Daily Art
Daily Art
The word “art,” despite its brevity, has something of grandeur about it. We may think of Michelangelo, Bach, Shakespeare, William Morris, or Spencer. Yet I would contend that art should be a vital part of our own daily life. Art is first defined as “the quality, production, or realm of what is beautiful, or of more than ordinary significance.” Should that not characterize our day to day work? Art is not an ethereal concept twinkling in the distance. There is art in the well-written letter to an old friend, in the color and flavor of a home-cooked meal, in the crisp smoothness of ironed sheets, in the sparkling of freshly mopped floors, in the clear gleam of washed windows, in the pattern and fragrance of a flower or kitchen garden, in the melody of a family singing hymns about the table.
Today, art has been largely relegated to musty museums and private archives. Aesthetics have suffered in a modern world that demands efficiency and mass-production. But our God is a God of beauty, and our prayer should be that of the Psalmist:
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us:
and establish thou the work of our hands upon us;
yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
I hope to write more about how to make beauty a “daily art” through handwriting, flower arrangements, table settings, home-meals, singing, paintings, music, gardens, and home design. Meanwhile you may want to review my “Delighting in the Five Senses” series from last September-October. Each post gives ten delightful and simple ways to celebrate beauty in your life and home. Please comment there with your own ideas!
Text: Daily Art. © Handmaidens of the Shepherd, April 1008.
Photographs: Rose Renaissance. Unknown copyright.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008