My Mormon Artist Mom

Mormon Artist from McKenna Nobbs on Vimeo.

I interviewed my mom, Melissa Nobbs as a Mormon artist. While she is not a specific type of artist, i.e. painter, sculpter, etc... she explores many different types of creativity, and is very talented.

What are your project’s strengths and weaknesses as a podcast?

Technically speaking, this podcast is nothing to be proud of. The sound quality isn't very good, due to technical difficulties we had while recording, and the editing could be much better. Because I have grown up with my mother, everything she was saying made perfect sense to me, and I knew what she was talking about. The problem with this is that not everyone has the privilege of knowing my mother, and what she means when she says things. That being said, I am afraid that the podcast is too vague, although I feel it would not be too difficult to understand. I think my mother is an interesting subject, as guests on radio shows should be. For some reason, she is speaking really slowly, which cracks me up because she usually speaks really really quickly. All in all, I think that this is a successful podcast, even if it is not perfect.

What did you learn about yourself as an artist while creating this assignment?

It was interesting for me to think about how being a member of the Church usually means being resourceful and thrifty because we are taught to save our money and to not waste. My mo is a great example of how it can be easy and fun to make old things new again. I also liked how she talked about our need to be creative as one of our most Godlike qualities. This is a testimony builder for me to think that the creative we all possess it directly correlated with our divine potential. To think of myself as an artist is a stretch, but I hope that as I progress and develop more, I will be able to say that my being Mormon has positively affected my art. In today's world, art has become pornographic in many ways. As a member of the church I think it makes it more of a challenge to create art with heavy and adult themed messages. However, it is not impossible. Learning how to convey those tough themes in a way that is not vulgar or grotesque becomes a demonstration of being able to work around challenges, which ultimately, in my opinion, makes the art more impressive and valuable.

What does it mean to you to be a Mormon artist?

To be, being a Mormon artist is as simple as being a member of the church who values and expresses his/her creativity. I don't believe you have to be a world-class painter to be an artist, but to be a Mormon artist, I think it is important to approach your art in a way that coincides with the doctrine of the Church. However, you can be Mormon, and an artist, but not have the Church affect your art. But that wouldn't be a Mormon artist, that would be an artist, who happens to be Mormon...