Creativity=Art

We buy a Sunday paper every week on the way to church and this week I just got around to reading it today. My favorite section is always the Arts and Entertainment section because of the crossword puzzle and the Hobby Lobby ad/coupon on the back :) But today, I liked it even more, because it has this great article about the quilts of Gee's Bend! Gee's Bend, Alabama is a small community of African Americans that has taken free-style quilting to a new level. Their quilts are very indicative of their own heritage, which you can see in the picture. (Some of these quilts are made with corduroy. Cool!) The article states, "...compelling works can be created anywhere. To recognize this reality, it just takes viewers who are willing to open their eyes and see beyond conventional notions of what art is, who must create it and how it must look." (Denver Post, April 13, 2008)

Along those same lines, you may remember me mentioning Edith Schaeffer's, The Hidden Art of Homemaking in my recent Reading List post and I read some more great quotes last night in the chapter on decorating a home. This first one is concerning child-conscious decorating: " 'A child won't notice' is a very bad and untrue phrase to admit into your mind. A child will be affected by originality, beauty and creativity. And a child in a Christian home should connect being in communication with the Creator God with having been made creative, in His image. Rather than creativity being squashed out it should be enhanced and developed because of being brought up in a Christian home, not in spite of it!" (p.74) And this second quote struck me also: "We foolish mortals sometimes live through years of not realizing how short life is, and that TODAY is our life." (p.77) How true and inspiring!