“I always say that people are either born as collectors or they don’t collect at all,” says Willy Lindwer, who evidently was born to collect Judaica and Israeli/Palestinian artifacts to the extent his wife “almost threw me out of the house.”
My article on Camille Pissarro, rebbe of the Impressionists, appears in MyJewishLearning.com.
“There isn’t too terribly much” about women in scripture, “and many times what is mentioned isn’t exactly flattering,” writes Christine Rappleye in Mormon Times. Unsurprisingly, Camille Fronk Olson, author of Women of the Old Testament found the earlier women (like Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, etc.) were harder to research. Luckily she had the help of artist (and former student) Elspeth Young.
“When I came to visit the great art galleries of Ireland, Britain and continental Europe I saw where the provenence [sic] of European art lay: in holy pictures,” writes Mary Kenny in the Guardian. I disagree that “Catholic – and certainly Latin – culture is picture-orientated, while Protestant – and Nordic – cultures are text-orientated,” but I think Kenny is quite right to say, “You cannot understand European art without a knowledge of Christian (and Jewish) traditions.”
I first connected with Matt Poulton, founder and director of social marketing at www.Latterdailyart.com, on Twitter (his handle: @latterdailyart. You can read more about Latterdaily art on this page. Poulton stresses something that should be obvious, but I’ve added it just in case, “The answers I give below are my personal thoughts, beliefs, and feelings and do not in any way represent those of other LDS artists or the LDS Church in any way.”
MW: What was the inspiration for creating Latterdailyart.com?
MP: The inspiration to build and launch Latterdailyart.com is two-fold. While growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah, I worked for a very well respected commercial photographer by the name of Steve Tregeagle. I worked in his custom photo lab when I was a teenager and saw first-hand how hard he worked to deliver high quality photography for all of his clients. Steve is an artist who is extremely meticulous and is widely known for the quality of his work. The Graphics Department for the LDS Church came across Steve’s work and commissioned him to take a number of photos of LDS Temples. Over the years, Steve’s photos have appeared on Church postcards and posters, as well as in Church magazines and other Church literature. Needless to say, Steve has years of experience capturing gorgeous photographs of many of the Church’s temples and historical sites.
This experience as a young teenager, mixed with my love for religious art inspired me to build Latterdailyart.com. I feel the site has great potential in helping to discover many talented artists and photographers who just need a little extra help getting their work in front of the right audience. I hope that Latterdailyart.com will provide this much needed LDS Art community and spotlight.
MW: How do you define LDS art? Is there more to it than just art made by Mormons?
MP: Personally, I define LDS art as art that portrays the thoughts, feelings, history, and doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The LDS Church has a rich history of hardship, persecution, pioneer heritage, hard work, exodus, love, and commitment to God, country, and family.
But what constitutes LDS Church art? That itself is a somewhat complicated question since the LDS culture is world-wide and members come from more than 130 different countries. It includes photography and artwork of temples, landscapes, and portraits from cultures all over the world.
Does it have to deal exclusively with Church themes? Personally, I feel inspired spiritually when I see art of nature, cool landscapes, or influential people that have impacted the thoughts and beliefs of the world. Many such people either have belonged to the church or have ties with the church and should be recognized for their hard work and achievement through the medium of art.
MW: To what extent do LDS artists draw upon Old and New Testament narratives?
MP: The Old and New Testament narratives form a very important part of the foundation of LDS art. LDS artists have placed major emphasis on portraying God’s dealings with his ancient people in Jerusalem. Every aspect of the Savior Jesus Christ’s works have been displayed in LDS art. From the birth of the Baby Jesus to His glorious resurrection, LDS artists have captured these New Testament stories.
Well known LDS artists have painted the Savior in the temple as a young 12 year old boy speaking with the priests and teachers. They have captured His humble and submissive baptism by John the Baptist. His many miracles of teaching the people of Jerusalem, speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, raising Lazarus from the dead, washing the feet of His apostles, standing and testifying before Pilate, being crucified on the cross, and finally appearing to his apostles as the glorified and resurrected Christ have all been beautifully displayed on the LDS canvas.
MW: Is most LDS art figurative, or is there also an abstract movement?
MP: The majority of LDS art is figurative. There are others though that choose to use abstract movement very effectively to communicate their messages. One such artist, Stephanie K. Northrup, uses abstract movement to capture the beauty of LDS beliefs in shapes and contours that demonstrate great spiritual emotion. Stephanie’s work may be found on her website.
MW: To what extent are non-Mormons expressing an interest in your site, and in LDS art in general?
MP: So far, we’ve received traffic from the LDS culture. We do hope for and invite all artists and photographers to participate in the art contest as we feel religious art shares many common themes regardless of any specific religious affiliation. We hope to further promote the talent of the LDS art culture, but we do invite all to participate on the site.
MW: Is Latterdailyart.com a full-time job for you, or is it something you do on the side?
MP: Currently, Latterdailyart.com is a very satisfying and fun side job for me. Aside from my love for the site and the LDS Art Contest, I work as a statistical analyst for a statistical modeling firm.
MW: You write a blog, and use Twitter, Facebook, Photobucket, and Flickr. Do you think there is a social/new media trend in the LDS community?
MP: Yes, there is a large social media trend in the LDS culture. There are hundreds of blogs written by members of the church and thousands of members participating in the major online media forums. The Church has made an official invitation to its members to get online and help others learn about our beliefs. We do so with great desires to share and also to learn about others’ cultures and beliefs. Some of my very close friends come from the Muslim religion/culture. We have a blast discussing the differing doctrines and religious cultures with which we have lived. These relationships have been deeply satisfying for me personally and I am grateful for all I’ve learned from my Muslim friends, their faith, and their religious art as it is some of the most detailed and gorgeous religious art in the world.
MW: Do you think there is a distinction between LDS art and LDS kitsch?
MP: Yes, I do think there is a distinction between the two. Obviously, mediocre LDS art can be found in many, many locations both on and offline, but there are some highly talented and educated LDS artists whose work (regardless of whether it be religious or not) should be recognized for its purity and sophistication.
MW: I see you are hiring a blogger. Is that position still open? If any readers are interested in applying, what do they need to know?
MP: Yes, the position for a blogger is still open. If readers are interested in learning more about the position, they can email us at jobs@latterdailyart.com. A strong background in art history, a love for creative writing, and an educated background in LDS/religious art are preferred.
Zoe Murdock (interview here) will be reading from her new book Torn by God: A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy (review here) in Salt Lake City next week. For readers in Utah, I highly recommend attending a reading (event details), and if you do so, please leave a comment on this post and tell everyone how it was!
I was interviewed by Aaron Roller of the Mima’amakim journal on a variety of topics related to art and faith. The interview is posted here, and it addresses (at least in part) mostly Judaism, but also Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and LDS. (The photo, which Aaron selected without consulting me, is from my trip to South Africa a couple of years ago, but maybe it’s appropriate because the thing over my right shoulder looks like a cross.)
Whereas the trend has been to take paintings away from Rembrandt and give them to his students (or worse yet, forgers), a rare piece that was not originally given to the Dutch master is now his. It’s extra special, because the subject is a pastor (pictured, image: BBC) of the Dutch Reformed Church.
I finally got the chance to check Mel Alexenberg’s Jerusalem-USA project. See the blog here. It’s well worth a look!
This one is news to me, though not altogether shocking. William Morris was inspired by Islamic art. I must say, though, that this sounds tenuous to me:
His famous advice to “have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful,” echoes the Muslim saying in the Koran that “God is beautiful and loves beauty”.
I bet we could find similar statements in scriptures from many faiths. I’d welcome debate on this though.
Zoe Murdock is author of Torn by God: A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy (my review here). I first got in touch with Zoe on Twitter (follow her here). She mentions a lot of her bio and her Mormon upbringing in her answers that follow, so I won’t reproduce them here.
MW: Most of my readers know very little about Mormonism and have never been to Utah. What do you think are some of the misconceptions about Mormonism that should be cleared up from the start?
ZM: My first-hand knowledge of Mormonism is based on my childhood experience. I pretty much stopped attending church when I left home at 19. However, I did a fair amount of research while I was writing my novel, and I have read and thought a great deal about the LDS Church, and its various fundamentalist off-shoots, in recent years.
When I see Mormons represented in the media, or in film, or in programs like HBO’s Big Love, I recognize the image and the storyline, but it is almost always a limited and stereotypical view. The problem arises because Mormons are generally portrayed in the context of their past. Mormons today are a diverse group of individuals, much more so than in the past. I recently read that today only 12 percent of Mormons live in Utah, and less than half live in the United States. My novel, Torn by God: A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy takes place in the late 50s. Utah was much more homogeneous at that time, especially in a small town like the one I grew up in where very few people were non-Mormon.
I think the reason these stereotypes persist is because when it comes to the LDS Church, the past is much more interesting than the present, especially for today’s media which always looks for something titillating or controversial. The Church has been trying to move away from some of its more controversial originating doctrine. They have tried to play down the media’s incessant tendency to draw a connection between the mainstream Church and off-shoot groups such as the FLDS, but they can’t seem to escape the past. I think I know why. What we have is a modern day church trying to evolve. The problem is, they are trying to evolve away from doctrine (for example, polygamy) that were originally represented as coming directly from God. Polygamy was presented as an essential practice if a man was to reach the highest degree of heaven (in Mormon lingo, the Celestial Kingdom). Here’s a link to a site that covers Joseph Smith’s revelations regarding Celestial Marriageand polygamy.
I’ve heard they don’t talk about polygamy in Mormon Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School anymore. In fact, I’ve talked to a number of past members who became angry and disenchanted when they found out they’d been lied to about such things. For example, some grew up thinking that Joseph Smith had only one wife, Emma.
When I was a child, we knew all about polygamy. We knew it was practiced in the past, and we knew it would be practiced in the next life. But we also knew it was grounds for excommunication (and against the law) if you practiced it in this life. It was kind of an odd concept because we lived around people who practiced polygamy: the main enclave of the FLDS (Warren Jeffs’ group) was just up the road. We saw the FLDS kids as weirdos, and yet they represented our past and our future, so in that sense we were weirdos too. Even among good Church members, there seems to be some confusion as to what to believe, but most of them accept and live according to what the current prophet tells them. This issue of doctrine changing in the Mormon Church is central to my novel; the father, Michael, represents a member of the church awash in the confusion caused by the Church’s attempt to change.
If the LDS Church ever does overcome its polygamist past, they may become just another religion. If so, the Media may well lose interest in covering them to the extent that they now do. But then, there’s always their stand on homosexuality, which is bound to keep them in the news for some time.
Though Theophany can carry very positive implications for prophets, it is also liable to destroy their families, friends, and communities.
Such is the premise of Zoe Murdock’s new novel, Torn by God: A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy (first 4 chapters available here).
Set in a small town in Utah in 1959, Torn tells of Michael Sterling, who becomes increasingly alienated from his family and community, who reject a vision he claims to have privately experienced.
Sterling stubbornly clings to his epiphany, yet the disbelief of his wife, Sharon, and his children, Beth and Mikey, makes him vulnerable to a rogue FLDS-like polygamist society, run by one Brother Reuben, who claims to believe in Sterling’s vision.
As Sterling becomes friendlier with Reuben and the polygamists, Sharon, Beth, and Mikey immediately recognize his new friend as a fraud and try to warn him to stay away. The local bishop does the same and is forced to set an excommunication plan in motion so that Sterling does not lead the church astray.
But Reuben’s declared faith in Sterling’s vision empowers Sterling where his church has denounced his special epiphany. Sterling sets down a destructive path of increasing dependence (religious, psychological, and ultimately financial) on a charismatic who is using him.
According to her website, Murdock’s “most basic desire is to know how people come to believe what they believe and how those beliefs lead them to act in specific ways,” which she finds “as exciting and stimulating as exploring a foreign country.”
Indeed the book, which reminds me of the magic and confusion of Ole Edvart Rolvaag’s masterful Giants in the Earth, takes the psychological temperature of not just the prophet, but also of the entire community.
Particularly of interest to non-Mormons (and to some Mormons too no doubt) will be the ways the LDS doctrines of personal revelation and the Law of Consecration collide with modernity.
I won’t ruin the story, which I highly recommend (and Murdock is well worth following on Twitter), but I will say that Murdock presents a very fair and honest look at a Mormon community, in which all the characters grapple with real world problems.
I learned a lot about Mormonism from the book, but I also think that the issues that Murdock presents are larger questions about sacred vs. secular, religion and spousal and parental relationships, and personal vs. public worship.
The title page declares that the narrative “is inspired by real events and is set in the landscape of the author’s youth,” and for that I hope that the more tragic parts of the narrative were literary license and did not actually plague the author. But whatever Murdock endured, readers stand to learn a lot from her experiences and insights.
I just finished reading the latest issue of Mormon Artist magazine.
The issue is packed with interviews with Mormon artists, each of which features questions like “How do you see the gospel influencing your work?” and “How do you see your work helping build the kingdom?”
The interviews are all pretty enlightening, but here is my favorite response, which comes from author Janette Rallison:
Young adult novels have become really sexual in the last few years, and many authors don’t skimp on the details, either. Every time I see an author out promoting one of these books, I want to say, “Hello, you’re writing this book for kids who aren’t responsible enough to turn in their library books on time. Should you really be encouraging them to have sex?”
My main characters don’t even date until they’re sixteen. They also don’t smoke or drink coffee or tea. There are no swear words in my books. This is another rarity in teen books lately. I’ve actually had several readers e-mail me and ask me if I was LDS. My editors don’t want me to have any of my characters be LDS, so I get a kick out of it when people pick up on these clues anyway.
On another level, and perhaps a more important one, my characters have hope. They triumph over trials. They find meaning in them.
I think it’s kind of sad that the editors ask for non-LDS characters. I’m sure they would just cite statistics about what “the market” wants, but that does not make me feel any better to know that the larger public, rather than just a handful of editors, cannot fall in love with LDS characters.
I first heard about Ben Crowder when I mentioned on Twitter that I was moderating a panel on Mormon art and was interested in learning more about the topic. The Twitter handle of “Official news and updates from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)” (@LDSNewsroom), and several others, suggested I get in touch with Ben (@bencrowder), which was good enough for me. Whether or not you are Mormon, the bimonthly magazine Mormon Artist is worth reading. The design is gorgeous (you can download it in PDF), the articles are really accessible, and the content is fascinating. Most readers probably did not even know Mormon art was a phenomenon (I didn’t until I researched this piece), and I can assure you that there is a lot of kitschy illustration, as is to be expected, but there are also many very exciting artists that are worth following. Instead of a proper bio for Ben, read this note he wrote.
MW: How did you first get involved in Mormon art, and how did the magazine come about?
BC: I’ve been interested in the arts for almost as long as I can remember. I’ve also been a believing Mormon since childhood, caring deeply about my faith. Since both art and religion are in essence about who we are and what life is about, it was natural for my interest to center on the intersection between them. It’s who I am, basically.
In June last year, I heard about MagCloud.com, a new print-on-demand magazine publisher that had just gotten off the ground. I’d edited the school newspaper and literary magazine in high school, which had given me an appetite for publishing, and I’d always wanted to start a magazine. When MagCloud made that possible, I asked myself what kind of a magazine I wanted to read. The answer was immediate: a publication about Mormon arts. The rest fell into place fairly smoothly after that.
MW: Most of my readers know virtually nothing about Mormonism and have no idea Mormon art is even a phenomenon. How would you explain the importance of the field to them?
BC: Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the official name) itself has only been around for just under two hundred years, so Mormon art is understandably still in its late infancy. I don’t know that I would call it a phenomenon just yet, but it’s certainly a phenomenon-in-embryo, and in the years to come you’ll see a flood of masterpieces coming out of this movement. The gates are only just now opening.
MW: Is creating art a religious act/commandment in Mormonism? Can it be a type of prayer?
BC: Yes on both counts. We believe that God is the Creator, and we also believe that we are His literal children sent to Earth with the goal to someday become like Him. Because of that, the act of creating is very much part of who we are as humans. One of our scriptures says that “the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me,” and I believe that holds true for the other arts as well.
MW: Unlike Judeo-Christian traditions, Mormonism recognizes a prophet who was alive (age 33) when the Daguerreotype was discovered. What has it meant for Mormon artists to have such a contemporary religious figure like Joseph Smith?
BC: It’s one of the pillars of our faith, of course, and for us it breathes a life and vitality into our religion that naturally extends itself into the arts. In addition, you don’t have to go too many years back before you find people whose parents or grandparents knew Joseph personally, and that kind of historical closeness has a huge impact on our culture.
panoramic Rocky Mountain scenery in two of its ordinance rooms by Utah artist Linda Curley Christensen and Colorado artists Keith Bond. Most historic is a 1922 oil painting that used to hang in the former Draper Tabernacle, depicting the Angel Moroni’s visit to church founder Joseph Smith to deliver the Golden Plates.
Are the Mormon ones “whoring out the name of the Lord”? more (see comment two). See here for a different approach to “Mormon Art” as “a complex subject that intertwines and challenges questions of testimony, talent, spirituality, identity, calling, culture, and recognition.”
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the LDS Church baptizing the souls of Jews who died during the Holocaust. The Church has been controversial for posthumous baptisms in the past, and AP writers Deepti Hajela and Jennifer Dobner explain that the Church has volunteered to take action to change its “massive genealogical database” in an effort to “make it more difficult for names of Holocaust victims to be entered for posthumous baptism by proxy.” But the honorary chairman of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors says, “We ask you to leave our six million Jews, all victims of the Holocaust, alone, they suffered enough.” (See also NPR’s story here.)
Manya Brachear has an interesting story here, which draws from her own experience learning of the baptism of her grandfather, who was not murdered in a concentration camp but did not consider himself a Mormon. Brachear focuses on the ways the baptisms can divide families, but doesn’t actually answer her own question, “Should Mormons baptize dead Jews?”
I honestly do not understand why this is such a controversial topic. For centuries, the living have tried their best to help their dead relatives make it to the afterlife, from burying maps, food, and other useful tools in tombs to the Jewish tradition of reciting the kaddish.
There is no kaddish clause that I know of that declares: Mourn for relatives lost if and only if they would have approved of the help.
In “Out, Out” Robert Frost writes of the last breaths of a young boy:
And then–the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little–less–nothing!–and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
To many religious people, it is impossible to just forget the dead and walk away, as kaddish and posthumous baptisms testify. It is easy to ask how the dead would respond to the extra help from below, but isn’t it better to focus on how beautiful it is that the living still want to connect with those they have lost? Discussions like this one about the exact ramifications of purgatory are very important but dangerous if they make us lose sight of the larger story here, which is love and friendship rather than hatred and anti-Semitism or Holocaust denial.
Thus Christopher Wilson, spokesman for BYU’s Museum of Art, on a lecture by Sabiha Al Khemir on “the nature of Islamic art and how it, over time, place and medium, reflects a cohesion of Islamic civilization.”
I am a bit confused though. If understanding a culture by examining its art is unusual for BYU’s museum, what does it normally do in its exhibits?
Click here for the full article by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Info on the show here. If you go, I’d be very interested to see photos and reactions to the exhibit. (See here for a discussion of LDS art amid a heated debate on Times & Seasons.)
I think Mabry’s approach is so interesting insofar as he does the opposite of a photographer like Adi Nes, who uses photography to modernize biblical stories. I’d love to hear more from Mabry about why he chose to stick with more of a biblical set and set of costumes.
[ABC] Brandon Kidder (pictured), 26, has placed 4th in the 2007 National Christian Art Competition and has a new book out: “Come Unto Me.”
[NewWithViews.com] “How can Christians be guilty of idolatry? I thought idolatry was something that only heathens could be guilty of committing,” writes Pastor Chuck Baldwin. “Christian idolatry: I submit it is more rampant than anyone wants to admit … Christians can be just as guilty of this sin as unbelievers.”
[Townhall.com] According to State Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr., Tennessee schools can teach courses on “the Bible’s impact in literature, art, music culture and politics.”
[Independent, UK] “Is the Arab world ready for a literary revolution?”
[Feminist Mormon Housewives] “My first inclination was right: never touch self-consciously Mormon art/literature,” writes Derek in response to a post on “Reading and the point of no return?”
[JTA] A Hassidic actor was pressured by his community to quit a movie role as Jerusalem-born actress Natalie Portman’s husband.
[NDTV] Christie’s is sticking with its artist, M F Husain, accused of depicting Hindu deities in a ‘’derogatory and vulgar'’ way.
[Denver Post] Rembrandt takes over a Mormon church gym, and helps folks “know we truly love the savior, Jesus Christ,” says the church spokesman. Image below: DP.
[JTA] As attempts were made to boycott Israeli writers at the Paris Book Fair, a bomb scare hit.
My article “Artists present an uncensored view of Mormon history” appears in this week’s issue of The Christian Index. See here for a long thread of comments.
[Salt Lake Tribune] Their mistake was posting their pictures on Photobucket. Now, 2 years later, the LDS Church is apologizing for its missionaries, who showed “disrespect” by photographing themselves adding a Mormon taste to a church in Colorado. See image, where one man holds a copy of the Book of Mormon. See also this and this.
[SF Chronicle] 33 Islamic women artists are showing work in Kabul. One says, “I couldn’t paint during Taliban regime because I didn’t have enough material, and I wasn’t allowed to go out and buy paint.” Another adds, “I was young and couldn’t go to the art center to learn because as a girl, I wasn’t allowed to go to school.” An interesting article (though perhaps a bit one-sided), with a sad ending.
[CBC] After spending his time at a Zen Buddhist retreat and losing his savings, Leonard Cohen is back on tour for the first time in 15 years.
“The First Presidency was reorganized following the death of the Church’s 15th president, Gordon B. Hinckley, who passed away on 27 January.
President Monson is the 16th worldwide leader of the Church. President Eyring, who serves as first counselor to President Monson, previously served as second counselor in the First Presidency. Second counselor, President Uchtdorf, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prior to his new assignment.
The First Presidency is the most senior governing body in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
I think the painting photograph is mediocre at best. Anyone else want to weigh in on style?
"Iconia has been on my blogroll from the very beginning" -Sincerae
Iconia
Iconia is a blog about religion and art by Menachem Wecker.
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Iconia is part of the Canonist network of religion blogs.
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I think the reason these stereotypes persist is because when it comes to the LDS Church, the past is much more interesting than the present, especially for today’s media which always looks for something titillating or controversial. The Church has been trying to move away from some of its more controversial originating doctrine. They have tried to play down the media’s incessant tendency to draw a connection between the mainstream Church and off-shoot groups such as the 
