What does it mean to be a 'Mormon Artist'?

Art & Belief

"What are the arts, really? Are they subjects, professions, cultural artifacts, or events to attend? Yes, but that is not what they really are. The arts embody a unique learning process that awakens the very core of one’s being to life’s meaning and beauty. Through the arts we can learn to see, hear, move, and feel with greater sensitivity and understanding. They provide both substance and stimulus for learning the creative process and nurture our capacity to explore the infinite. The arts enable us to communicate important realities that can be shared in no other way. Elder Boyd K. Packer has affirmed that 'because of what [artists] do, we are able to feel and learn very quickly . . . some spiritual things that we would otherwise learn very slowly.'" 

- K. Newell Dayley, "Centering the Arts in Christ," 2001.

More thoughts on the Fireside Chat...

Here's this thing about a (broken) guy exploring the relationship between media and family...

Fireside Chat

Dana Atchley, "Next Exit"

Here's the assignment description of the Fireside Chat...

Each student will prepare and perform an interactive theatrical performance that addresses some belief that he/she has. The fireside chat will include the student's performance of a (more-or-less) scripted story, accompanied by a visual, audio, audio-visual, or other design element. Students are to rehearse the story and accompanying elements to become comfortable with their performance. Students will meet at an undetermined location at an undetermined day and time and share these stories. Students will be asked to bring food, friends, and family to enjoy the evening.

To help you get a sense of what we're doing, here's "There is a Such Thing as Truth" by Errol Morris.

And here's another thing...(start at 35:35)

Here is are some additional notes that will be helpful in preparing your 'Chat.' 

• Most importantly, media is due to Josh by Wednesday, Dec. 4th at midnight.
• Your media should be thoughtfully selected/created and function to communicate your story and theme. This is not the time to sample crappy stock photos from Google to make a poor power point presentation to accompany your chat. You may use pre-existing images/text/video/audio, but your use of them has to be purposeful and artful.
• You may use images OR video OR audio OR props OR costumes OR whatever media (or combination of multiple media) you think will best serve your chat. It doesn't matter to me, as long as it exemplifies your effort and creativity.
• Your performance should be (more or less) scripted and performed BUT NOT wholly pre-recorded. Part of this experience is for you to tell your story in this space at this time. SO, there must be some performed element and some mediated element.
• Your performance should be no longer than 4 minutes long. Remember how some of those Webspinna Battles got tiresome, and some people had to leave before it ended? Let's stick to 4 minutes or less with each performance. And plan on staying for the duration of the evening.
• Your artist's statement will require you to reflect on the creation and presentation of your chat, as well as your experience listening to and sharing with other students on the night of the performance.

In class on Thursday, we'll discuss the Exercise in Empathy, and continue our discussion of Belief.

Here's a link to This I Believe, if you're in need of some inspiration for your piece.

Media & Empathy

First, here's this to bridge our conversations from media's relationship with society & community to our current discussions of empathy and belief.

Here is the assignment description for the Exercise in Empathy...

Each student will ask someone close to them to share a story about the most difficult trial that he/she has faced. (This someone will need to have an understanding of the assignment and agree to participate). During the telling of the story, students are to practice empathy--listening intently, asking questions when appropriate, sharing their own thoughts and feelings if invited. Then students will write a journal entry about the thoughts, feelings and impressions that they experienced during and after this exercise and will turn the entry into the instructor rather than post it on their blog. The journal entry must not include the name or relation of the someone or any details of his/her story--students must consider the assignment as a personal practice of empathy not an exploitation of another's struggles.

And here's another intersection of media and empathy.

And here's a nice bridge from this week's discussion to our final assignment...

And here's an extra credit opportunity...Watch "Listening Is An Act of Love" and post a 400-500 word response relating the film to some concept from the reading/class discussion and you can earn up to 10 pts extra credit. Here are the listings for the KUED Channel 7.2 (Digital):

POV: Listening Is an Act of Love: A StoryCorps SpecialSunday, December 1, 11:30pmStoryCorps animated shorts celebrate the act of listening.POV: Listening Is an Act of Love: A StoryCorps SpecialMonday, December 2, 4:30amStoryCorps animated shorts celebrate the act of listening.POV: Listening Is an Act of Love: A StoryCorps SpecialMonday, December 2, 8:30pmStoryCorps animated shorts celebrate the act of listening.POV: Listening Is an Act of Love: A StoryCorps SpecialTuesday, December 3, 9:30amStoryCorps animated shorts celebrate the act of listening.POV: Listening Is an Act of Love: A StoryCorps SpecialTuesday, December 3, 3:30pmStoryCorps animated shorts celebrate the act of listening.POV: Listening Is an Act of Love: A StoryCorps SpecialTuesday, December 3, 6:00pmStoryCorps animated shorts celebrate the act of listening.

Media & Community

Here's an example to consider...

Everyone Forever Now - "Stoop Sitting" from Everynone on Vimeo.

And another...

And another...

And another...

And a last one (perhaps closer to this week's assignment)...

Here are a few admittedly scattered thoughts related to your Concerned Citizen project due Tuesday:

• Remember 1-3 minutes is your time requirement. 
• Post the video/audio doc on your blog with an accompanying artist's statement that (1) addresses your creative process--how and why did you choose to make this thing in the ways that you did, (2) correlates your piece with concepts from the reading (Goldbard's article) and media from outside of class.
• A common mistake on this assignment is to overemphasize institutions rather than individuals. Remember that this is not a promotional video for a non-profit or whatever. It is to address an individual's involvement in their community. It should tell a story--one that will probably describe the person's engagement in their community, depict their relationships with others, and give us insight into the personal experiences and motivation behind this engagement.
• Another common mistake is to tell rather than show. Or maybe that's just a symptom of a potentially larger mistake--forgetting to merge theory with practice. Don't forget what Brad's been teaching you all semester long. While the stakes aren't as high on this week's assignment as your final projects in 185, I expect you to practice those same visual storytelling skills in this little doc.

Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992)

Here it is in all of its 161 minutes of glory...