Mormon Artist

There is and has been much discussion regarding what it means to be both religious and an artist during my time here at BYU. I have read, heard, and seen many opinions—some saying that it is our duty to disunite our beliefs and our work, and others saying it is our moral obligation to infuse each aspect together as often as possible. For the most part, I tend to think that we must approach our work with an open mind and an open heart; so while we may not be actively seeking God’s presence in all that we do and create, we allow him to send his spirit to guide and influence our actions.

I have many subconscious reservations and expectations in both the art I produce and that I consume. I realize that I make certain sacrifices in how I interact with art, such as imposing moral guidelines on the art I observe. While some may argue that this necessarily weakens my artistic sensibilities (as I cannot experience the entirety of the artistic community), I realize that this is indeed a strength rather than a weakness. My moral obligations allow me to weed through much unneeded artistic material, as well as allowing me to experience art that strictly buffs my spirituality and countenance. By choosing to allow my beliefs to influence my interactions with art, I am increasing my opportunity to grow and be strengthened with each experience.

To be a “Mormon artist” means to marry your beliefs with your artistic interactions. You choose to filter both what you produce and what you consume according to the principles of the gospel. Being a Mormon artist can be challenging, but it also brings with it many rewards as well. You are never forced to reconcile your religious self with your artistic self, as they can be both one and the same. Your beliefs change the way you interact with art, and in turn, art expounds on your understanding of those beliefs.

Mormon Artist Podcast

Islamic Art

While I have seen Islamic art on TV or in magazines before, this was my first time ever being up close and personal with it. What was amazing to me was the great amount of detail that was in each and every piece of art. The piece, “Bowl with Animals” especially amazed me with its intricate design and fragile composition. In terms of foreignness and familiarity, I mostly felt like I had seen pieces which resembled these in the media or literature I have read. However, while the pieces looked a little bit like what I expected, it did not stop me from feeling far removed from our modern culture. In a lot of ways the color is what generally creates distance between me and the work of art, as many of the pieces are use muted, desert colors (brown, red, tan) over more vivid colors.

Geometry and pattern obviously plays a huge role in Islamic art. Most every piece contains some pattern, and many are symmetrical in their composition. While I may not know if this is exactly the case, in the movie The Prince of Egypt, Jethro sings “A single thread in a tapestry/though its color brightly shines/can never see its purpose/in the pattern of the grand design.” Essentially Islamic culture emphasizes community, and that we are all part of a “grand design.” Thus, by having pattern permeate throughout their artwork, Islamic artists are reinforcing the idea of cumulative significance: that we are all only part of God’s great plan. This is what I think is the reason for pattern in Islamic art.

What I learned about my own creative tendencies is that I can be a lot more open about expressing my beliefs in my art. Many great artists have represented their faith through their creations, and experiencing this exhibit has taught me that I can also do this with my creations as well. Truly, allowing your beliefs to influence your art gives it a much greater significance than it would have otherwise.

Effective Audio Stories

Audio stories are just audible narratives, so in order to create an effective audio story one must simply employ traits of a successful narrative: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, crisis, climax, falling action, and resolution. Regardless of the medium, audiences desire to be entertained and drawn in by well-crafted narratives, and this is no different with audio stories. There are several ways to do this, but one of the most successful methods seems to be a semi-narration where live recordings are over dubbed with narration that explains the visual elements of the scene. For example, while an interview is being played back, a narrator will explain what the interviewee is doing or presenting so that the audience is not lost. This is effective because it allows you to use natural dialogue while still being able to inform your audience. Furthermore, ambient noise or Foley during narration further draws your audience into the scene you are creating. One thing that I have noticed that detracts from the mood is when audio with bad quality is used and is necessarily difficult to hear. Only good quality audio should be used so that the audience never has to struggle to understand what is being said.

The audio story I chose to analyze is from season four of Radio Lab. As I talked about above, the author does a very good job at perfectly meshing together interviews and narration into a coherent story that is easy to follow and comprehend. Furthermore, the author several times mentions the name of someone during his narration who immediately begins speaking, which serves as a very fluid and pleasing transition from narration to interview. Finally, the sound effects and ambient noise which accompanies the spoken word perfectly creates a mood for the listener. Indeed, without the background noise creating the mood, the story would be quite different and not nearly as enjoyable.

300 Word Story

It seems everything is made in China. Seriously, pick up any object and look at where it came from. Ten bucks says it reads, “Made in China.” But what does this mean? Is it necessarily a bad thing? A lot of political debate has been ongoing concerning whether or not our mass exportation of manufacturing to foreign countries including China is beneficial to our economy, as well as whether or not exporting manufacturing to foreign countries without labor laws is even ethical. In order to make an informed decision, however, we must get the facts straight.

So why do we even manufacture so many of our goods in China? Simply put, it’s because of money. Labor in China is much cheaper than it is in America or first-world European countries, so it makes sense from a business standpoint to manufacture goods there. And while some people argue that exporting manufacturing to foreign countries negatively impacts our economy, I and others will argue that this is not the case. Indeed the American manufacturing sector has been declining as it is being exported overseas, but simultaneously our information sector has been increasing as well; and in the current world economy, information is much more valuable then manufacturing. Thus, our economy is not necessarily being exported or deteriorating, but merely changing from one primary form to another.

This just leaves one matter to be decided: is it ethical? My opinion is that while we cannot dissuade foreign manufacturing based upon economic principles, we can indeed dissuade foreign manufacturing based upon ethical standards. In order to continue exporting manufacturing overseas, we must be much more politically active in persuading foreign governments to adopt universal labor laws. Only then can we be totally certain that our exportation of manufacturing overseas is totally without negative consequences.

30 Second Film

Recording Studio

For my photo essay I decided to follow the local band High Rise Horizon as they traveled up to Salt Lake City to record their first single at Independent Music Studios. For the most part I made this essay about the musicians themselves, but I decided to capture elements of the studio itself as well, as it proved to be a very intriguing subject.

As I said, I had originally decided that my essay would give greater insight into the people and process behind music production. I thought that by following the musicians into the studio I might discover their artistic soul and creative desire, and that that desire would reveal itself in the photos I took. I believed that the deep passion felt by the musicians would help me engage with my community by better being able to understand the feelings that drive musicians to write and perform the way they do. I don’t know if you can already tell, but this isn’t exactly what happened. All of the emotion I had believed I would encounter on this journey was for the most part absent. The musicians were very calm and collected in their performances and hardly ever talked about their music in an artist fashion. Rather, the musicians acted much like any hard working person might in performing their usual task. So while following the musicians did help me understand the feelings that drive musicians to write and perform their music, it wasn’t in the same vein I had anticipated. This journey taught me that musicians are much like any other working individual in the sense that while some desire and love is present in the production of their work, most of the energy derives from simply working hard and concentrating on the task at hand. I later realized that this is exactly like filmmakers as well: we are drawn to film through love and desire, but ultimately it comes down to hard work if we want to get anywhere or produce anything important.

In conclusion, this project helped me engage with my community by allowing me to experience musicianship first hand and in so doing allowing me to discover the fundamental principle that lies behind all production and creation.

Digital Media

Digital media excels at observing the ordinary. But why is that? It is because digital media is so potent in its ability to convey subtle emotions and thoughts regarding a seemingly simple idea or concept. Digital media taps into so many avenues of communication, and through the use of the avenues, a near perfect retelling of a story or instance can be recreated for others to understand and comment on. Digital media also accesses us in the right ways and in the right settings so that a message or theme can be most effectively communicated. We can sit in the comfort of our own homes, removed from all distractions, or be in the middle of great crowd, and the message we receive through digital media can be completely different. This is because digital media is also participatory storytelling. The concepts and themes of the story is completely dependent on how the recipient interprets the message through their own current mindset. And while this is like almost all forms of communication, digital media has a habit of reaching us when we are most vulnerable—when we are most susceptible to learning new ideas and connecting with others.
An example of people who uses digital media to observe the ordinary is just about any video blogger. These people literally tell about their day, what they recently purchased, or what they’ve recently learn in the form of “video confession.” This method of communicating with others has become wildly popular because both the creator and the viewer can enjoy the simple emotions and feelings that are conveyed through the basic storytelling. The unique aspect of this kind of storytelling is that, unlike interpersonal communication, it can be shared with great multitudes of viewers who can experience the story first hand from the person who first expressed it. Also, unlike textual based storytelling, audio/visual storytelling is accompanied by many nuances and personal touches that better convey the desired themes and messages. Simply put, expressing even the most basic stories and ideas through digital media is extremely effectual in its ability to convey the desired messages to its audience.

Art and Advocacy

Creating art within a digital environment is automatically an act of civic participation. I say this because through art, we are either advocating new ideas, challenging old ideas, or reinforcing current ideas. Thus, in one way or another, we are actively participating in a social and cultural discussion. It is my belief that in order to be an effective artist, we must therefore advocate the ideas which we hold to be true, and use art to try to change society and humanity for the better.

By choosing to advocate an idea through art, we can garner respect from others and from ourselves for having made a difference in someones life, as well as having the satisfaction that in some way, our voice was heard. It is wonderful to feel accomplished both in terms of artistic abilities and social advocacy. One challenge that is one we must all consider, however, is the truthfulness and moral implications of our message. Before we commit to spreading our ideas, we must first be absolutely sure that the message will in fact benefit our audience. The worst possible outcome for an artist would be if we somehow caused pain through our actions.

Finally, as an example of how our art can change people's attitudes towards a subject, I would like to share with you the work of directors Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv. Together they have created short films that advocate peace and harmony between all groups of people--particularly between Arabs and Israelis. In the short film Strangers, they emphasize that we can work together to solve our problems, and that violence is not an option. I would also encourage you to check out their other short film Offside.

Cultural Collision

I found this video almost a year ago when a friend sent it to me in an email. I think he sent it to me as a joke, but it has been one of my favorite videos ever since.

The video consists of legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and famous dancer Lil Buck collaborating in LA to produce a song and dance routine that, frankly, is like nothing you have ever seen. It is immediately fascinating to see a young, modern dancer move to a classical composition. It is interesting because of the unexpected nature of it, as two very different world collide into something that is unique and beautiful.

In terms of the storytelling aspect of it, I believe that the story is conveyed much like any dance routine, in that the movement of the dancer and the sound of the music together covey the mood of what is happening within the composition; so while we may not be able to derive specific details of the story being told, the audience is able to interpret the movement and current feelings being felt within the story. In a way, it is like many stories are being told all at once, as the audience is allowed to project its own experiences upon the musical piece, and so are able to interpret it in many different ways.

This video is a wonderful example of digital media storytelling due to its cultural collision of vastly different arts that tells two stories at once: first the emotions that are conveyed through the performance piece itself, and second the emotions that are garnered from the knowledge that these two worlds may never have come together to create it without the use of digital media.