Painter-sculptor Kristopher Orr offers friends and lovers of artists ways to be supportive co-laborers in the sacred dance of art making.
By Kristopher Orr
This I write to the friend or lover of the artist. You who love a creative, be blessed. You do not hold the brush or type the words, but you are still a co-laborer. Though it is not easy, your walk is important. Here are a few ways you can care for your loved one, as you journey beside one another.
Cherish as sacred the moment of creation.
The moment of creation is beautiful and the closest place to the Lord’s heart. The artist holds the brush or shapes the sentence, but Yahweh, the Great Artist, move through the artist in a sacred dance of art making.
Sacrifice is at the heart of creation, and it is soul-shaping. We creatives place all that could be done on the altar of our hearts and ignite it to say “yes” to what might hang on an easel or fill a manuscript. Know how important this moment is in the life of your loved one, and let it also be precious to you.
Give your artist time and space for creation.
The process of manifesting ideas is fraught with opportunities for disaster. The purest ideas, perhaps the most needed in our age, are the ones most easily dismantled by rough hands or by a too-hurried transition into canvas or ink. Give the greatest gift you can: Allow space for your creative to attend in multiple dimensions — physically, mentally, spiritually, interpersonally, and in time.
Be kind about the lack of productivity: the demigod of our age.
Do we chafe at the sprout when roots are being sunk down over years before fruit appears? Allow your artist to move slowly through the process, to coax ideas into space, though you know full well nothing may come of it yet. Art is an act of faith. So breathe, and enjoy the process with your Creative. Be present in the now, unhurried and joyful at what might be.
Be a living memory for your creative.
The artist needs people who are deeply trusted, to look on and say what they see. In the slog of putting on another layer of paint, the artist will often descend into a valley of making. From there it is hard to remember the beauty and meaning of what is being made. In my experience, it can take years to recall what we once cherished in a painting; to look past the strokes that were never quite right; to see with new eyes what everyone around us has seen all along.
Lover or friend, you can help your artist to see. You can also remind your creative of where you both have been, and who you are: a royal priesthood, a child of the Living God, the Ancient of Days.
Pray for protection over your artist.
The artist is hated by an ancient enemy. For a long time, spiritual forces in our culture have been pressing art down to the realm of the incoherent, bizarre, perverse, and ultimately insignificant. Pray that your loved one can resist the forces of evil and continue to walk in the good calling of the artist: to take God-breathed ideas and manifest them through creativity that in turn, magnificently enters into the hearts of other humans.
Celebrate with your artist.
There is a moment in the creative journey when we tip into critical mass. What Steven Pressfield brilliantly named “resistance” seems to submit in defeat to the swift resolution of a creative work. This moment ebbs swifter than the paint dries, but it always comes when a work is done. Seize this moment of joy with your creative!
Rejoice that your artist has triumphed over the chaos of the devastating white space. Drink deep the delight that more good choices were made than bad; that the “long obedience in the same direction” has been lived out. Celebrate the miracle of a finished work of art!
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Kristopher Orr is a painter and sculptor who practices narrative cubism, an exploration of how the gospel intersects with our lives through shapes, lines, and forms that convey stories. He also is an award-winning creative director at Penguin Random House. In addition, Kristopher and his wife, Cheri, lead Jubilee Arts Collective: a catalyst for transformation in underserved populations through the means of the arts. Learn more at www.korrart.com and www.jubileeartscollective.org.