Story (A Creative Challenge)

Think about your favorite story ever. What makes it your favorite story? Is it the setting, the characters, the conflict, the way the hero rises up to save the day? Now let me ask you another question. What kind of story are you living? Blue Like Jazz author Donald Miller, found himself in a strange place. He wrote a memoir about his life as a Christian and someone decided to make a movie about it. Turning the memoir into a movie with a plot and action, heroes and villains, led him to that very question—what kind of story was He living and the follow up, how could he live a better story? Miller defines story as “a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.”

Look at the story of your life right now. What is it you want (the goal)? What stands between you and your dream (the conflict)? How can you overcome the conflict to reach your goal? Create something that expresses you reaching your goal. What will it look like to reach your goal?

Take the challenge yourself and submit links in the comments below, I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

(Excerpt from Dave’s Upcoming Book, A Year in Art—52 Creative Challenges, Coming soon!)

Tell a Better Story part II

Tell a better story, live a better story…

What are you going to do?

Tell A Better Story: Donald Miller

When I first heard about the book Blue Like Jazz, I wasn’t terribly interested, then I found myself in an airport bored out of my mind so I went looking for something to read. I saw it and picked it up. I read it before my plane landed at home. It became very influential on me. In the book Miller takes an honest look at his life following (or trying to follow) Jesus.

Then he wrote another book called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years that opens another window onto the journey. Making a movie about Blue Like Jazz (coming out in limited release soon) forced Miller to look at the story of his life and came to the realization that he didn’t just need to tell a better story, he wanted to live a better story.

I didn’t always agree with every conclusion Miller came to, but it wasn’t up to me to agree (or disagree) anyway. These books are a man telling his story and reading them forced me to look at the story of Jesus my life tells and made me want to live a better story.

What kind of story are you living?

No Apologies

I’m doing an art workshop at the end of the week that’s different from most ofwhat I have been doing. This video speaks about it. Please watch the whole thing. I ask for some input toward the end and I could rally use some as well as your prayers.

A lot of what I do a far as workshops go is for non-artists. People in the church who want to find new ways to teach and preach and reach and especially to empower people who are in their churches to use their gifts to serve God. So When I was first asked to do this workshop I was really excited about it but as it got closer I got a bit apprehensive. I started to doubt my abilities. What if the people are disappointed in my art abilities. I mean I work really hard to do the best work I can do, but the work I do is usually done very quickly and its used to tell a story. I make no excuses for it. My work does what it is created to do, but what will a room full of artists think? I get self doubts sometimes, how about you?

As a I searched for the topic of this event, I decided to tell you what I tell my church folks. I gave up doing art for art sake a long time ago and we’ll get into that more when I start to tell you my story at the end of this but for now suffice it to say I found a new purpose for my art. Art is not longer the be all end all for me. It’s a means to an end, it’s a tool and I use it to tell a story. Now in my case it’s the story of God, but today we’re not going to deal with that as much right away. We’re going to talk about art that tells a story.

There are four parts to this day. This part that we’re in right now the introduction where I’m going to share a little bit more. We’re going to look at story and ways to create art that tells a story, with a little philosophy and a few examples thrown in. Then we’re going to look at your story. This is going to be a fun exercise. I’m going to let you play, give you some time to create a work that tells part of your story and I will create a piece of my own as well in that you will get the chance to share your work and its story with the group. Then Leah’s going to come up and share some music with us while I create a piece with a story and finally I’ll tell you my story. I hope you’ll stick around for the whole thing. Of course at various times I will take a few questions and hang around a little while afterward to chat.

For me the art is subservient to the story. So what is story. Donald Miller defines the story as a character who wants someting and overcomes conflict to get it.
Bible Reading Guide
An important part of following God is knowing what He wants and a great way to know what He wants is to read His Word. Follow this plan and you will finish reading the Bible in a year.
Matthew 27,28; Psalm 103
You can also download your own chart here.