by Michele Morin
Our first summer living on this country hill, the budget was tight and luxuries were few. I had planted a garden that seemed huge to me at the time, and a friend, intending to surprise me, weeded the entire plot as a generous gift from the heart. How could she have known that those random shoots between the green beans would have become marigolds or that the tomato plants had been interspersed with a potential forest of sunflowers? Reading Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for our Common Life by Makoto Fujimura explained for me the long ago disappointment and the deep sense of loss that clouded my gratitude to that well-meaning friend: those flower seeds had been planted just for joy. To me, they had represented hope and beauty in a world that ran almost exclusively toward practicality.
Our common lives become far too common when we fail to carve out a space for beauty. Makoto argues effectively that when we starve our souls in pursuit of our “living,” we lose sight of our own nature as creative beings, made in the image of a Creator God who calls us to lives of fruitfulness and beauty. Working from insights gained in his calling as an artist, the author invites his readers into the generative life, which is “fruitful, originat[es] new life, [and] . . . draws on creativity to bring into being something fresh and life giving.” Throughout the book, he lays out numerous principles that define the generative approach to life on this planet:
- First, a genesis moment grabs the attention and renews a conviction, challenging us to make decisions in keeping with creativity and growth. Just as failure and disappointment entered the narrative arc of the biblical Genesis, it may also play a key role in our own personal genesis moments.
- Generosity is the fuel that drives generative thinking. A mindset of scarcity squelches creativity and leads to small, cramped living.
- The knowledge that all believers are stewards of culture leads us to create a welcoming climate for creativity and to care for the contributions of others so that future generations can thrive.
- Art is a gift – not a commodity. In his work with the International Arts Movement, Fujimura works to contribute to this type of reimagining, inviting others into the new paradigm that culture is “not a territory to win, but a garden to tend to, an ecosystem to steward.”
- There is value to work that is done in secret for the pleasure and development of the artist — even if no one else ever sees or appreciates it.
Artists fulfill the crucial role of “border-stalkers,” living on the edges of various groups – sometimes in the space between – and carrying news back to the tribe. Like bees who pollinate far and wide, those who assume cultural leadership ensure flourishing. Christ, of course, was the ultimate Border-Stalker, creating in love, sidling up against all the borders with a light that would not be extinguished. When we narrow our categories (and our eyes) at artists who are Christian but who refuse to reduce Christ to a mere adjective, we diminish the mystery of Christ in our attempts to keep the Spirit inside our boundaries and away from the margins where border-stalkers are most needed.
As a mum who has spent that past decade or more schlepping children to piano lessons, play practices, and band rehearsals, I nearly stood on my chair as I read Makoto’s thoughts on the deeply necessary role that art education plays in the development of people who are “fully human.”
“Dana Gioia has rightly said that we ‘do not provide arts education to create more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society.” We provide arts education so that we can have better teachers, doctors, engineers, mothers, and fathers. Arts are not a luxury but a path to educate the whole individual toward thriving. They are needed simply because a civilization cannot be a civilization without the arts.”
Culture Care employs multiple metaphors to convey the connection between generative practice in everyday life and the enhancement and preservation of culture. Is a cultural greenhouse what we should strive for, or is that too sheltered? Would a garden concept with wise planning and limited scope be more likely to foster work that is both sustainable and generative? An estuary with its diverse and abundant ecosystems conjures images of some artists functioning as the “oysters,” rooted and filtering their surroundings, improving the environment for all; others are are more like salmon, following a pattern of life-giving migration and, perhaps, leaving the estuary for good at some point.
Makoto veers from principles to practicality by sharing his own story of inviting his supporters to invest in his career rather than merely purchasing his art. He does not use his considerable skills with a brush to paint an unrealistically positive view of the calling to serve ones gift, but, instead, introduces a gritty path to success that he calls “rehumanized capitalism.” In order to start a movement or survive as an artist, three types of capital are necessary:
- Creative capital — The artist with talent and skill
- Social capital — An influencer such as a church leader or community organizer
- Material capital — An individual with means or access to supportive business contacts
Wouldn’t it be lovely if, once again, the church could become an environment in which partnerships such as this could thrive? Tim Keller, former pastor from New York City, laments the tragedy that “the church is no longer where the masses come to know the Creator of beauty.” We are called to a life of nurturing and rejuvenating creativity, a work of cultivation which requires new eyes enlightened by a new heart. If it is our desire to make caring for souls a way of life, Makoto Fujimura offers an outline for life-giving practices that will enable us to honor God and embody the gospel while, at the same time, cultivating the creativity that is at the heart of what it means to be fully human.
Cover photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
Michele Morin is a teacher, reader, writer, and gardener who blogs at Living Our Days. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for over 25 years, and their four children are growing up at an alarming rate. She is active in educational ministries with her local church and her writing has appeared at SheLoves Magazine, The Mudroom, (in)courage, and elsewhere. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy, finds joy in sitting around a table surrounded by women with open Bibles, and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Oh, your well-meaning friend! I can’t believe she pulled up all your flower sprouts. The book, of course, sounds wonderful. I think you, as a talented writer, understand more than anyone the joy of being creative. When I retired from teaching, I missed the students, but I also missed the creative aspect of education. Blogging has fulfilled that missing feeling for me.
Yes, she was SO well-meaning, and I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve gleaned in the years since about why that loss cut so deeply–and also about communication and gratitude!
Writing really does fulfill the need for beauty and creativity these days. And gardening has been the constant throughout even the busiest of seasons!
Well this hit a nerve. Having been a right-brained outlier all my life, whenever I’ve been called on to mentor all things creative, I’ve had to also toss in the tough love advice that true creativity is rarely recognized, supported or celebrated by the world. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore your compulsion to create. Do it anyway – is my lifelong mantra. Create, anyway, for the sake of doing it, especially when it calls for making something from nothing. The world needs both left-brained order and right-brained creativity because God, the ultimate artist, made it that way on purpose.
I think I need to get this book for my grandson. 🙂
Hey, good idea! Makoto is a great role model for creative guys!
My youngest son used the book as a source for one of his papers in a college writing course, and it was a huge help to the formation of his outline and thesis.
Let’s start them in young!
I saw a quote in a magazine once that I wish I had torn out or written down. I *think* it was in a craft magazine, but it quoted a pioneer woman as saying something like, “I make my quilts well to keep my family warm. I make them beautiful to keep my heart from breaking.” That just resonated with me so much. It was enlightening as well: I had never thought of the bleakness of pioneer life in that way.
It was also enlightening to me to read once in a children’s book about God that we’re creative because we’re made in His image, and He is creative. Why had I never heard or deduced that before?! But it made me realize that creative pursuits are not a distraction from “duty ” (in themselves – though like everything else, creativity and duty must be kept in balance). Instead, expressing creativity in whatever way we’re inclined is part of our glorifying God and ministering to others.
I had not heard of this book or author, so thanks for stirring these thoughts.
I’ve seen that quote in a Luci Shaw poem. Is it possible you saw it there?
It’s beautiful, and I go back to it all the time.
And I appreciate the connection here between duty and desire. When I feel cranky about the “distractions” that take me away from writing or studying, I continually remind myself that it’s those “distractions” that actually provide most of what I write about.
I don’t think I’ve ever read Luci Shaw, but it’s possible the article I read quoted her. I remember your writing about her before. I need to look her up!
You’re in for a treat! Her poetry is great, and she has also written beautiful prose about aging, creativity, and spirituality.
Lovely. Thank you. Creative pursuits can feel so optional in our pragmatic world, especially in January, the back-to-basics resolution month! Have you read Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit? She is a choreographer who demystifies the process, which I found personally helpful. But you have grounded it in our Creator and given many helpful insights.
I’m not familiar with that book. Thanks for the lead.
And I agree with you that we need to make time for those creative pursuits. Our hearts need a generative life where beauty is part of every day life–even if the beauty we create is a clean kitchen!
As a creative and pastor’s wife, I really appreciate your words today, Michele. And this book sounds intriguing! Pinning, my friend! Thanks for being the voracious reader and resourcer in our lives!
I’m thankful for friends who are open to the resources I share!
Thanks for sharing, and thanks, too, for all the ways you encourage!
This review speaks to me on so many levels, Michele. Thanks, as usual, for your keen insight and gifted writing.
I’m so glad to hear that the review has been helpful to you. I would encourage you to pick up some of Makoto’s thinking first hand, either through reading his books or (as an intro!)following him on Twitter.
This sounds like an interesting read and I love the quote about arts education being necessary for people to develop fully. There is a lot of talk here of cutbacks in music tuition and people seeing it as an added extra rather than a core part of education, but I think it is so important. I have gained so much from music in ways that impact many areas of life.
Me, too, Lesley. In fact one of my sons recently did a college writing paper on that topic. Research is very compelling, arguing for the inclusion of arts education in the curriculum.
I love the way you work your music life into your writing.
This reminds me of the time hubs finally agreed to getting help with the yard work. The enthusiastic worker weed-wacked the horseradish and a few low lying blueberry branches. Let your imagination think the outcome of that employment!
Ugh!
It’s discouraging to lose all that progress!
Thanks, Susan, for showing up here with your story!
I loved the quote: “Arts are not a luxury but a path to educate the whole individual toward thriving.” I am going to share it with my daughter, a music teacher. Our God, Creator of everything, displayed immense creativity and each time stated, “it is good”. May we let Him cultivate and grow creativity in us, producing fruit in our lives that will last. Thank you for sharing about this book, Michele. I appreciated it!
Yes, we tell our sons all the time: “Any thing you have in your hands is a gift you can offer to God, and He is sure to use it.” This is so true with music and other artistic gifts. God made us in His creative image, and delights in our creativity.
Art IS a gift!! Thanks for this review Michele, I hadn’t heard of this book!