Inspirations on Creative Arts (Part 4)

by Amber Bonasso

THE EXPERIENCE

At the end of the day, after all the planning, preparing, practicing, building, casting, loading in, que-ing, sound checking, light designing, dress rehearsing, costume fittings, mental gymnastics, last minute details, last minute catastrophes, last minute victories, and a lot of faith, the performance comes. All you can do is pray that your aim has been true and give the “go” and watch it fly out of your hands and into the audience. Inevitably, they laugh at the things that you never realized were funny, or are silent in moments you did not expect. But then there are those things that you hoped and prayed for, that go even better than you hoped, because now the “Art” has come to life and there is an audience for it to join with. It is a beautiful experience. If you are anything like me, it just wets your appetite to want to do it again and better. Better not because it wasn’t great, but now you have learned a whole lot of things that will enable you to do it even better next time.

A professional artist that I had the opportunity to work with was telling me and some of my cast mates about how he has worked on one specific part for 30 yrs now. One of my friends said, “It must be perfect by now!” He looked at him and said, “Perfection isn’t possible in Art. Only excellence. And you can always be more excellent.” I have hidden this in my heart for all time and I often remind my casts and pupils of it. Striving for perfection is never something that is achievable for us humans. Perfection only exists in the person of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Father God. We are pemantently imperfect until the day we go to be with Him. Yet, there is a beauty in imperfect things, there must be or He would not find delight in us. We can’t be perfect, but by the grace of God we can be excellent.

I believe that Art is meant to lift, inspire, and delight. That the action of creating something out of nothing is an act of faith in the Creator Himself to work with us and through us to produce something beautiful and exciting. With every exercise of creating and experiencing that creation, we grow wiser, more knowledgeable, and keener in our observations and executions. We can spend a lifetime pursuing this course because creativity is truly endless. I want to encourage you today to look around at whatever inspires you. Take a moment to sit in it and think about what it is about it that delights and lifts you. Look for His handprint in it. Once you’ve found it, let His creative power flow into your heart and mind producing praise on your lips, and experience the delight of His knowing you.

by Amber Bonasso

Photo by Sam Goodgame via Unsplash