skill and the shaman’s pastoral insights to weave meaning into of current struggles. Whether it is the bison hunt depicted on a prehistoric cave wall, the muezzin’s voice calling the faithful to prayer, the totem pole outside an Inuit longhouse, or the music and movement of a Diwali festival, the arts and spirituality are intertwined in the rituals of human history.
There will be successes and failures in our experimenting. There will be folks who are happy with the more privatized form of creative and spiritual expression. We invite any creative or spiritual seeker along for the ride.
END OF MANIFESTO
The following is just for fun … a little tongue-in-cheek.
We could not imagine a better patron for our art and spirituality manifesto than Peter of Verona, a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher/inquisitor/persecutor of the Cathars heretics in the thirteenth-century. In 1252, the two Cathar assassins followed Peter to a lonely spot, and stabbed Peter in the head with a knife. Before he died, Peter rose to his knees, and dipped his fingers in his blood and wrote on the ground Credo (I Believe), the first word of the Apostle’s Creed. He was canonized a saint eleven months after his death, making this the fastest canonization in history. At the time, the pope celebrated Peter’s severity of life and doctrine, talent for preaching, and zeal for the truth.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Severity, preaching, zeal and persecuting others can be a perilous thing! So … we tread lightly! 😊
(Artwork by Daniel Kennedy/collage with acrylic/xerox on white and green copy paper/1992)
The 19th and 20th centuries are filled with art manifestos that speak powerfully to the aesthetic developments and the social, religious, and political upheavals of a particular time and place. None of these art movements were revolutionary, but rather emerged from decades of political or social strife, fermentation in academia, the hit and miss of studio practice, and lots of conversations with friends around too much wine. In time, these manifestos faded away but provided the counterpoint for the next movement. Art is evolutionary not revolutionary.
This is a budding manifesto on spirituality and the creative imagination in a time when our country faces profound pressures … political demigods, Christian nationalism, global pandemic, and a positive “wokeness” to systemic racism, gender identity, economic inequalities, and impending climate disaster. After nearly six years of focused collaboration a myriad of creative and spiritual folk to respond to our current divisions, it is time for Portiuncula Guild to begin to articulate a methodology for our work in the community … how it is being lived out in the gallery shows at Goose Creek Studio, in our partnerships with the God in the Gallery and Bread for the Journey conversations, our website blog posts and social media presence, and especially in the work and prayer at Thomas Chapel.
The search for ways to respond to our current situation seems overwhelming. However, it is precisely in these moments throughout history that the brightest of religious thought, spiritual practice, and works of the creative imagination have emerged. Art museums, as well as the sacred stories, prayers, and songs collected in the holy books of the world’s great religions, are repositories for such hope for humanity in times not unlike our own. Art and spirituality blossoms at these liminal moments in human history. This moment provides us with not only a unique opportunity to explore the connection between spirituality and the creative imagination, but also the connection between the world’s great religions and humanity’s continuing search for hope and healing in times of great change.
We have good partners in this experiment. We have been blessed with the opportunity to collaborate with a myriad of local creative and spiritual folks whose work embodies the deeper truths of faith and our life together in community. We are blessed to live among a myriad of artists, artisans, poets, musicians, cooks, writers, actors, yogis, mystics, and farmers whose life and work is not only grounded in faith, but whose vision may hold the key to new ways to understand church, community, truth, and the worship of God.
To understand how “artworks” differently at Thomas Chapel, we need to first remember the ways the arts have traditionally been utilized in religious worship/rituals/spiritual practice …
- Art that is Consumed: These are the ephemeral or performance works of art like poetry, storytelling, dance, baking, wine making, drumming, chant, and singing. These are products of the creative imagination that are shared, consumed, and leave little or no physical presence after the gathering.
- Art that is in Service: These are the products of the woodworker, blacksmith, seamstress, icon painter, composer, book binder, or potter. These are the fine crafts called into service of for various parts of the ritual or community at prayer. These are also the product of the creative imagination shaped first by practicality and needfulness but made meaningful by the vision of the artist.
- Art that is Ideological: These are the permanent forms of the arts like sculpture, painting, and architecture that stick-around long after the service is over and are often intended to be public expressions that embody and communicate the theologies and ideologies of a particular religious assembly. The permanence of these works in the public sphere makes these projects attractive for both artists and architects.
The dilemma with this last category is that ideological and permanent forms of religious expression can leave little room for additional creative expression as the community grows, changes, or evolves. Ideological works tend to celebrate a binary that communicates differences rather than foster inclusion. Permanent works can also reinforce old ideologies long after the community has moved on. And finally, permanent works can foster a creative “laziness” in which a community is reassured by the past success or prestige instead of being challenged to cultivate creative expressions or spiritual practices that reflects the complexity of the present moment.
Thomas Chapel avoids the permanent and ideological by operating like a “kunsthalle” … an organization that does not collect art or display a permanent collection, but rather is a place set aside for new, experimental, site-specific, and temporary works. The distinctiveness of Thomas Chapel is that the all the art is set in the context of religious assembly or spiritual practice. Art in this context is not intended to be viewed in isolation as in a gallery or museum, but rather juxtaposed to sacred stories and rituals, the cycles of the seasons, and the rhythm of human life. Some works at Thomas Chapel are site or event specific, some stay for a season, and some are used to adorn the space between gatherings. All work and prayer at Thomas Chapel are at the same time real and experimental.
So … what do we mean by experimental?
How humanity looks at art and how humanity participates in religious worship has been radically reconsidered in the past few decades. Since the dawn of the modern world, ways viewing art and ways of gathering for religious worship have evolved into a “spectator sport.” The participant is reduced to a passive observer … left to quietly, and individually, contemplate their inner life through the vision and lens of another. Humanity has given its voice to the skill or craftsmanship or the expert … whether pastor or poet.
Art museums and religious institutions … as well as scholarship in the fields of spirituality and ritual studies … are challenging this hierarchy as a problematic pattern for both creative expression and spirituality growth. There is growing experimentation with more active, collaborative, and inclusive ways for participants to experience and engage both art and spirituality. Portiuncula Guild wants to join that growing chorus of voices that breaks down the division between art maker and viewer, or between religious expert and spiritual seeker.
But debunking the old patterns for art and worship are hard and will require a dramatic shift in consciousness. This shift in thinking requires both the artists to rethink their roles and responsibilities, their egos in the creative process, the allure of the marketplace and prestige, and their role in the life of the community. This is the core of what it means to be experimental ... relearning how to make and display art.
Many will argue that this is not a new concept at all, but rather a return to a more ancient way of understanding both art and religion. For most of humanity’s history, the artist and the shaman utilized their skills and vision to be in service to the community. Their work was never in isolation, but always in connection with rituals and sacred stories. Through this collaboration, both the artist and the shaman sought to bring healing and hope to the present struggles. Likewise, the creative and spiritual imagination that individuals bring to the gatherings at Thomas Chapel are woven into … and around … and in service to the broader reason for the gathering.
This concept continues to both value and need the individual insights, vision, or skills of creative imagination. In fact, all religious assembly requires the artist skill and the shaman’s pastoral insights to weave meaning into of current struggles. Whether it is the bison hunt depicted on a prehistoric cave wall, the muezzin’s voice calling the faithful to prayer, the totem pole outside an Inuit longhouse, or the music and movement of a Diwali festival, the arts and spirituality are intertwined in the rituals of human history.
There will be successes and failures in our experimenting. There will be folks who are happy with the more privatized form of creative and spiritual expression. We invite any creative or spiritual seeker along for the ride.
END OF MANIFESTO
The following is just for fun … a little tongue-in-cheek.
We could not imagine a better patron for our art and spirituality manifesto than Peter of Verona, a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher/inquisitor/persecutor of the Cathars heretics in the thirteenth-century. In 1252, the two Cathar assassins followed Peter to a lonely spot, and stabbed Peter in the head with a knife. Before he died, Peter rose to his knees, and dipped his fingers in his blood and wrote on the ground Credo (I Believe), the first word of the Apostle’s Creed. He was canonized a saint eleven months after his death, making this the fastest canonization in history. At the time, the pope celebrated Peter’s severity of life and doctrine, talent for preaching, and zeal for the truth.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Severity, preaching, zeal and persecuting others can be a perilous thing! So … we tread lightly! 😊
(Artwork by Daniel Kennedy/collage with acrylic/xerox on white and green copy paper/1992)
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