Happily Ever Done

Just installed the sand rakes today. That was the final thing that needed to be done (until someone comes along and breaks something). Some photos of the finished storybook house:

Fables Family Tree

Just needed a spot to upload a picture.

Oscar Haiku

I just caught the winners of the Oscars on my way to work this morning and was bored enough to write two haikus about them.


Host is Wolverine
Glad for Slumdog and Ledger
Wanted Rourke to win


Though Wall-E is good
Animated film should not
Be separate group

Watching Lost

It is not often that I get to be the person that picks up on pop culture references; but I caught two watching Lost tonight (though one is more renaissance pop culture). The first is the painting inside the church was Doubting Thomas painted by Caravaggio: (one of my favorite Caravaggio’s at that).

The second was a graphic novel that Hurley was reading was Y the Last Man (specifically vol 3: One Small Step). It is about a plague that wipes out every male mammal on earth except for Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand.

So no philosophical musings or creative projects; this is all I got for this post.

The Other Storybook Entries

Here are the other winners of the Arboretums Storybook Competition.

A Russian Fairytale that I had not heard of.
ThumblinaTreasure Island
James and the Giant Peach

Red Fish Blue FishAlice in wonderland.
A rotaded white tunnel that was pretty cool.
This was my favorite. Don't know what it is supposed to be yet but the form is awesome.
This is Laura's favorite as well as the one that put everyone elses to shame. It is the Jolly Rogers from Peter Pan complete with cannons and a ships cabin.


And some randome pictures of Randy with the frog sculptures.
Oh, and here is Laura with her stack of books she was using to study for her comps test (which she is taking as I type).

Art as Incarnation

So after several revisions, I think my thoughts on art are clear enough to present to the public.

My initial assumption: Everything that is created has a Spirit behind it, every aspect of physical reality is incarnate. My definition of Spirit is incredibly broad in this context; it can refer to anything from individual’s will to physical laws.

Before I get into the definition of art, I will need to define Beauty (and prepare yourself for a roundabout definition). I find the ruggedness and dryness of the desert beautiful. This is personal taste and is subjective (there are plenty others who would disagree with me). But if I were the Sovereign Omnipotent Creator of the Universe my “personal taste” becomes objective in nature, it becomes Truth. Beauty is the taste of the one who is judging and it becomes an ethical standard (which can be subjective or objective).

Art and non-art are the two categories that all created things fall into. Beauty is the standard that separates them. The big problem with this system is that it ends up not being precise, exact, and mathematical because we have no way of accurately measuring and weighting the beauty contained within a created object. But just because it lacks preciseness doesn’t mean that automatically falls into the dreaded chasm of the subjective. The subjective/objective distinction is carried by what judge is used, and objective beauty ultimately comes from God as both the Creator and the Judge.

This understanding of art is helpful is several repects:
First, it establishes a context in which to view the existence of Beauty as a proof of the existence of God.

Second, it sheds light on the importance of the Incarnation.

Third, thought it is simple it can account for the myriad of objects that are labeled art by containing flexibility according to the taste of whatever is the judge while still maintaining an objective standard if using the right judge.

Fourth, it sheds light on man as a created, creative being (which allows for cool diagrams).

One thing I question is the relationship between the Spirit and the Form. From the top of the created order (God who has no creator) the Spirit must be the mover of the Form. But from somewhere in the middle of the created order it would seem that it is very possible for the Form to influence its Spirit. (Though there remains a normative hierarchy between the Spirit and Form because of the initial hierarchy from God.)

Storybook Construction Part 2

More construction photos from last weekend and this weekend. We finished the doors yesterday and are waiting on the track hardware to arrive. Despite the long hours and sore muscles, it is satisfying to get to build something that you designed (especially when it is a big project that you can climb on). I am very gratefully to everyone who sacrificed their time to seeing it get built.

Storybook Construction Part 1

This last weekend went well. We go most of the storybook house constructed and I got to spend some time with good friends. I didn’t get many pictures from this weekend so I would be appreciative to anyone who did get pictures and e-mailed them to me. Here are some I took on Sunday:

I call this one: “Laura talking to herself in the bamboo.”