www.halfpennyorchestra.com
For the last few Februaries, Ryan Miller and I have written songs for FAWM under the name Halfpenny Orchestra. We registered the halfpennyorchestra.com domain but never really did anything with it. Well, we’re doing something with it now.
From time to time, we find ourselves lamenting that we’re too busy, that we don’t push ourselves enough to be creative, that we feel like we’re not using what gifts we have very well. Our friend James Van Lommel feels similarly, so we three decided to start a blog together.
The main purpose of the site is really to provide mutual accountability and creative encouragement for ourselves. We’re each committing to post some sort of original content or commentary there at whatever interval we can, with an ultimate goal of weekly posts from each of us. We’ve started with two essays and a photo with commentary, but future posts may include music, book reviews, sketches, short fiction, and all sorts of other things.
So, if you’re interested in seeing what we’re up to, you can find out at www.halfpennyorchestra.com. Please feel free to peruse whatever is there and leave comments…and please pester us if you notice that it’s been a couple of weeks since something new was posted. :)
I have a ... you guessed it ... dream
I have a new dream job: creative consultant (or some such title).
Basically, I’d work with people to design and create invitations, greeting cards, gift packaging, and other paper crafts for weddings, birthday parties, holidays, thank-yous, etc. I could do everything—design, purchasing, production—or simply help the client find his or her own inspiration and products. I could accompany the client to various craft stores and get him or her started. Heck, maybe one day I could even have my own line of products. And a magazine. And books. And a multi-million-dollar craft empire! Move over, Martha!
Seriously, though, I’ve been so insanely inspired these days that I can’t keep up with all the projects I want to start (and hopefully finish). Maybe someday I could channel all this creative energy into a money-making venture while helping other people at the same time.
I think this idea comes partly from the opportunity I’ve had to write a holiday-card-making article for the New Times’ Holiday Guide. I got to put to use my two passions: writing and crafting. Plus, I’m also in charge of designing and creating the programs and thank-you cards for my friend’s May wedding.
Other dream jobs (in no particular order) (besides mother and newspaper editor):
- Well-known author/novelist (I’d say famous, but I don’t have time for fame right now)
- Bed and breakfast owner/chef/creative hospitality coordinator
- Journalism teacher
- Brainstormer (seriously, I love brainstorming ideas for anything)
- Well-known freelance writer
I used to want to be a dentist, an archaeologist, an astronomer, an architect, a Disney animator, a graphic designer, and, eventually, a journalist. (It’s funny to me how many of my former dream jobs began with the letter ‘a’ ... )
Beautiful
It’s here! It’s here! See for yourself the slideshow of Natalie photos by the talented Lisa Maksoudian.
(The gallery page needs a password — if you find yourself there itching to buy a print or two, e-mail me or Bret for the password.)
Merry Christmas: Teaser (Updated)
For Christmas this past year, our wonderful friend Shannon Sevey gave us a photo session with the talented Lisa Maksoudian. We had the first part of the session yesterday, which was a lot of fun. I’m excited to see how Lisa interprets our family and what she’ll emphasize with her gift of maximizing beauty and whimsy.
Because the fog rolled in, we’ll continue the photo session on Saturday morning. Until then, Lisa posted one teaser photo of Natalie on her blog.
I can’t wait to see more!
Update: Lisa has posted three more photos of Natalie on the blog…check ‘em out!
reverent.org
Without over-philosophizing, I just wanted to mention an interesting website that I’ve run across lately.
I don’t know if there’s any other Christian influence, but Reverent.org lists Ecclesiastes 9:11 as it’s motto: “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”
The author’s concept in creating the site is that a lot of “great” art/literature/science/etc. (particularly from modern times) has become well-known in large part due to personality, publicity, and chance. To provide evidence for this, the site owner has set up a variety of comparison-type quizzes, some of which are fairly easy to answer, but some of which are surprisingly difficult.
Here are a couple favorites:
Masterpiece of Abstract Art, or Painted by an Ape?
William Faulkner, or machine-translated German text?
There’s really not a ton of content on the site, but a couple of the essays are pretty interesting too:
The Disumbrationist School of Painting
The Spectric School of Poetry
Enjoy…
Outsider Art
Art is something I think about a lot. Sometimes it’s just wondering about whether a book I’m reading or an album I’m listening to will stand the test of time. Often, however, it gets more abstract.
I find myself asking: What is the purpose of art? What makes good art different from bad art? Are there concrete principles that govern it, or is it a “I know it when I see it” kind of situation? What is the distinction between “art” and “craft?”
Theologically speaking, we can say that the ultimate purpose of art is to further God’s glory, but beyond that things get mysterious. People with far more experience and education than I often disagree and get into heated arguments about such things. And not everyone perceives art or reacts to it in the same way. Some people listen to John Coltrane, and some listen to Limp Bizkit. ‘Nuff said.
Needless to say, I haven’t quite worked out my grand unified theory of art yet, but I do have a few thoughts on the subject.
Recently, I ran across a fascinating, thought-provoking, and occasionally creepy website which I’ve spent more than a couple of lunch hours poking through. It’s for a magazine called Raw Vision which exclusively covers a field called Outsider Art.
Outsider art is a catch-all term which is applied to art made by artists who have little to no contact with the art world, and most often art by people with no artistic training but who engage in art out of intrinsic motivation. It loosely covers some categories such as Art Brut (originally, art by psychotic individuals), Visionary Art (art made by people under spiritual influence), and some of what people might call “folk art.” Most examples of outsider artists are people who have mental and/or emotional problems.
So what’s the connection? One of the foundational elements to any piece of art is that the particular, idiosyncratic voice of the artist must come through. I would argue that this is true by definition for anything claiming to be art. And Outsider art is art that is all voice. Yes, there are elements of craft and technique, but it is driven by an uncontrollable urge to create.
People aren’t drawn to the works of Henry Darger, Charles Dellschau, or Adolph Wolfli because their works match up aesthetically to the Renaissance masters, or because of their philosophical depth. These works fascinate because they are strange and because they show the unbridled side of human creativity.
As someone who struggles with voice in my own meager artistic output, I have to say that I find myself somewhat jealous when reading about some of these artists in the Raw Vision article archive.
Obviously, I’m not jealous of their lives—just their ability to turn off the self-editing tendencies that make art seem too imposing/too hard/not worth it. Even if the result is hundreds or thousands of oddball drawings which few people ever saw, they have emulated their Creator with small-c creations of their own.
