Critical commentary plan from postcards text
Christianity as relationship
parallel between faith and creative process
Relational God
Jackson’s (2002) Gospel of John frontispiece visualises the Christian doctrine that God so loved the world that he became human, living and dying in order to give humanity relationship with himself.
The role of art as a Christian can be considered as the bringing together the spiritual and the physical realities, to reveal Christ still present in relationship with his creation. (Andreopoulos, 2006).
Fujimura (2011) connects the role of true art to the love of God, which is to be extended through his disciples, awakening a world to the availability of this relationship with God
Faith running parallel to creative process is a natural method of a Christian creative. Christian theology teaches that man is made in the
image of God (Genesis, 2000BC), who is the ultimate Creator; humans are by nature creative (Jugan, 2017).
A faith that requires trust in God is practically exerted in the unknowns of creative process.
The real work of art is a process of sanctification - to seek the face of Jesus, our example, and to be made more like him.
The real work of art is that of the creator on the soul of the one making work (Andreopoulos, 2006).
Evangelism is the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness. (Oxford Dictionary). Christians are commanded in the great Commission – Matthew 28 – to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ through the sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ.
One of the earliest versions of material evangelism is the ‘Wordless Book’ introduced by Charles Spurgeon in 1866, where the gospel message is communicated in a small book of three coloured leaves. This design artefact is intended to be paired with words, indicating the importance of designed evangelism to have a Biblical basis. (Janes, 2016).
Material evangelism is an opportune intersection of design and Christian faith. The lack of well designed artefacts of evangelism (Dugan, 2017) is an area where my own practice lead research can meet a contemporary need.
Words are the genesis of my creative process. To articulate is to understand, to then create a visual work is to depict meaning with emotion (Maguire, 2013).
‘Conversations, influences of all sorts... and books read, these things are the food of painters’ - McCahon.
I am a collector of words - lyrics,
quotes, books, conversations. These words are the bank of my initial research, and form my articulation. These words are transformed then, into images, and these images are sequenced into stories.
Handmade - the value of (instead of expressionism?)
Expressionism is the imposition of the inner state onto the outward reality. In this way, expressionism is painting the physical with the spiritual perspective. Much expressionist painting is preoccupied with subject matter like that of horror and the grotesque.
(Zelako, 2020).
Historically, Abstract Expressionists have sought to achieve the sublime in their work. (MoMA, n.d.). Such a goal is at risk of idolisation of art and of self. But in Christianity is a beautiful spirituality which cries out to be painted - in God, worshipped. Fujimura’s (2011) work focuses on the cry of the human heart for a hope and a spiritual reality.
The spirituality of expressionism provides an emotive platform where art meets worship, and captures hearts.
Handmade typography gives text an undeniably human voice, adding a layer of emotive depth to the stories being told. Words become lyrical, poetic, or part of the land. (O’Brien, 2018).
Physically created typefaces contain a human variability which grants them a distinctive character. (Sinfield, 2020). They are created with thoughtful relevance to their meaning; communicating simultaneously on two levels (Leslie, 1998).
Simultaneous communication creates a poetic context in which the reader can understand not just with his mind, but with his heart (Dugan, 2017).
Printmaking is any method of transferring an impression from one surface to another. (Tate, 2021). This widely defined, printmaking is extremely versatile in method and in medium.
Printmaking is active learning, on the tools. A printmaker repetitively makes until the rhythm becomes natural, they find themselves moving in unity with the medium. (Coldwell, 2015).
Printmaking speaks volumes, speaks directly through simple lines, ink, smudges. Printmaking is a powerful mode of communication. Where the human hand remains in design, it brings a texture and authenticity. This authenticity can be seen in the energy of the work. (Chen, 2011). Such authenticity has the power to create ‘openings into oneself’ (Maguire, 2013).
Goal/outcome/projection: emotive material evangelism bringing together imagery and word to tell a story that connects with people: hope and asking spiritual questions, telling the gospel story
