But is it art?

"Did you download the new app I sent you?" (shorthand for application, which for those of you who have lives and aren't attached surgically to iPods or other such devices, this means a program that accomplishes all kinds of cool things like books on-line, games, art programs, or making the iPod sound like a jar of jellybeans when you shake it.)

"Not yet," I told Asherel, "I have been busy trying to find out how to make helicopters fly and how to build a trebuchet."
She threw up her arms in frustration, "You have to download the app! It is really cool. You will love it."
I was driving at the time, on our way home from yet another extracurricular activity. Like many homeschoolers, we are never home.
We should be renamed "Rushing somewhere schoolers".

"See," continued Asherel, holding up her iPod, "I just drew this picture."
I glanced at a beautiful underwater looking seascape, full of waving bright colored plants.
"You did that just now?" I asked.
"Yes, in about 5 seconds."
"You don't do art in 5 seconds," I said.
"Why not? Art is not defined by how long it takes," she countered.
"Did you actually draw that?"
"Sort of."
"So it is 'sort of'' art?"
"No, I mean I did draw it, but the iPod kind of does the rest."
"You mean you need no skill or talent or even art awareness?"
"No! You do need talent. People who are good artists definitely draw better pictures."
"Except it isn't them drawing, it is the iPod."
"Well no, I mean, you are drawing, but the iPod kind of takes what you start and follows through by itself."

I glanced askance at her, and she knew the look. It was the "you have got to be kidding if you think you are going to sucker me into downloading this anti-art app" look. She has seen it before.

However, when we got home, she pestered me some more.
"Just try it," she said, thrusting her iPod at me.
With a defeated groan, I took her iPod and shook my head.
"OK, what do I do?"
"Just draw on the iPod. You'll see."
So I did. I made an elegant s curve on the blank screen. Suddenly forms of gorgeous color swirled from under my finger, roughly following the pattern I traced but then twirling off the path into sworls of delicate tendrils. It was unbelievably beautiful.

I downloaded the app.

Is it art? I don't know. It isn't really science, and as my husband says, if it isn't science, it is art. Does it require artistic talent? I don't know. Asherel's productions are exquisite, and controlled. Each is different and roughly the effect she is attempting to create. It certainly is fun, and magical. It seems too easy to be art.... but then is art defined by how many tears one sheds producing it?

I can hear my father now. I know exactly what he is saying, though he is 700 miles away.
"Not only is this not art," he is bellowing, "But it is destroying art that really is art. No longer will talent be required or perfecting a skill, or honing a craft. Anyone will be able to produce it, and thus it will no longer inspire or exalt."

I had a fantastic art professor who asked us to define why the magnificent nudes of the great Masters are not pornography. Why are they on Museum walls, and not on the pages of Playboy?
His answer was INTENT. An artist's intent is to interpret the world as he sees it with beauty or even ugliness, but with truth.  His goal is always honesty and truth. A pornographer's intent is to incite lust.

So that of course begs the question, what is Truth?

The Bible tells us. This should not surprise anyone. When Pilate asked Jesus, who had been handed over to him to be crucified, to tell him if Jesus was a king, Jesus answered the way He always answered questions, with more questions.  Jesus always wants us to discover for ourselves what is in our hearts. He is the ultimate socratic-method Teacher. He guides us to the Answer, but He never just tells us. So he never directly answers Pilate, but he does tell him in so many words that those who truly seek the Truth, will find it. They will know it.... and the Truth will set them free. Jesus wasn't interested in sparring with Pilate. He was interested only in the state of his soul, and if his soul was captive to God, he would not have needed to ask if Jesus was King or not. Pilate would hear the truth deep within himself speaking loud and clear.

"Do you like it?" Asherel asked me smiling.
"Just what I need, another addiction," I said as I swirled the beautiful tendrils on my iPod.

John 18: 33-38
 ³³ Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
   ³⁴ “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
 ³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
 ³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
 ³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
   Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
 ³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
John 17:17
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.