Creativity and Rest

Naming the Animals: An Invitation to Creativity is a new book coming out in a few weeks from Square Halo Books. As with every book, there is a lot of work to make the book and then there is a lot of work to get the word out to the world to let everyone know that the book is available. But right now there is a little time for quiet and rest. And speaking of rest, here is a reflection on Creativity and Rest that we wrote for the book but ran out of room for it. There probably is a metaphor or lesson somewhere in that!

So as we wait for the book to release, let’s think about REST:

As seeds buried in the dirt and hidden from view, our time away from our work contributes to our creations the same way a rest note distinguishes the melody of a song. Creativity involves a set apart space and time. It is a playground of collecting and considering, of daydreaming and exploration. Rest is an important part of the creative process. Without a break in our routines, habits can harden in us and leave little room for innovation. We get too close to the work to see it objectively. As we set out to establish our lives in creative flow, God’s example of creation and rest gives us the pattern to follow. He worked for six days and then rested. In rest, we are enabled to see from an outside point of view and consider possibilities that didn’t exist in our narrow frame of reference. Rest is for our good and for God’s glory. As we take time for thankfulness and praise to the Creator, he fills us up and creativity can take root to blossom again. 

A Violent Partnership

The artist Edward Knippers is near and dear to Square Halo Books. He was a contributor to It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, and is featured in Objects of Grace. And our newest book in The Art of series is The Art of Edward Knippers: Prints and Drawings.

Therefore we are delighted to announce that we are partnering with Ed to help distribute Violent Grace: A Retrospective. This deluxe, hardcover book contains over 200 images of paintings by Edward Knippers, spanning from the 1960s to the present. There are also supporting essays by eminent scholars and theologians including Gregory Wolfe and Theodore Prescott—both writers who have contributed to other Square Halo titles.

There are two limited editions of the book available as well. The deluxe edition is accompanied by an original signed and numbered woodcut print, and the collector’s edition comes with an original painting.

Teaching Beauty: A Vision for Music & Art in Christian Education

Glowing praise for our new book on Art, Music, Faith, and Education:
 

The team of artists and thinkers assembled in Teaching Beauty have blessed art educators within the Body of Christ with an essential and timely discourse regarding the place of beauty, divine inspiration, and the role of the hand of the artist. As da Vinci once declared, “Unless the Spirit works with the hand, there is no art." —Tim High, Associate Professor of Studio Art, University of Texas at Austin

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Teaching Beauty is certain to open important conversations about teaching art and music within the Christian community and beyond. I believe this book will be a valuable asset especially to all of us now involved—or yet to be involved—in arts education from a Christian perspective. —Peter Mollenkof, Professor of Art at Messiah College

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Christian education has grown in leaps and bounds since I cut my teeth in the early 90’s. We have observed areas of weakness and made vast improvements. But by and large, the one area that seems to have been the red-haired step-child is the teaching of the arts. It is high time we realize that teaching beauty should have been central to it all. This volume is a glorious leap in that direction. —Bruce Etter, Head of School, Wilson Hill Academy

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At the heart and in the soul of Christianity and classical education rests the soul-nourishing energy of Beauty: building bridges between souls, between communities, between spirit and body, heaven and earth, God and man; and drawing us to our eternal home. 
     Beauty, however, eludes us (and can mislead us) and its hard to understand how to teach it. The essays presented to us by this extraordinary fellowship of authorities and artists and doers gives us eyes to see, ideas to understand, and practices to imitate. I receive it as a gift of grace—even of “grace notes.” —Andrew Kern, President of CiRCE Institute

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 I cannot say how glad I am that [these] reflections are now available for all of us, maybe especially those of us not connected to the classical schooling movement, who might otherwise not get to read this kind of stuff very often. As I regularly say, agree or not with every sentence, I heartily commend this book.
. . . But, again, I hope I am clear in saying this is not just a book for those working in classical Christian schools, or even for those who are working in Christian schools. In fact, it’s not even just for those who are in schools.  Parents, choir-directors, church school teachers, Christian ed professionals all will all be informed and aided in their efforts to think well about shaping the lives of those God has given them to influence.  Anybody who wants to learn more—maybe not having been schooled in aesthetics all . . . will benefit from listening in to these thinkers and educators about how to teach music and art within a context of learning to love goodness, truth, and beauty. —Byron Borger, Hearts & Minds Bookstore

CLICK HERE for Hearts & Minds Bookstore's lengthy (and quite insightful) review of this book.