The Monastery Art Department

In many ways a university art department is like a monastery; students are exposed to a great many theories of why art exists and why humans seem to need it.  Simultaneously the students are taught skills to make art and given time and space to develop those skills.  Devotion, rote repetition to mastery and zeal for their trade are foundational for the student and are relied upon by the professor as the fuel that propels the student forward.  Because the vocation of artist is solely dependent upon the will of the student, not the marketplace, the community is the workforce and creating the paycheck.  All these are necessary for the student to be able to survive to professional trade as a proclaimer of the gospel of art.  If all of this is built upon the foundation of the call of Christ on the student’s life, the whole process takes on sacredness much like the monastic life—which to me is a life worthy of consideration.