Matthew Fox, “Creativity”
Next in our continuing “best books for artists” series of writers who inspire, we introduce free-thinking “radical” theologian Matthew Fox. He teaches that creativity in its many forms is the beating heart of all abundant living and spiritual growth. “All of creation is generative,” he writes. “Creating is our imitation of Divinity.” The artist, Fox says, co-creates the universe in its beauty, mystery, and wonder.
Fox calls wonder an “original blessing” (instead of original sin). Wonder and awe, as Plato said, is the beginning of wisdom (“wonder is the feeling of a philosopher”). Fox observes that a life as an artist, like a life of wonder and a life of wisdom, “is predicated on a tasting of awe and a celebration of awe.”
John MacDonald, Morning on the Hoosac, oil on linen, 24×36 in. John MacDonald teaches his poetic approach to landscape painting in several videos, including the bestselling video “Dynamic Landscapes”
Fox wrote his book titled Creativity as an expansion of a well-received sermon he gave titled “The Divine Artist Within.” In many ways the book is about living creatively and spiritually in touch with one’s spiritual self. Within its pages one finds a powerful meditation on the nature of creativity, “where the divine and the human meet,” and a celebration of the good works that can come out of that, including art and compassionate citizenship.
“We are not consumers,” Fox points out. “For most of humanity’s existence, we were makers, not consumers: we made our clothes, shelter, and education, we hunted and gathered our food…. We created.”
Like Michelangelo, Fox sees in the creative act a kind of divine service, a reflection of God’s creation of the world. Yet, it’s about living as much as about art – he holds up as creative acts such things as gardening, parenting, talking, marriage, even dying he suggests is easier to face if approached with a maximum of creativity.
Thomas Jefferson Kitts, Carrying Water, by Moonlight, an Historical Pueblo Scene, oil on panel, 12×12 in. Thomas Jefferson Kitts teaches his oil-painting process via his love and admiration for the techniques of 20th century master realist Joaquín Sorolla. Check out his video here.
Creativity comprises a motivating, uplifting framework for creative art and living. It’s full of hints and inspiring suggestions that the most prayerful, most spiritually powerful act a person can undertake is to create, at his or her own level, with a consciousness of the place from which the gift of creativity arises.
“Creativity keeps us creating the life we wish to live and advancing humanity’s purpose as well,” Fox writes. “To speak of creativity is to speak of profound intimacy. It is also to speak of our connecting to the Divine in us and of our bringing the Divine back to the community.”
“Buddhist philosopher Joanna Macy says that when your heart breaks, the universe can pour through. That is how it is. When the universe pours through, so, too, does the creativity of the universe.”
“We need to study the chaos around us in order to turn it into something beautiful. Something sustainable. Something that remains.”
Here’s wishing you the courage and patience to create beauty and meaning out of the chaos of life.
This is PART 3 of our roundup of the best and most inspiring books for artists. If you’d like to see the other “best books for artists” on our list, you can find Part One here and Part Two here.
Remember, Streamline has a whole shelf of instructional books to browse. Videos are amazing, but sometimes we like the go-at-your-own-pace, old-school intimacy (and expediency) of turning pages too. Check out the books for artists on offer right here.
Rivera’s Paris
Diego Rivera (1886–1957), “Dos Mujeres (Two Women),” 1914, oil on canvas, 77 3/4 x 63 1/2 in., 1955.010
The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts has organized the innovative exhibition “Rivera’s Paris.” It gathers an array of paintings, drawings, and photographs to explore the Mexican artist’s formative early years in Spain and France, particularly his encounters with cubism that resulted in “Dos Mujeres” (1914), a signature artwork in the museum’s own Foundation Collection.
Dos Mujeres is a portrait of Rivera’s common-law wife, Angelina Beloff (standing), and their artist friend Alma Dolores Bastián. It earned acclaim when first exhibited in Paris and was gifted to the museum in 1955 by Abby Rockefeller Mauzé, sister to Arkansas’s future Governor Winthrop Rockefeller.
Rivera’s Paris
Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts
Little Rock
arkmfa.org
Through May 18, 2025
