In the Hands of the Master Artist

"What do you guys want to draw next week?" I asked my art class, as we all put our finishing touches on the lovely cathedral we had drawn.
"A hamburger!" shouted Josh.
I expected that from Josh, but then the whole group began nodding vigorously.
"Yes! Let's draw a hamburger!" they chorused.
"You guys are too good for a hamburger," I said.
"No one is too good for a hamburger," said one of them solemnly.
"You drew broccoli in college," Josh reminded me.
"Yes...it is not that you can't draw a hamburger beautifully...it is just..." I sputtered to a standstill.

Oh admit it, Missy Art teacher...you know that if you send the kids home with pictures of hamburgers, their parents might not enroll their students in your class next year. What kind of lunatic has an art class draw a hamburger? I began trying to envision how I could include a hamburger in the picture but still have other elements that would teach them important skills. Maybe a hamburger climbing Mt. Everest...? Or a hamburger floating over Niagara Falls?

I did draw broccoli in college, over the course of a whole semester. I liked to tell that story to my students when they complained about the subject matter I would produce for them in my classes.
"An artist can make art out of anything," I would tell them,"Did I ever tell you about the broccoli I drew in college?"
"Yes Mrs. Kaseorg," they would groan in unison.

And I really do believe that. It is not really what you draw that makes it art...it is how you draw it and the intent behind it. That was one of the aspects of our art education that was difficult to objectively define. There is a difference between illustration and art, and I suspect it is similar to the difference between karaoke and a real singer. it has to do with motivation and soul and intent, and it is hard to pin down, but most people know the difference when they see it if they have any training in the area. One can be technically quite good, but still not a true artist. An artist makes you see the commonplace in a way you never saw it before, with new eyes. A masterpiece is when the simple is made sublime. It can't be taught. It can only be nurtured.

I think that is in part why I believe every human being is art, created by the greatest Artist of all time. We were "knit together in our mother's womb" and created for a purpose. Every one of us. Even the ones that aren't as perfect and beautiful as a Master Artist could undoubtedly make them should He so choose. Even those of us with seemingly insignificant roles, or dull and humdrum lives. All of us were envisioned before the Artist had even gathered His tools or drawn in the background. He knew exactly where we would be painted in, and furthermore, He had a reason for every bright dab of us. In the hands of the Master, everything can become a masterpiece.

"All right, send me pictures of the hamburgers you want to draw," I suggested as the class filed out.

Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,



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