Today's offering from 'Voices Merged' is a short piece by Derek Flood on the relationship between theology and art, and starts by drawing a distinction between simply being a creative-type or someone who enjoys dabbling with paint, and being an 'artist' with a calling

Being an artist means having something in your heart that you need to get out to others. The medium may be clay or canvas, music or film, stories or dance, but the crux of being an artist is that you have no choice, you simply must create.

Derek shares something of his journey from early beginnings as an artist, through to animation, and onwards to the current day challenges of Web 2.0 interactivity. He talks about the endeavour - the hard work and long hours - that went into a piece called 'Emelia the Five-Year old Goth'. Here's a short trailer of that work :

But what is our view of  a 'Christian' artist producing a piece that has - on the face of it - very little connection with anything discernibly 'Christian'? Most of Derek's chapter explores this issue - and puts forward the importance of the artist being honest and 'real'.

Art needs uncensored freedom. For artists that are also Christians this can be a challenge, because there are many internal and external pressures that call for the artist to use their art to promote a certain cause or to represent a certain message. There is nothing wrong with art having a message, but it needs to be honest and real. It needs to come from the depths of the artist's soul.

Is there actually such a thing as 'Christian Art' anyway? Does art produced by Christian need to consist of overtly Christian imagery? Surely not.  Derek posits the idea of 'artist-theologian' - rather than Christian artist.  The artist-theologian seeks to interpret God's world and His purposes in that world through the chosen medium - perhaps clay, film, paint or wood, as opposed to the words and metaphors of the more traditional theologian. In this regard, the 'artist-theologian' can help to lift the endeavour of theology out of the realm of 'mere words' and into something that touches the soul.

Interesting chapter and - for someone like me who knows little about art - quite thought provoking.