Art and poverty

Many people see art, whether it’s literature or painting or film or theater, as a useless activity or product for the benefit of an elite group of people, not for the poor.

If people don’t have adequate food or shelter, what good is art, no matter what the medium?

Gregory Wolfe, publisher and editor of Image, a journal that focuses on art, faith and mystery, spoke about art and poverty in January at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. An adaptation of his talk appears in the latest issue of Image (No. 84).

 

The Potato Eaters by Vincent Van Gogh

 

This is a topic that many people concerned about justice issues, including many Mennonites, have trouble with. Many respond like the disciples, particularly Judas, responded to the woman who anointed Jesus with an expensive perfume (John 12:1-8; Mark 14:3-9). What a waste! The money spent on that could have been used to feed the poor.

But Jesus blesses her action. Wolfe comments: “The anointing is wholly gratuitous, which also happens to be one of the fundamental characteristics of art.”

Over the centuries, Wolfe points out, the poor have shown their desire for beauty. In the Catholic tradition, for example, look at the great cathedrals as well as household shrines and murals.

Art comes in many forms and serves many purposes. Folk art has a long tradition and often comes out of poor communities. Pop art, however, has become mostly a commodity that makes millions for various corporations.

Many concerned about justice fear art may be a distraction. However, says Wolfe, “beauty, whether manmade or natural, evokes in us the desire to protect what is both precious and vulnerable.”

I volunteer for Circles of Hope, which seeks to help people move out of poverty. The people I’ve come to know show that they aren’t solely concerned about money. They want to live, to enjoy life with their families and friends. And they are quite creative in finding ways to get by on little.

Kansas governor Sam Brownback signed a bill last month preventing Kansas families receiving government assistance from using those funds to visit swimming pools, see movies, go gambling or get tattoos. As the Washington Post writes: “There’s nothing fun about being on welfare, and a new Kansas bill aims to keep it that way.”

These legislators seem to have no clue how poor people live or the struggles they face to survive.

In an earlier issue, Image ran an interview with Roberta Ahmanson, who has worked to serve the homeless through a nonprofit called Village of Hope. She notes that the founder “intuitively understood that the places you bring people to speak to them about their own value.” Village of Hope, she says, “is probably the only homeless shelter in the world that has stained-glass windows and an 18-foot vase and Albert Paley gates.”

Art reflects beauty. It also reflects the artist’s own poverty. An artist creates a “nothing” that does nothing. But while it “does not in itself alleviate the suffering that poverty entails, … it remains one of the most compelling means by which we can be turned from distraction and denial and enabled to dwell for a time among those we would pass by.”

While poverty isolates people, art brings us together.

We all need bread and roses, food and art. Beauty enriches our lives and makes us want to enrich others’ lives as well.

First Circles of Kansas conference

On Sept. 11, the Circles of Kansas Community of Practice 2013 was held at Trinity Heights Methodist Church in Newton. This was the first such meeting of Circles for Kansas.

Organizers hoped for around 25 people; more than 100 signed up. People came from across the state, some from Circles groups already formed, others just beginning, while others were in the exploration stage.
What is always inspiring to me are testimonies from Circle leaders--people in poverty who are working to get out. One such leader, Jo Lewis, made this insightful comment: "We're all in the same boat but have different paddles. Mine was a fork."
Heather Cunningham, the National Circles Training Center coach, spoke to the group. She noted the importance of community practices. She said that workers spend one-third of their time looking for information and are five times more likely to ask a co-worker for it.
She said there are more than 1,000 Circles groups in over 70 communities in 23 states and part of Canada. The first national conference for Circles was held this year. The second one will be held April 28-May 2, 2014, in Fort Collins, Colo.
The conference had breakout sessions in the morning and afternoon. In the first slot, I sat in on "Conflict Resolution Language" with Jeanne Erickson. She distinguished unnecessary conflict from genuine conflict and emphasized focusing on people's interests, not their positions. There was too much to summarize here, but it was excellent. She recommended the book Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations by William Ury.
In the afternoon, I sat in on "Trauma, the Brain and Your Circle" with Wanda Pumphrey, also excellent. She talked about the long-term effects of trauma on the brain and how the prefrontal cortex--the thinking, analytical part of our brain that moderates our fight or flight behavior--may shut down. She talked about ways Circles can support the healing process. Here's a good quote: "Healing starts as soon as someone listens to you and your story."
Over the lunch period, Ed O'Malley, director of the Leadership Center in Wichita, talked about the Circles vision. He mentioned three things Circles groups need to do:
• increase their comfort with ambiguity,
• hold to the purpose,
• create the container for the work.
Heather Cunningham closed the conference with a short presentation about leadership. She said that if we make leadership something bigger than ourselves, we fail to recognize it.
I came away further encouraged to continue being involved in this important work of being with people who are working hard to get out of poverty, in the face of huge systemic barriers. I bristle each time I hear some politician (or anyone) talk about how lazy poor people are. I've never met such courageous and resourceful people. I want to say, Just try to walk in their shoes.