joshuanovalis's review
The intersection of art and the divine is where I often feel most alive: the place where the mysteries of humanity are laid bare and the supernatural realm is penetrated through the concrete. However, books on faith and creativity can be hit-or-miss for me. Many feel like pale imitations of better and more challenging works, as if someone read O'Connor's Mystery and Manners, L'Engle's Walking on Water, or Wiman's My Bright Abyss and distilled them into less-interesting, less-suggestive, and less-thoughtful simulacra.
That being said, I'm thankful to report that Alabaster Co.'s All That is Made dodges that bullet by leaving space for contemplation and metaphor. While it's hard to say that it really offers anything new to conversations on faith and art, All That is Made is a beautifully-crafted primer on the life of a creative.
The book is split into 3 parts: "A Liturgy for Creatives," "On Becoming Creative" and "Creativity in the Life of Jesus." Each part contains 6-9 brief chapters, each of which are usually 5 pages or less, offering reflections on different elements of creativity. This structure allows the book to be read either in one sitting or as short daily readings. I opted for the former, and reading the book over the first few days of the new year has been an encouraging way to settle the typical anxieties and insecurities I feel as I reflect on my shortcomings and failures as a writer from the previous year.
The book is packed with beautiful images and photography, many of which pair well with their corresponding readings. Unfortunately, not all of the curated photographs have as powerful an effect as the above. Some feel tenuously connected to the content of the book, while others merely function as space-fillers. Nevertheless, I appreciate the book designers' attention to imagery, metaphor, and negative space, as it gave me the room I needed to reflect and respond to the text.
I'm an alumnus of 2 different writing programs from a liberal arts college, and All That is Made works well as a surface-level "greatest hits" of some of the best concepts I took away from my mentors and my studies. Chapters on the embodied nature of art, the need for silence, the importance of imagining the world both as it is and as it ought to be, the beauty of incarnation, and the necessity of community are great doorways into other authors and works that treat these topics in more depth. Overall, while I wish it went further than it did at times, the book accomplishes what it sets out to do, offering many thoughtful brief meditations on how our acts of creation give us glimpses into the nature of the Creator. I'm thankful for my time with it.
That being said, I'm thankful to report that Alabaster Co.'s All That is Made dodges that bullet by leaving space for contemplation and metaphor. While it's hard to say that it really offers anything new to conversations on faith and art, All That is Made is a beautifully-crafted primer on the life of a creative.
The book is split into 3 parts: "A Liturgy for Creatives," "On Becoming Creative" and "Creativity in the Life of Jesus." Each part contains 6-9 brief chapters, each of which are usually 5 pages or less, offering reflections on different elements of creativity. This structure allows the book to be read either in one sitting or as short daily readings. I opted for the former, and reading the book over the first few days of the new year has been an encouraging way to settle the typical anxieties and insecurities I feel as I reflect on my shortcomings and failures as a writer from the previous year.
The book is packed with beautiful images and photography, many of which pair well with their corresponding readings. Unfortunately, not all of the curated photographs have as powerful an effect as the above. Some feel tenuously connected to the content of the book, while others merely function as space-fillers. Nevertheless, I appreciate the book designers' attention to imagery, metaphor, and negative space, as it gave me the room I needed to reflect and respond to the text.
I'm an alumnus of 2 different writing programs from a liberal arts college, and All That is Made works well as a surface-level "greatest hits" of some of the best concepts I took away from my mentors and my studies. Chapters on the embodied nature of art, the need for silence, the importance of imagining the world both as it is and as it ought to be, the beauty of incarnation, and the necessity of community are great doorways into other authors and works that treat these topics in more depth. Overall, while I wish it went further than it did at times, the book accomplishes what it sets out to do, offering many thoughtful brief meditations on how our acts of creation give us glimpses into the nature of the Creator. I'm thankful for my time with it.
elianachow's review
3.0
A gorgeous booklet with stunning layout and photography. The sections were repetitive as a collective work, still thoughtful and helpful as individual meditations. I did find myself pushing back on some of the ways of thinking about faith and art, but was thankful for the reflections on scripture which caused me to examine my art in a light I don’t usually stop to consider.
danihaupt's review
5.0
A friend gave this to me at a time where I was struggling to find confidence in my identity as a creative and it felt like the answer to a prayer. It both encouraged and challenged me. Definitely recommend it!
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