Creativity and Bears

          I was wandering through an art store--not a gallery, but a store where artist's buy their supplies.  I love stores like that.  I stroll aisle to aisle in covetous reverie.  I don't covet the merchandise.  I covet the ability to use it.
          I can usually spot an artist (but only if it's a woman--it's the asemetrical haircut, the natural fabrics and drape of her clothes, the obviously handmade jewelry) and I'll walk up to that  stranger and ask, "Are you an artist?"  And if they affirm my conjecture, I'll dig deeper to learn their background and the tools of their craft: easel, sculpting knife, forge, loom?
          Art appreciation flows from our inate love of beauty.  But the ability to create art is in another catagory all together.  My artistic ability is pretty much limited to the apprection side.  How very sad for someone who would love to fill galleries with paintings or gardens with sculptures.  We all have to face our limitations.
         I love hanging around artists.  I am a little in awe of them, but I'm always secretly hoping that any tiny bit of their talent will ooze into the atmosphere and miraculously be absorbed by me, and the next day I might find myself not just inspired with a vision for some artistic creation, but endowed with the talent to produce it.
          I once overheard a dinner table discussion--more of a debate--about the value of art.  On the one side was a proponent of the arts and on the other a guy who was practically an ascetic.  The denouncer of art took the position depicting art as frivolous with the artist's effort being a waste of time and the acquistion of art stemming from worldliness.  Wow.
          The coup de grace, in my opinion, came from the art lover when he said: "We love art because we love beauty.  We love beauty and possess creativity because we possess the qualities of God.  It was in the context of the creation story that the Bible tells us we are made in the image of God.  (Genesis 1:26)  Bears don't decorate their caves because they have no souls."

Exodus 35:30-35
"...See the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills--to make artistic designs for work in silver, gold and bronze, to cut and set stones, , to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts....He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers--all of them skilled workers and designers...."