Art and Feminism

I believe that our gender is something that highly influences the way we see the world and how the world see us. I don't think that gender differences are bad. I feel that men and women are two sides of the same coin. They each have their place and they each have value. They have different strengths and weaknesses.

I am not saying that every guy needs to be the epitome of masculinity or every girl should be the poster child for femininity. I think that we have aspects of our lives that are different from other people because of our gender. We are inclined to think a certain way or look at situations differently. That doesn't make one gender better than the other. As far as attributes of gender go, I don't think that we should label certain attributes as masculine or feminine. If you think about the attributes of Christ, gentle, loving, compassionate, thoughtful, hard-working, obedient, stern, etc., He has many attributes that may be misattributed as being girly. I think men should be able to be tender and loving. Women should be able to be strong and stick up for themselves.

If an artist is a man or a woman, their art should be appreciated for what it is and not who made it. there might be some messages or themes touched on because of their gender, but they might just as easily be attributed to their lived experiences.

As far as feminism is concerned, I feel that women should be free to make their own choices and live their life as they see fit. As long as they are not impeding other's rights, they have a right to freedom of expression and the pursuit of happiness. This touches on the burkini debate. I feel that a religion should not be stereotyped by a few members. People should be able to practice their religion without fear of being ostracized. Their relationship with God is special and should not be marred by our beliefs of how they should act.

Fear causes us to become irrational. We strike out at the things we fear because we don't want to get hurt. If we are afraid, we should use caution. We should make sure we are safe, but at the same time we should strive to understand the things which makes us fearful. Often, through understanding comes peace.

Guest Speakers in Class Last Week

My normal teacher for my Issues in Contemporary Art class was not able to be there last week. As a result, we had some guest speakers. The speaker on Tuesday was Jethro, a fellow teacher in the school of education at BYU. I was not able to attend on Thursday, so I don't know who spoke on that day.

Jethro told us about his art and some of the shows that he had done in the recent past. The thing that stood out the most to me was his thoughts on art changing his life. He decided to make a quilt with tally marks. He sewed each individual tally mark by hand and made a quilt with the tally marks designs that was 6 feet by 6 feet. There were around 100 tallies on each square that made up the 36 squares for the quilt. He said that the stitching became a part of his life. He would stitch while watching TV, while teaching his students, while doing just about anything where his hands could be free to stitch. The stitching was such a part of his life that it changed him. He found that once he was done, he couldn't stand his hands just being idle. He felt like he had to be doing something.

Art can permeate our lives if we let it. Living life can be a work of art. We just need to find out passion. The repetition can lead us to ingrain certain qualities into our souls. We can master a particular technique or medium. We can master one aspect of living by trying to do it perfectly. Practice being kind and you will become kind. Practice drawing hands and you will become good at drawing hands.

I think that it demands a vigilance to maintain as well. You can't just stop doing it once you've mastered somethings. You have to maintain it. If you stop drawing, you eventually get worse at drawing. If you stop being kind, then you eventually stop being able to be kind.