Last week the world lost an icon of American art in the death of painter Andrew Wyeth. Wyeth was a frequent target of critique. His father, illustrator N.C. Wyeth, thought Andrew wasn’t much of an illustrator. Art critics said that he was an illustrator and not an artist. In the face of this, Wyeth nurtured a silent and centered focus on his art for its own sake. What Wyeth mastered was the conveyance of Place.
I capitalized ‘Place’ because I want to convey that the subjects of Wyeth’s art were not shallow ‘some-places’ but locations imbued with deep identity, emotion and worth. These places for Wyeth were his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and his summer home in Cushing, Maine. The content of Wyeth’s art is mundane, not in the popular sense of ‘boring,’ ‘plain’ or ‘tedious,’ but in the original sense of the word—“earthly,” from the Latin mundi for ‘world.’ Intimacy is discovered in the detail of individual grass blades, bark on exposed tree roots, gradients of cloud shading, the texture of lone rocks and the movement of light through window panes. Even in Wyeth’s portraits and modeled compositions it is clear that the people reside in a Place.
I capitalized ‘Place’ because I want to convey that the subjects of Wyeth’s art were not shallow ‘some-places’ but locations imbued with deep identity, emotion and worth. These places for Wyeth were his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and his summer home in Cushing, Maine. The content of Wyeth’s art is mundane, not in the popular sense of ‘boring,’ ‘plain’ or ‘tedious,’ but in the original sense of the word—“earthly,” from the Latin mundi for ‘world.’ Intimacy is discovered in the detail of individual grass blades, bark on exposed tree roots, gradients of cloud shading, the texture of lone rocks and the movement of light through window panes. Even in Wyeth’s portraits and modeled compositions it is clear that the people reside in a Place.
Spring Beauty by Andrew Wyeth (1943)In Wyeth, one finds a childlike captivation with the immediate space which he occupies. Herein, is the point for parents. The single most important virtue at the heart of creation stewardship—or caring for God’s world, creatures, plants and people—is wonder. Wonder leads to exploration. Exploration leads to knowledge. Knowledge leads to relationship. Relationship leads to thanksgiving. Thanksgiving leads to care. Red bird becomes Cardinal. Yellow weed becomes Tall Goldenrod. Dirt becomes Catlin-Saybrook Silt Loam (in the case of our church’s front lawn). In the Genesis creation story, God almost playfully presents Adam with animals “to see what he would call them” (Genesis 2:19). Isn’t it amazing that God wants us to participate in the care and nurture of this glorious, exceptional world!
Here’s an exercise to help your children come to know the Place in which they live. Give your child a hula hoop and a magnifying glass and ask them pick a spot and to catalog what they find within the diameter of the hoop. Leave the cataloging method wide open: drawing, writing, photographs, etc. Join them in their exploration and try to restrain your “explanation reflex” so that their curiosity can run free.
Here’s an exercise to help your children come to know the Place in which they live. Give your child a hula hoop and a magnifying glass and ask them pick a spot and to catalog what they find within the diameter of the hoop. Leave the cataloging method wide open: drawing, writing, photographs, etc. Join them in their exploration and try to restrain your “explanation reflex” so that their curiosity can run free.
BONUS REVIEW: Spore
Spore, from Sims creator Will Wright, is a multi-genre, single-player computer game with enhanced Internet content. The impetus for the game story is the theory of panspermia—the idea that a meteor crashing to earth brought the original ingredients which lent to the creation of life forms. The premise is that the player begins with a one-celled organism which the player may physically alter in the Creature Creator module, based on game challenges and creature needs, after having accumulated DNA points. The player moves their creature from unicellular water-dweller, to land-walking creature, to tribe member, on to civilization and eventually launches into space. The Cost: $49.95 as a direct download from Spore.com or in-a-box at most retailers.
The Worldview: Evolution is the mechanism by which intelligent life develops.
The Irony: Behind the evolutionary process is you, the Intelligent Designer!
Violence: Your choices early in the game determine whether your race will be warmongers or peacemakers. That’s right, you have the option to be peacemakers and court friendship with other races with your music and dance talent. The catch is that by the space stage even the “peacemakers” end up having to shoot anonymous space pirates who raid colony planets.
Final Analysis: The engine that drives the game is the Creature Creator. The bulk of gameplay is creature design and, as well, the most consistently enjoyable part. For $10 you can buy Creature Creator separately and play it apart from the evolution story line and internet content. My two-year old daughter even enjoyed helping Daddy “create” new critters by picking out colors and shapes. Intuitive controls make this easy to learn.
On my desk
Corn, Wanda. The Art of Andrew Wyeth. Greenwich: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1973. (Normal Public Library).
Moyer, Joanne. Earth Trek: Celebrating and Sustaining God’s Creation. Waterloo: Herald Press, 2004.
