Willow Arts Conference - Day 1 Session 1

Session 1 of the conference began with Dewitt Jones, a photographer from National Geographic. This wasn't the kind of presentation that you walked away from with a ton of new head knowledge. It was inspiring.

His topic was "What's Right With the World". He opened with a discussion about how National Geographic takes a different approach than many of the magazines that are on the shelves. Their desire is to photograph what's right in the world. They have certainly succeeded over the years. And he attributes that to the fact that no one ever throws away a National Geographic magazine.

"In some houses, the walls would just collapse if you took away the stacks of those yellow magazines. Over the years they've become support columns for the building."

Then he went on to go through a presentation of photos that was absolutely breathtaking. The audience gasped at one picture after another.

For me, it brought to mind the limits of creativity. You wouldn't think that a photographer would have the most creative job in the world. What can he create, apart from building a set? He just captures what's in front of him. But isn't that what art is? It captures the world around us? It presents the things the we as artists observe?

I believe that artists in general see things that others do not. And then they have the ability to communicate that vision. That's what makes them artists. With picture after picture, he showed us beauty that many of us would have missed. I wish I could share all or even some of them on my blog. There are a few that you can see at his web page:

http://www.dewitt_jones.com/

Then he said one thing I found simple but profound. He showed us a picture of a bird, singing its lungs out. The picture to the right is not his, and it really doesn't do the point justice. In his photo series, he did an outstanding job of capturing the energy and passion of this tiny bird, putting his entire body into a song. When the crowd finally quieted their approval, he went on to say "When I saw this bird, I had to take the picture. He was giving the song everything he had. He didn't sing because he had the answers to the world's problems. He was singing because he had a song."

I'm sure I won't be able to convey the effect of that statement in a short blog post. But it spoke to me. Much of modern art is trying to make a political statement. It has its own agenda. Even in churches, artists too often are trying to make a sale. And in so doing, they lose their authenticity.

We have song writers in our church who are waiting to have a poignant message to deliver before they write their song. But they don't need it. The best songs don't need to provide an answer.

Listen to the song of David in Psalm 119:81-88 (paraphrased in THE MESSAGE)

I'm homesick - longing for your salvation

I'm waiting for your word of hope.

My eyes grow heavy watching for some sign of your promise;

how long must I wait for your comfort?

There's smoke in my eyes - they burn and water,

but I keep a steady gaze on the instructions you post.

How long till you haul my tormentors into court?

The same concept goes for any kind of artwork. The paintings that go down in history are not political statements. They are expressions of the world around them. The film that sticks in your head is not the one that wraps up in tidy fashion. It's the one that speaks truth into your consciousness and won't let your mind go.

Truth communicated has power. It can't be escaped. It can't be set aside as can a message with an agenda. Truth brings about change. It sets free. (John 8:32)

So to the artist within me, my take away is this: stop trying to solve every problem in the world. That's God's job. Mine is to draw the attention of the audience of the world to the One who can do something about it.