“Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”
Simone Weil, Gravity & Grace
Heading Image: Harold Fisk, “Meander Map” Plate 22 from Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River, 1944. Public Domain via The Public Domain Review.
A Note from IAMCultureCare
I don’t know about you, but the past month has, for me, been a month of noise. A 24-hour cycle of breaking news and podcast commentary is a deluge, while the days — though lengthening once again in promise of a coming spring — are still too short to handle it. Darkness yet covers the face of my evening commute. How ironic then, that one moment of recent stillness came not with the quiet of a silent retreat or a social media break, but in the “flow” of an otherwise sonically-raucous music rehearsal for a concert of music by Orlando Gibbons, who died 400 years ago this June.
A typical concert cycle goes something like this:
The first rehearsal of a piece has a nervous energy and laser-focused attention to it such that the sight-reading often goes “better” than many of the subsequent reads. Then, the next couple of rehearsals are a chore: the music has to be taken slowly — much slower than the sight-read — to work out the kinks. The unfortunate side-effect of this is that the mind is often either lulled into a false complacency or it gets too focused on the minutiae that larger mistakes are made. But, slowly, real learning takes place as we learn to trust ourselves and each other enough to really listen. Then, the magic happens. We traipse in of a late Monday evening three or four weeks in, find our semi-circled seats, raise our music, take a collective breath…and we’re off! The tempo is just right at a slightly-faster-than-advisable pace, eminently singable, and we are locked in.
There is a life-affirming energy to late renaissance polyphony that is shockingly visceral to sing. It is difficult to do well and it is mysteriously spontaneous, but once you’re in it becomes almost inevitable (Hans-Georg Gadamer’s concept of play in art is, I think, the nearest description of this, and this is also why recordings are no replacement for live performance — music has to be embodied to be fully experienced). Inexplicably, a choir that is able to take faster tempos for many of these pieces often finds them far easier than slower, more readable speeds. This music is a swiftly flowing river that all twenty-odd singers have to unitedly jump into. It’s sink or swim, but if all take the plunge then the music does most of the work, carrying the singers in its current. The one thing you cannot do is dip a toe.
To get there though, requires the hard work of learning and listening, of owning up to your own mistakes and gently pointing out your neighbor’s, of practice and habitual making — even and especially when the results lack the beauty we seek to create. Only then can a musical ensemble make something alive and Real, greater than the sum of its individual parts. If it takes months to form a habit, and 10,000 hours to master a skill (admittedly, the exact number is problematic but the principle remains), then the practice of art is deeply at odds with the many voices in our digital, political, and cultural landscapes offering a false shortcut or easy 10-second answer. The science of behavior is clear that we become what we do, that the patterns of making and habits shape identity and character, and that meaningful change happens slowly. So, let’s practice the slow art of Culture Care.
As Makoto Fujimura encourages and Steve Jensen models below, we’d love to hear about your habitual making in your communities. Consider answering Mako’s invitation and getting in touch with us!
Jacob Beaird, Editor
A Note from Makoto Fujimura, Founder of IAMCultureCare
The Art of Bearing Witness: Reflections from Sundance and the Practice of Seeing
Dear IAMers,
Haejin and I have spent this past month immersed in stories. At Sundance, we sat in darkened theaters and got to ponder how and where the light of cinema can shine in the darkness, carrying voices that too often go unheard. I was reminded again that to be a steward of culture is to be a witness first: to listen, to attend, to behold what is unfolding before us. The Windrider Institute (our Culture Care friends within Sundance Film Festival) has faithfully stewarded students and cohorts, developing young filmmakers to be witnesses in darkened theaters for many years now.
Culture Care, at its heart, is the work of attention. As author E. Lily Yu reminded us, Simone Weil writes that “Absolute, unmixed attention is prayer”. We can pray by seeing, but only if we have cultivated the eyes to see. Art teaches us this practice, sharpening our senses, calling us into a deeper attentiveness.
This month, I invite you to consider: What does it mean to bear witness and prayers in your own creative practice? How does your work, whether in words, paint, movement, or sound, allow you to see — and pray — more clearly and deeply, and in turn invite others to do the same?
I’d love to hear from you. Share your reflections with us!
Yours for Culture Care,
Mako
***
For those who have not seen this “Beneath the Ink” short film, this Kintsugi story has stayed with me from Sundance/Windrider Summit several years ago. It is even more appropriate today, and it will be a good discussion item for your Culture Care groups.
Culture Care Community Spotlight
“It’s not the noblest call that gets answered, but rather the answerable call.”
- Garry Wills from Certain Trumpets
It took Steve Jensen from Williams Bay, Wisconsin several years before answering the answerable call of Culture Care. In Culture Care (IVP, 2017), Mako envisioned estuaries where artists, business and churches created, promoted, and advanced beauty in their community. Such an estuary is taking shape at Calvary Community Church where Steve formed “The Shepherd’s Studio: Creating Beauty in a Broken World”
Over fifty participants representing a spectrum of creativity come to fellowship and to learn each Sunday morning what the True Artist has to say about beauty, creativity, and culture. The hour begins with photographers, painters, writers, landscapers, jewelry designers, woodworkers, musicians, and many others sharing their passion during Show and Tell Time. It gives the artists a platform to share and for the group to appreciate a new aspect of God’s creative gifts. After Show and Tell, Steve and others from the leadership team teach on topics such as The Great Creation Mandate, Beauty, Beauty and Suffering, Beauty and Shame, and Beauty and Justice.
The leadership team is comprised of men and women from business, a pastor, and artists. Shepherd’s Studio has seen people enthused about how their gifts fit within the body of Christ and how it can impact their community. New relationships between artists of like-passions have begun. People have either been encouraged to pick up neglected projects or to try new ones. And field trips to museums and concerts are being planned.
The vision for Shepherd’s Studio includes an annual Arts Festival for the community, complete with workshops, an art exhibit, concert of original music by local artists, and a plenary speaker to inspire and encourage. The vision also includes an actual studio in the community where local artists can create beauty and gather for learning and encouragement. And someday the Studio could even provide scholarships for young artists to pursue their callings.
Steve Jensen is an Academy Kintsugi facilitator based in Wisconsin.
Culture Care Events & Announcements
- Beauty & Justice Lecture Series and Exhibit — Philadelphia, PA, 2024 – 2025. Makoto and Haejin Shim Fujimura selected as University of Pennsylvania’s Office of Social Equity & Community’s Equity in Action Visiting Scholars for the 2024 – 25 academic year, presenting lectures on the topic of“Beauty+Justice”. The final lecture will occur on March 7, with an exhibition of Mako Fujimura’s monumental “Transfiguration” triptych from March 14-June 1, 2025. RSVP here for the upcoming events.
- Missio Alliance Awakenings Conference—Washington D.C., Mar 6 – 8.Makoto and Haejin Fujimura to speak on wholeness and beauty.
- Leaders Like Us Global Summit—Wheaton, IL, Mar 23 – 25. Makoto and Haejin Fujimura to speak to the conference topic of“Owning Our Calling with Confidence”.
Do you have a news item or upcoming culture care event? Consider sharing it with us for a possible feature here in the newsletter! Email jacob@internationalartsmovement.org.
Web Links
- Short and sweet dose of reality from Alan Jacobs on the oft-decried decline of literacy and literature.
- Christian Wiman’s haunting Chalk Songs poems, recently published by Ekstasis.
- Makoto Fujimura continues to publish at his new Substack, including this latest video.
- Paul Kingsnorth reviews Frederick Buechner’s novel Godric.
- I’ve had enough contact with Chicago and NYC pigeons for a lifetime, thank you very much, but even I find these engravings of the birds by Pauline Knip delightful.
- Radiolab reports on the science of bird migration and quantum entanglement.
- New music recs: Shawn Okpebholo’s Songs in Flight sets texts from advertisements for runaway enslaved African Americans, with poetry and music by a star-studded cast; Nevermind arranges Bach’s Goldberg Variations for chamber ensemble; The Infamous Stringdusters’ have a new compilation bluegrass album; and Ine Hoem’s Norwegian jazz.
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