Encountering art, whether literature or painting, sculpture or music, theater or architecture, film or poetry, often elicits an immediate response: I love it; It’s okay; That’s horrible; I’m offended; Give me a break; How magnificent. Can we really know that art is good or bad, or is it all a matter of one person’s subjective opinion versus another’s? Does art reflect life, or life reflect art? What value does anything artistic bring to our lives? Can we live without art?
In his Spotlight presentation, Dan McGregor asks us to consider some of these questions. Sometimes the answers are fairly straightforward, but at other times, they are not.
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Reading
In preparation for this Spotlight session, please read the following excerpt:
- Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin, “Art and Blurred Boundaries”
(Note: myACU login required to view reading.)
Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin, Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 110-122.
This article references many images and artists. For those artists that are unfamiliar, take a look at this visual guide.
Join the Conversation
If you have a question for this week’s speaker or would like to share a conclusion of your own, please post it as a comment below. We welcome off-campus voices to the public Cornerstone dialogue as long as they are respectful and contribute meaningfully to these curricular discussions. See the ACU Blogs Terms of Use or About Cornerstone for more information.
Spotlight Resources
BIOGRAPHY
Dan McGregor is an associate professor in the Department of Art and Design. A painter and illustrator, his work has been featured in national and international exhibitions, and his illustrations have been published in national venues.