One thing some friends and I have been doing is working with different images that we have ingrained in our psyche as part of our Mormon upbringing and as ongoing elements of our relationship with Mormon friends and neighbors.

We are sketching and working with drawings and paintings and have considered other mediums as well. I find that it can have a certain catharsis as I work to make sense of thoughts and feelings about Mormonism - for example how sterile it feels sometimes. Images can be interesting in how they arise when one invites them in and stimulates them. One could do something like have an angel cracked and put back together, or the angel Moroni head horn and torso on the body of a horse.

Leaving the church may not leave one without the images and thought processes running through the mind, but may leave a sort of fragmented thought process for a lot of people. One could literally collage elements taking pieces of images from Mormonism and combining with other things like images from dungeons and dragons or fairies as a contemplation of what reality is. This could be done in a journal or hung on a wall if one feels safe doing something like that.

Additionally other forms of non visual art could be used like poetry or performance art to explore and express feelings and thoughts as they evolve.

This can be a personal process and not something that is shared beyond oneself or maybe with a few close friends. The images even just in our imagination have been lively and some we have sketched and are considering painting.

As I understand it, there is supposed to be a Mormon Stories art exhibition in Utah in June which I would expect like their subject matter on podcasts and youtube videos would have a diverse expression with relationship to the subject matter.

Some of us are discussing having a process group to share our creative forms with each other and/or to discuss them in process. Have others explored similar things and found them helpful?

There is a hilarious Slamtoons site somewhere. I forget the address of it...but there are links posted frequently here.

I have trouble with the visual image of JS translating the Book of Mormon, and would love it of someone came up with one! He would be wearing the breastplate with the Urine Thumb mounted on it, but his face would be in a hat with a peep stone in the bottom, shile reading the golden plates on a wooden table, which would buckle from the weight of them...my mind's eye gets blurry....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2012 05:23PM by forestpal.

I have always dabbled in one art form or another.
the last 5 years have been more focused on painting.

An interesting thing happened after I left the church. My art changed drastically.

It went from literal to more abstract. From pale washes to darker, brighter, heavier layers. Also, more collage added in.

Also, I've always avoided painting people. Suddenly I find almost all of my paintings are of people.

I think my latest work is more reflective of who I am. I like it better. I'm more satisfied, and less critical of it. I think I'm painting more for myself, and am not as concerned what others may or may not think of it.

It's a great way to express your emotions. Especially for some people who may have trouble putting words to their thoughts. It gives you a source of introspection that you may be surprised to find you have.

I think it's great if people can use art as an expression of themselves. Especially if they can do it for the sake of expression itself, and not get wrapped up in trying to produce something for the approval of others.

For example:

http://youtu.be/IXOyKmH2_NI

Too deep?

Timothy

Fabulous. Great music to play at a youth dance.

I didn't know you had music talent. wow!

Get paid sometimes too!

Feel free to peruse!

Timothy

Anyone else who is an artist here:
Have you found that leaving the church has kicked up your creativity a MILLION notches?

I read this thread about a million times over the last 2 days.
I have never entered an open exhibit since my college days.....
but this idea of submitting something for the mo stories conference...
I don't know how to explain it....
its like magic.
Its like I can feel like creative power building in my fingers...
I started painting again for the first time in YEARS last night!!!!!


I am SO ONBOARD! if some of you really start a creative process group,
can I play???

Seriously, this is a fantastic idea!
...sorry for rambling... I'm just so amazed at the ideas and ideas and ideas that keep running through my brain!!

eta: I had to edit this.. note to other painters..
do not post after painting all night, bad grammar happens.....:)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2012 06:12PM by ambivalent exmo.

Get in there and fling that paint around! NO FEAR.

Fun huh?

Blue Orchid is a painter.

Glad to hear someone has read and reread this thread multiple times and has found themselves creating for the first time in years. So happy to offer inspiration in that way through the inquiry here. I know how useful my own creative path has been for me and continues to be. I even found that a Mormon friend was thrilled at one of the images I did and even though she is Mormon and relatively active, for her it gave voice to a lot of her feelings.

As far as joining a group of others to discuss creative process, I would like to see it be a regional thing. (I don't know where the person is who asked about that option). I could see it being a group situation that has even two or three in a city in many of the cities and areas of Utah, Idaho, Arizona, etc...

Even just in mentioning it a few times to a few people, I have seen/heard an interest. I think it may be like a sort of cross between a twelve step group and a creative group where we partly talk emotions and partly express them through our work and share them with each other. Possibly a show to a select few friends after the journey is at a certain point.

There is the Mormon Stories group, but also the ExMormon groups around. I may just work with the local exMormon group to discuss options for a creative group offshoot. If you happen to be in the network in the area I am in you could likely be connected to the creative tribe that we may create together if you hear about it through the grapevine. I may begin to spread the word through the circles a bit more.

I would like to see it be something though where maybe there could/would be gatherings in the state or beyond of artists who want to share and be inspired by each others' work.

I may post further threads along the way on the art subject since there seems to be a nice interest in the subject. I love how groups of artists can inspire each other and work together. I personally would love to see a separate 'Mormon Stories' gathering just for the artists and creative types and cultural souls, something with less speakers and more just gathering, connecting, sharing, communing, etc...

If you are somehow not familiar with the work of Julia Cameron her book 'The Artist's Way' and others may be of great value to your creative journey. It is a sort of 12 step book for creative people.

The replies on this thread are great. I would love to start and see further threads on the creative arts and expressive methods and how they can further be used to explore and express around this community as it continue to evolve and morph through our individual and collective efforts.

Pipe up if you're interested.

By the way, how does one go about submitting art go the exmo, mostories conferences?

Can someone send me in the direction of more info?

My son was being pressured into a mission by people in the ward long after we had concluded that he needn't do one. At that time he was beginning to have well-attended art shows in Europe. He dropped out of the church entirely right after that and continued to live and study in Europe and became a well-seeded name in the art scene there, once being selected as one of Italy's top five artists (he was living there at the time).

He has since really blossomed into a guy who jets around the world, totally supporting himself with oil paints and a #2 pencil. He just could not do it if he were LDS because the church always sucked the creativity right out of him.

First of all. I would have loved to have had that life.
And so true about being LDS. Creativity is viewed as a threat. Creative people hate stagnation. They like to change things up and keep life interesting. That is basically an anti mormon way to live. Being a TBM is like living in the movie Ground Hog Day.

It drove me nuts that all of their buildings are basically the same. Same carpet, same pictures, same, same, same. Nothing to reflect the region or the people who live there. Everything looks like it was flown in from Utah. Yawn.

They like to talk about using your talent. What they mean by that is music, speaking, organizing, people management. Anything outside of that has no value. Artists are considered at the bottom of the rung. A scourge to their society. Unless you paint religious pictures. Then they'll use you.