Works of Heart: Building Village Through the Arts by Lynne Elizabeth and Suzanne Young

I saw this book some months back in my hippie catalog and finally got around to reading it. What a fun book about different ways that artists have used their art to bring people together for the betterment of their communities. There are profiles (with lovely color photos) of an interfaith quilt project, a ramshackle school in a poor neighborhood whose students came together to create a “mud mural” on the exterior walls, and lots more. One of my favorite sections of the book was about an artist who got a grant to rent out a stall at the local public market as a place for storytelling, music and performance art. How wonderful.

I continue to brood on the Artsy New Church Development, so this was a good read. Also gave me some ideas for some things we might do at Suburban Church.

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I am also reading and working sporadically with a book called Getting Unstuck without Coming Unglued which has ideas for unblocking creativity. It’s specifically written for women, which makes me wonder what the differences are, if any, between male and females artists and writers’ experience of feeling “blocked.” Some of the profiles in the book are women of boomer age or older who grew up with the message that being an artist was frivolous, that their job was to be wife and mother. But for those of us who are younger and/or who didn’t receive that message… what’s the difference? Maybe men of a certain age got the message that they should be good providers and not mess with all that “sissy” art stuff. Gender may be a wash in this.

Either way, the book seems fairly useful, if nothing else as an invitation to experiment and play.