My grandmom and I
POWER OF ART
I often think as an adult that there is not much room for creativity in the culture that I grew up in. I would even say that art was never used because of it's transformative power. However, I was part of a group who went Panama on a mission trip and we used drama to communicate the transformative power of the gospel. My whole family went on the mission trip together which was a unique thing. I think of Augustus Boal's quote, "The theater is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it." I suppose that's just it, we did not know how to wield art in our lives to the power it had, which is alright because we valued art for it's functionality.
My parents are very strict and stoic people so when I wanted to become a poet, that was hard for them to take. But looking back now, my parents made art so functional that it was hard to notice it's ordination and beauty. For example, my mother grew up as a Mennonite and taught me the skills and craft of sewing, gardening and cooking from scratch. She did sewing for pleasure as well but often times it was used to help save money or make articles of clothing last longer. These art forms were of course functional forms but that did not stop the makers from creating objects that beautify the home, the church or the way you dress. My mom also grew up with a father who was a mennonite pastor who also owned a paint shop. Both my grandpa and mom are talented painters and their works of art are scattered through out our homes. My grandpa enjoyed painting landscapes and continued to express himself through painting after he had a heart attack. They both enjoyed painting for it's aesthetic purpose, my mom recently picked up watercolor.
My parents are very strict and stoic people so when I wanted to become a poet, that was hard for them to take. But looking back now, my parents made art so functional that it was hard to notice it's ordination and beauty. For example, my mother grew up as a Mennonite and taught me the skills and craft of sewing, gardening and cooking from scratch. She did sewing for pleasure as well but often times it was used to help save money or make articles of clothing last longer. These art forms were of course functional forms but that did not stop the makers from creating objects that beautify the home, the church or the way you dress. My mom also grew up with a father who was a mennonite pastor who also owned a paint shop. Both my grandpa and mom are talented painters and their works of art are scattered through out our homes. My grandpa enjoyed painting landscapes and continued to express himself through painting after he had a heart attack. They both enjoyed painting for it's aesthetic purpose, my mom recently picked up watercolor.
In addition to painting and sewing, music was integrated into our home growing up. My mom has a piano, organ and pump organ. My dad leads worship at church, my brother played drums and I play the flute and sing. My parents sang us three good night songs before bed. Of course this was all done again for functionality yet the way music was played communicated a deep love for Jesus and helped people to transform as they worshipped. I also grew up with the sound of story in my home. From Garrison Keilor's heralding voice to my mom reading us stories aloud in the car on road trips, it's no wonder I became a poet and someone who is passionate about conversation and personal story.
One style of art I learned about from outside my culture is Krumping. I grew up in a very conservative church that did not believe in dancing and would not even allow couples to date at their weddings. I have always liked dancing but did not have as much access to it. The first time I observed Krumping was at a youth group at church in Seattle that I used to be part of. Krumping is a style of street dancing.In Krumping, dancers have characters and parts that they are acting out or responding to, it is drama in motion.Hip hop dancing and Krumping was certainly used as a transformative way by the youth group I was a part of. The youth worked together to build their own dance and recording studio and often would hold battles and use dance to transcend boundaries of race and class. I loved being part of this church especially since the youth pastor, Louie, was a b-boy himself and had been breakdancing for many decades.
References
Photo by GoodFoot Arts Collective