Packer wonders why LDS artistic expression sucks...

[_bcspace]

My teeth don't have any cavities, but that's not because of any dentist.

[_badseed]

We call them ex-Mormons.

Agree.

I think the ladder analogy may also be useful in describing the LDS heirarchy. I visualize it as a ladder filled with men in dark suits one above the other, climbing blind to the end goal because their north end is firmly planted in the south end of the suit above them. Let us all press on!

Sorry if that was a cheap shot. I just thought the visual was funny.

Creativity and imagination requires one to say things like "what would happen if I did this differently" or "if I did it like this instead of how I've been taught it would be better." Questioning and doubting the status quo is a virtue. In my personal experience in the LDS Church doesn't really promote or engender these sorts of qualities in it's members.

[_Buffalo]

We call them ex-Mormons.

Agree.

I think the ladder analogy may also be useful in describing the LDS heirarchy. I visualize it as a ladder filled with men in dark suits one above the other, climbing blind to the end goal because their north end is firmly planted in the south end of the suit above them. Let us all press on!

Sorry if that was a cheap shot. I just thought the visual was funny.

Creativity and imagination requires one to say things like "what would happen if I did this differently" or "if I did it like this instead of how I've been taught it would be better." Questioning and doubting the status quo is a virtue. In my personal experience in the LDS Church doesn't really promote or engender these sorts of qualities in it's members.

[_ludwigm]

Bowen, Gordon. "The Viability of the Arts." An address given to the faculty and students of The College of Fine Arts and Communications on November 3, 1994. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

I think God is waiting for us to paint the light spots on the dark canvas. I believe He longs to inspire us with the ideas and the scripts and the paintings and the choreography and the music that can, quite literally, leap out of the darkness with a brilliance heretofore unknown, and call us into the light. And, I believe, there are people in this kingdom who can do just that. Are we enough you might ask? We're just a handful of Saints in a pretty intimidating world?

Baloney. We are a Church of nearly 10 million people. That is more people than lived in Italy during the Renaissance and we are as numerous as our Jewish brethren. Yet, where are our Michelangelo's and Meryl Streep's? Our Frank Capra's and Monet's? Our Shakespeare's and Bryshnikov's? We are no little cult hiding somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--the third largest religious denomination in America. We can accomplish whatever the priorities of our people are. With grit and determination, the Jews practically control Hollywood. What is stopping us?

[_brade]

bcspace, do you think this is a beautiful work of art:

[_bcspace]

bcspace, do you think this is a beautiful work of art:

I certainly couldn't come close to reproducing it.

The bottom line is that Buffalo either lied about the article or didn't read it. The Church itself does not stifle art, rather, those desiring to make art for it have some constraints they have to deal with but nothing is stopping them from producing great art even under other circumstances if they wish. by the way, Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect, felt that he did his best work when under limitations.

[_Buffalo]

bcspace, do you think this is a beautiful work of art:

I certainly couldn't come close to reproducing it.

The bottom line is that Buffalo either lied about the article or didn't read it. The Church itself does not stifle art, rather, those desiring to make art for it have some constraints they have to deal with but nothing is stopping them from producing great art even under other circumstances if they wish. by the way, Frank Lloyd Wright, the famous architect, felt that he did his best work when under limitations.

Another self-defeating argument, this time within the same sentence. Well done!

[_Tchild]

There are many excellent LDS artists of all stripes. However, they are artists in venues outside of the interpretation of Mormonism.

Remember, Mormonism is an extremely literally defined religion, with very literally defined beliefs and doctrines; the antithesis of true artistic expression.

True art cannot exist within the Mormon institution because the Mormon experience is already fully defined by the hierarchy, its meanings, its beliefs, its images and representations, etc etc.

Sure, an artist can render and infuse literal images or concepts with emotional content, with colors and certain interpretations based on individual experience, but the message cannot fall too far outside the literal images and beliefs created and engendered by the institution.

[_Joseph Antley]

Did you know that President Packer paints birds? True story.

[_sock puppet]

Did you know that President Packer paints birds? True story.

Do the birds die from the paint?