A Sacred Art

Quite a few years ago, while I was housesitting in Atlanta, GA, I had a small encounter that impacted me. The neighbors had recently relocated from California. The man (we’ll call him Tim) had just purchased his first lawnmower and was asking me about how to operate it. At first, I thought he was joking. I cannot describe my shock when I realized Tim was serious. Someone in their 30’s had never mowed a lawn? He explained that he had hired commercial companies to deal with lawn keeping, and they always got the job done quickly. Lawnmowing was a sacred act in my childhood home. My father spent hours perfectly manicuring the lawn and weed eating the edges. That evening as I processed my encounter, I thought of the two different perspectives regarding lawn keeping. Art is not much different. Art is in the doing of a thing and when we derive joy and love from our efforts, any activity can be seen as an art. Our views about commercial and fine art can be seen in the same way and are often at odds with one another. There may be more money in mowing as a business, but for my dad there is an art to the act, and that act of time, thought and preparation brings him joy. Pursue art because art fulfills you. If fame is the fulfillment, pursue that. For the artist who makes art to fulfill their spirit – don’t stop. Take the time and find the joy.

-Amanda Bridgette

The Art of the Process

Breadmaking is a family tradition that has been passed down to me. In my teens, my mom taught me breadmaking, but I was strictly focused on the final product. As an adult, I went through a painful event, and my mother again taught me breadmaking. It was then that I became interested in the process. These days, instead of opting for my KitchenAid mixer, I enjoy making bread by hand. I can feel the bread forming, the dough’s elasticity, when to add extra flour -- every little detail slowly comes together. As I was kneading bread this weekend, I started thinking on the similarities between my current task and what I had observed in Saturday’s Sins of a Savior rehearsal. Both require keen observation to be correctly executed. On Saturday, I watched the cast actively learn and work to properly execute choreography while the choreographer provided corrections and detailed solutions for mistakes. As the process took place, each choreography run inched closer to performance ready. In our busy world we often shoot for the goal and speed past the process that takes us there, but the truly fantastic part is the process – all the small steps working together to form an exciting result. As the summer rushes to an end, I am grateful for my mom’s wisdom to frequently re-teach me a process that had different meanings for me in various stages of life. That experience carries on to Three Bridges and our approach to education. Our goal is to foster arts education opportunities where the process is the aim, and the result is a by-product of that understanding.

-Amanda Bridgette