Basement of the Heart

U of I Students Seek to Engage Faith and Culture Through Art

Amanda Ang reads her poem "Fight Club"

Shea Acott plays Allemande from Bach's 4th Cello Suite

On Sunday, April 7, a group of University of Illinois students shared a presentation at St John's Catholic Newman Center on "Enagaging Faith and Culture."  The group, called "Basement of the Heart," consists of student artists who meet weekly to:

• create intentional space for dialogue on the arts, faith, culture, and their inter-connection
• build friendships and community around these ideals
• encourage creation of their own works through respectful sharing and critique
• influence the culture through beautiful and meaningful artistic artifacts

Throughout the semester, the group met weekly.  We shared and discussed artifacts, engaged in discussion for clarification of thought, and read selections from Andy Crouch's "Culture Making: Rediscovering Our Creative Calling,"  which challenges Christians to do less critiquing, copying, and consuming, and more creating; we are, after all, created in the likeness of a God who is creator.  The lack of compelling cultural artifacts of a Christan spirit is largely our own fault, he says.  Crouch offers many helpful insights and ideas.

I serve as moderator of the group.  I began  the presentation by quoting from Pope John Paul II's 1999 "Letter to Artists" in which he stressed that the church needs art, and art needs the church; and that the world needs beauty in order not to sink into despair.  I also quoted Joseph Ratzinger who, prior to becoming pope, once said, "the only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely, the saints the church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb."

Shea Acott, a sophomore cello major, played a movement from Bach's 4th Cello Suite.  Amanda Ang, a sophomore in environmental economics, then read a poem inspired by the film "Fight Club:"

Fight Club

i desperately need to connect with someone

i need to break out of my

Cling-wrapped existence

the muffled sounds of Out There

striking numbly at my bones

i want a true connection

not just another conversation 

dripping with superficiality

not just another “How are you?” 

and “I’m doing well” 

but a “What do you mean? Do you wish me 

a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning 

whether I want it or not; or that you feel good

this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?” 

and “All of them at once” 

i want my life

to be infused with many Alleluia choruses

and Sonata “Pathetique”s 

i want my life to be 

a pebble that falls

not just a leaf, smooth-sailing

i want to take the punches for You

tonight, and always

You don’t have to go it alone

here, in the basement of my heart

i can no longer live with my Tyler Durden 

i must fight

i cannot be Marla Singer

i must live

the revolution is not Out There

the Mayhem is in the basement

the Mayhem started with me

We need to fight

to be alive

but not just fight, for fighting’s sake

but fight for our humanity

but fight to our very last breath

giving it all away

Amanda spoke briefly about the poem, explaining that these men in the film were  fighting for their lives and humanity amid a numb and alienating world of un-fulfilling work and relationships.  The "basement" is the hidden depths where, underground and invisible to society, we engage life intensely, fighting for meaning, purpose, and life itself.  She spoke of how the group latched on to the "basement of the heart" phrase as a title.

Next, Ruth Kenney, a sophomore performing vocal arts major, gave a summary of the group's activities, aims and ideals, elaborating on the four main themes while stressing that for believers, devotion, while very important, is not enough -- excellence in one's field/craft is a must if we hope to have any influence on the culture.

Adrienne Fair, a senior fine arts major specializing in metals, then gave a testimony of her experience as both a devoted Catholic and art major, and how she worked to reconcile these two identities amid a secular academic climate sometimes wary or hostile to religion.  She spoke on her thesis project, on display in the campus's "Link" Gallery, which she described as follows:

I have created a body of work that consists of four wearable objects and one non-wearable object. The objects are contemporary references to the spiritual Body of the Catholic Church. Each piece will reference the union between the physical body and the spiritual Body. The five objects are 1) a headpiece for God the Father 2) an instrument for Jesus Christ the Word made flesh, 3) a signet ring for the Holy Spirit, 4) a brooch worn over the heart for the Virgin Mary and 5) an armlet representing Mankind and the Physical Church on Earth. 

 

Adrienne led some participants on guided tour of her exhibit after the presentation.

Finally, Angel Diaz, a U of I grad from a few years ago, spoke of his initiative called "The Glass Darkly," a recently established quarterly arts magazine on themes of faith.  Angel currently lives in Chicago and was an English major specializing in poetry.  His friend, colleague, and fellow alum Bob Puschautz, an art major and painter, presented with him.  They spoke of the grassroots origins of their magazine, which began as conversations among like-minded friends.  They shared their desire to bring together people of similar interests and values to continue the conversation on art, faith and culture, and to encourage meaningful artistic creation from a faith perspective.  

 

The presentation closed with an invitation by Dana Byerwalter, a senior English major, to attend her upcoming reading of her short story, a winner selected  in the University's undergraduate creative writing contest.  

This was the first of what will hopefully be many public presentations by the group, which only began in January.  It's exciting and encouraging to see talented young people of faith coming together, seeking to impact the world by sharing their unique artistic voices in a compelling and well-honed way.  Shea, Amanda and I were on the Rome pilgrimage together a few week ago, where we prayed in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva at the tomb of the great pre-Renaissance master Blessed Fra Angelico, patron saint of artists.  We prayed for a deep artistic anointing for ourselves, "Basement of the Heart," and all artists.  I look forward to seeing the beautiful and unexpected ways this prayer gets answered.