ruah arts group

I’m no architect, but I certainly have some sense of proportion, light, color and all those other technical words that describe what people–educated or uneducated–would call a beautiful building. Well, Virtual Tourist has done some of the footwork for us, and compiled a list of what they (and many) consider the 10 ugliest buildings of the world(h/t to Marie for the link). They clearly haven’t been to St. Paul’s University Parish in Madison, WI, home of the…what? Are those stations of the cross??? (Sadly, I don’t have a graphic of the “stations.” St. John of the Cross would call them a little too abstract and apophatic.)

What are your thoughts? I certainly agree the the Liverpool Cathedral (sadly, the Catholic one) looks like a spaceship, and that the Boston City Hall does look like a half abandoned and beat up hornet’s nest. If you’ve been to St. Paul’s in Madison, what might the caption of a portrait of the interior read?

I keep coming across these design contests, and this one looked like a good one. J.Jill, the slightly overpriced cross between Gap and Chico’s, is holding  design contest for the next Compassion Tee, a shirt whose net profit go towards the J.Jill Compassion Fund at the Boston Foundation. Partners (beneficiaries) include Ascension Place in Minneapolis and The Enterprising Kitchen in Chicago. The grand prize is a $2000 shopping spree at J.Jill and an Artista Creative Safari in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (Ladies only on the safari).

Feminists for Life is well known for our striking images and powerful copy, as in the Refuse to Choose®: Women Deserve Better® ad campaign and The American Feminist.

FFL is looking for experienced layout designers who support FFL’s pro-woman, pro-life mission to volunteer their time and expertise. The ideal volunteer would be adept at various media, able to use Quark or Adobe InDesign, and work well with our brilliant art director and our president. If you are interested, please contact info@feministsforlife.org with résumé and samples of your work.

My friend, Matthew Milliner, wrote some time earlier this year a succinct summary of everything I believe about contemporary art, namely that contemporary art is corrupt, is based on poorly formed principles (if any) sans the transcendant, and needs very much the simple, faithful return to classical foundations in a truly creative way that is based in, above all things, the sacred Liturgy, whether directly in the liturgical arts or flowing from the altar itself by grace. His very direct and lovely way of communicating this comes down to two bird analogies: the swallows of Capistrano (as taken from Jody Bottum’s article in First Things) and the sparrows whose littleness trumps the eagles of the art world (as taught by John Walford of Wheaton College).

Do read the article. It’s not a sound bite, hyper-summarized, bite size chunk of cultural niceties and theoretic sentamentalism, so don’t expect something that the average Facebook user would read and dig. It’s probably not something your average artsy fartsy person would dig either. Average, I said. It’s edgy, and a little (wee) bit long, but it’s worth the perseverance. So read it. It might offend you, and that’s okay I say. Truth offends. If we had more people willing to offend the Church we’d be in a much different place in respect to many things today.

Favorite quotes:
“A nearly universal response to contemporary art today–one that impressively transverses race, creed age, or class–is ‘What?’”

“The decades to follow gave us conceptual art, landscape art, performance art, outsider’s art, found art, and (most revealingly perhaps) auto-destructive art.”

“The cult of celebrity–with its exorbitant votive prices–drives the art world today, leaving envy and resentment in its wake: a convocation of belligerent eagles.”

“We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another–doubtless very different–St. Benedict.” And lo, our Benedict has come.” [Props to Matt for the B16 reference--check his flickr account for his pics from the April Pope visit]

 

Chances are that if you read my blog (both of you), you’re probably mourning the election results of this past week. Deeply. Me, too. I’ve been too depressed about the whole thing and trying to get over this nausea of my soul (turns out it’ll be with me for a while) to comment.

And perhaps I’m not commenting because there are plenty of people out there. Barbara Nicolosi of Church of the Masses and screenwriting fame, and no stranger to cutting words is hitting it hard against “Christians” for “change” whose idea of hope is a campaign slogan, not a theological virtue.  

You’ll probably want to take a break if you’ve just followed the Church of the Masses link. It’s a little heavy, and will make what I’m about to seem trivial. Comparatively so. However, for those of us whose livelihood depends on the generosity of others, it may be a little worldly hope in dark times. 

It turns out the upside of de facto socialism (besides awakening a sleeping giant) may be increased giving, says the Chronicle of Philanthropy. So, sit tight, buckle down, develop strategic relationships, because the Lord needs you more than ever.