Art Transcends Differences

For me, and I'm sure for every aspiring artist, it took me a long time to justify making art as a career. I was told that it was a useless and pointless pursuit. I would be much better off becoming a dentist, or a doctor or a preacher. Those people make visible affects on people's lives; you can see their lives change. Art, I was told, can not do that. Moreover, since the art business is its own tricky little world, and supporting yourself on it can be just as tricky, I became used to forced smiles. "Oh, that's nice," people would say after asking me what I wanted to do after graduating high school. 

When I studied in Japan, people were thrilled. I was supported wholeheartedly. Why? I bonded with many people over art. Animation, and film and music connected me with many friends. We did not share the same first language, we did not always have the same values or religion, and our cultures are completely different. However, art transcends all of that. Through art, you can connect across oceans and differences because deep down we are all fundamentally the same. We all feel the same emotions, face the same difficulties. We all question who we are, why we are here... and that is something we understood.

So I felt the same as many of you when hearing Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists. To be told by a powerful religious leader to make art, to touch people's hearts and make them wonder. To be told to share beauty, and by beauty God, gives power to the artist. It gives the justification that many people question in an artist. Whether your art requires subtitles or not, it can touch people from all over the world. If you can make people feel in awe of beauty, in wonderment at life, you may give them the hunger to search for Christ. That is power more than I ever anticipated, and it's a little scary. Thanks, God.

I had the privilege while I was in Japan to have a class with a professor that has collected over a thousand years history in Japanese woodblock prints. They all were stunning, so I thought I would share with you one from his collection. I would recommend researching the work that goes into making these prints. It is a long and difficult process, but the results are breathtaking.