Creativity as an act of service

For some people it's hard to make time for creating art, because it seems too self-focused. "There's so many other things to do that actually matter. What's the point of wasting time and money on creating something pretty when there are starving children in Africa?" That's something I've thought over and struggled with myself. The tendency in Christian circles is to demean non-ministry professions. If it doesn't seem to relate directly to a ministry related job, it's held on a lower tier. Why play with glitter and paint when you could be serving Jesus?

But I've come to the realization that we each serve God in our own unique ways. We are made in the image of a Creator who loves beauty. Being an artist is my way of reflecting the artistic and creative side of God. People need beauty in their lives: it elevates our minds above the mundane and everyday, reminding us that there is more to life than toil and trouble.
Think of walking into a grand old cathedral, with huge stained glass windows, on a sunny day. That is very different, in my mind, than walking into a big box grocery store. You are just going to be in a completely different state of mind.
Or think of sitting by a lake in front of snow capped moutains with the sun setting behind them. I can guarantee you'll feel something different than when you're sitting in rush hour traffic.
I believe we are made to appreciate beauty. And not merely to be drawn to things aesthetically pleasing for their own sakes but because it reminds us that our world is not the way it should be.
Hmmm, am I getting into theology now? Yes, I am. I think God uses beautiful things to remind us that there is more to our lives than what we currently experience day-to-day. If we long for something that isn't of this world, perhaps that means we were created for something beyond it. It's what artists are referring to, whether they realize it or not, when they seek to express the "sublime" in their work. It's a transendence to something metaphysical, beyond reality. A striving to express the intangible with the physical.

"But what does this have to do with teaching my kids art?" you ask. A lot actually. Obviously, your five year old making cotton ball sheep and sculptures with popsicle sticks is not going to care what "aesthetics" or "Impressionism" means. But they are getting a chance to express their God given creativity.
So tie that in with your Bible lessons about serving: have your child make art for other people. I don't know any young kid who doesn't like to share their art projects with others. They want to hang their finger painting on the front of the refrigerator, give a homemade ornament to grandma and grandpa, put pictures in the window so passersby can see it. It's a desire to share their joy in being creative and making something beautiful.
So how does this look on a practical level? Something that my sisters and I did when we were little: we made Valentine's Day cards for a nursing home near our house. My Mom called to find out how many residents there were (eighty-seven, I think it was) and we went nuts with the construction paper, hearts and glitter. It was an art project that had a purpose, which made us want to do it more. It was a fun activity we did together as siblings. When Valentine's Day rolled around, we went to the nursing home and delivered our cards to each room individually. The residents loved it and were blessed by the cards and our presence. Seriously, what senior doesn't get joy out of a five year old handing them a handmade card? It's something I still remember fondly to this day. My sisters and I enjoyed being creative and sharing it with others.
Other ideas: Christmas ornaments to give to relatives (felt, craft foam, glue and scissors can create a wide variety of festive things), cookies for friends (baking definitely utilizes creativity!), making an art project with someone else, putting on a play in your living room for family....there's a lot of ways that you and your kids can use your creative skills to serve others.
The idea here is that art and the freedom to be creative should have a place in your curriculum, and can interweave with other lessons you're trying to teach your kids. There are many talents and skills your kids posess, and just as many ways to serve others.

Resources: Kinder Art

Here's another website filled with a breathtaking amount of resources for all your art needs! Kinder Art is definitely for those of you, especially with young children, who want to do art projects but don't where to start or are trying to break through a creative block. There is a huge amount of information available here. Kinder Art has been around for over 13 years, so there's a lot of content to browse. They've got craft ideas, coloring pages, a newsletter, a section specifically for preschoolers, art history lessons, ideas for the performing arts, projects broken down into a variety of mediums. There's the Teacher's Toolbox, which is aimed at those of you just starting out with teaching art and needing some direction. The name of the game here is simplicity in your art education--you don't need over the top projects to teach your kid something.
I've only browsed a small fraction of Kinder Art, but I like what I've seen so far. The only quibble I have with the site, is there's a lot of ads and advertisement links all over. It's a little distracting because there's not enough distinction between the site's content and the ads at times. I do like the face that Kinder Art has a pretty simple page design--this is not a Flash based web site, which takes forever to load on some Internet connections.

Resources: Europeana

In World Magazine's November 6th issue, they published a little blurb about Europeana:
"European museums have banded together to put some of their collections online. More than 6 million digital items from museums including the Louvre in Paris, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the British Libray are accessible through europeana.eu/portal."

The site is currently in its beta phase, so they're still tinkering with the design and ironing out all the glitches. It seems like a pretty simple site at first glance, but there's deep waters to dive into here. Some of Europe's finest museums and libraries have made their collections available for online perusal. For the majority of us who will probably never be able to visit these places, at least we can have access to the vast collections and learn something from them.

You can explore the works through a time line, or search by specific pieces. If you have an account, you can save searches that you make and tag specific pieces, so that you can find easily re-find your favorite works of art. And Europeana doesn't just showcase the studio arts, but music and literature as well.

This site is also a great resource for writing research papers. All the works have the proper academic information attached to them. I don't how many times over the years I've been browsing the Internet, found a cool picture, but there wasn't enough info alongside it to be of any help. You can click on the image to view it at a good quality resolution not just a little thumbnail. You can see who created it, when, where, what museum it's currently housed in, and whether it's in the public domain or copyrighted. 

Europeana also puts together virtual exhibits, drawing on its vast database to make for informative and interesting browsing. One of the current exhibits is about my favorite art movement: Art Nouveau.

Europeana is not be passed up--there's so much information available, and this could help you round out your art lessons.