4 takes by four artists: Sarah Eden, Jeanette Ensley, Kevin Giddins, and Jeff Parkin

This post is a summary taken from a panel presentation at the Mormon Arts Center Festival, June 29, 2018 at Italian Academy, Columbia University, New York. Watch the full presentation here.

“One of the first things we need to know about Mormon art – and it may be one of the biggest hurdles that we face with Mormon art: Our own cynicism.”

– Jeff Parkin, film producer & film professor

There's been a debate about this idea of Mormon art.

People ask, "is that really even a thing?" And I understand that question. I would say maybe for some people they just don't get out a lot if they're asking that question – because Mormon art actually IS a thing. Some people might say it's an "oxymormon" but I confess that I thought the same thing until I went to teach at BYU from Los Angeles.

I got to BYU, which is supposedly the heart of Mormon filmmaking, and came into my pro department with lots of really lovely colleagues. All of them hated Mormon art, and they would not talk about it.

I'm slightly rebellious, and so I decided that there's got to be a way to tell a Mormon story that would be an interesting story and that could be really popular.

When I think about the things that are really important to us, and the rich fruits of the gospel that are ours, and even when you talk to people that kind of say, "Ah, Mormon art, that's so lame," when you talk to them about the gospel, it's very clear that the gospel is really meaningful to them.

Why is it that we can't tell stories about things that are meaningful to us?

As I thought about this, I thought about folks who were pointing their fingers in scorn and scoffing. And I wasn't willing to own what I held most dear.

And this may be one of the first things we need to know about Mormon art – and it may be one of the biggest hurdles that we face with Mormon art: Our own cynicism. That art created by and for Mormons can't be meaningful and engaging.

I finagled about $6, 000 from BYU TV and created a web series called "The Book of Jeremiah." It was a 20 episode web series, and the characters talked like Mormons, they went to BYU like Mormons, they even followed promptings like Mormons.

How was it received? The Webby Awards, which are essentially the Oscars of the Internet, gave it an honor. The New York Times gave it a really great review. They liked its groundbreaking approach. They thought it was really amazing in terms of religious storytelling.

And who are the biggest detractors? The Mormons. Even though they couldn't stop watching it.

One of my heroes, brother David Foster Wallace, said, "all we seem to want to do is keep ridiculing stuff."

"Cynicism's become an end in itself. A measure of hip sophistication and literary savvy. Few artists dare to try to talk about ways of working toward redeeming what's wrong because they'll look sentimental and naive to all the very weary ironists."

But if there's a common theme in Mormon art, one could argue that it's exploring ways of working toward redeeming what's wrong; redemption, or being saved.

Of course this is not a theme that's uniquely Mormon, but it's absolutely a Mormon theme. It's also the theme of the Atonement. And if you have kept your eyes and ears and heart open , you know that Mormon art is alive and well and thriving and has been since our beginnings.

... I've defined Mormon art as work created by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, active or not, that in one way or another overtly addresses Mormon subjects or themes. In other words, it's a Mormon owning their Mormonness and allowing all that includes to infuse their work.

What do we need to know about Mormon art? There's great Mormon art out there. And the more that we can support each other in both the creation of it and the patronizing of it, the more great Mormon art we will have. Sometimes we're so worried and concerned about what we'll look like that the really great stuff never comes out.

– Jeff Parkin, film producer & film professor

“I think sometimes we focus on our values and we substitute our values for principles. Principles are very different. Artists and all people LDS, we need to focus on true principles.”

– Kevin Giddins, dance scholar, diversity & inclusion thought leader

I have to take responsibility today to make sure I'm providing for you true principles. Because if I'm giving you true principles about art, you can't argue with that. But if I give you my perspective, we will always debate. I hope today I'm giving you true principles.

Many of us were raised with great values. I know there are some wonderful Mormon values. When I moved to Utah from New York, New Jersey, I found some wonderful people with wonderful values, and they thought their values were principles. But they're not. Values are very different than principles.

My father told me some values. He said, "never trust a white person as far as you can throw them." That's a value he taught me. But is that a principle?

My wife, she has a tradition in the home that we celebrate everything. That's our values.

I think sometimes we focus on our values and we substitute our values for principles. Principles are very different.

Artists and all people LDS, we need to focus on true principles.

But I recognize in our church, we've been raised with a lot of values. We've been telling our children, "fold your hands. This is how you pray." we should be teaching our children the principle of reverence. Not the value of "this is how you pray. "

There's a difference because when Mormons grow up to find these values, they then translate these values on "this is what's good art" and "this is what's not." the value of "only art that's sold in Deseret Book is valuable art" because that's the value that we teach them. So parents, we need to be very careful. I feel I need to be careful when I teach my children, let them know these are our values, but the principle is different.

I'm here about this idea of dance. Productivity. How do I move dance forward? I'm a big movement guy.

The definition of productivity is to move forward. My objective is to move dance forward. Sometimes we think we're being productive, and we get sidetracked. I want the ability to take dance and to move it forward.

Sometimes I believe we've allowed dance to take a second seat in the artistic world.

My hope is that we can explore, expand and include dance as an art form; dance as a part of Mormon art. Dance I believe has become extinct in our world. It's not viewed as an art form.

Let's explore for a moment: What if Joseph Smith was black?

How many would join the church? Focus on the principle of the gospel, not the value of his blackness?

Instead of being a farmer's son from Palmyra, New York, what if he was a farmer's son from Mississippi? Or from Georgia?

Instead of, "because I have been given much," what if I grew up with, "There is no greater love, than the one he has for me."

what if instead of the Motab, it was Motown?

Imagine, if things were turned upside down. Imagine instead of Ray Smith, who is a professor at BYU who teaches jazz, instead of playing a flute in sacrament, he was able to play a saxophone. I say able because if he was to bring a saxophone into sacrament, which he has, people would think, "what is this?"

What if Joseph Smith was black? Then we'd have something called praise dance in church.

I want you to imagine we're in a sacrament. Now imagine we're singing and feeling this:

"Jesus loves me. This I know

for the Scriptures tell me, so.

Little ones to Him belong.

They are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me,

yes, Jesus loves me

For the scriptures tell me so.”

What a wonderful marriage between music and dance. What a wonderful marriage, but dance has been separated. It's like it's been divorced. I hope we can begin to expand our understanding that dance is still an art form.

– Kevin Giddins, dance scholar, diversity & inclusion thought leader

“If I had to sum up what I think every LDS person should know about LDS art, is that it's deeper, and broader, and richer than we can imagine.”

– Sarah M. Eden, author

When I was first given this topic to talk about Mormon art, I love that I had a moment when I wasn't sure why I was asked to be part of this.

And I think in large part it's because I have been told again and again by members of the audience and our community that literature "doesn't count". I've been told that books aren't really art, and I've taken that to heart. But in addition to that, outside of the LDS artist and writing community, I've had some odd experiences in the writing community in general.

When I first began writing and would tell people that I was an artist, that I wrote books, the response was almost always, "oh." And then generally a book of dismissal or confusion.

These are the things that I have, in my career, heard over and over again. And so it's very easy to begin to look at your own art and what you create as less-than when you're constantly being told that it is.

When I first ventured into the world of LDS literature (I don't know if I was naive or just really hopeful), but I had convinced myself that it would be different. That in the world of LDS writing, surely we would be more inclusive. Surely we would be brought together by what makes us the same, rather than focusing on what makes us different.

I discovered upon entering the LDS writing community that we have a major identity crisis. And I don't know if this is true in all areas of LDS art, but I sense that it is: we don't really know how to define LDS literature.

There is a massive debate about what constitutes it. Is it anything written by an LDS person, regardless of what it's about? Is it anything written by an LDS person but also is it about LDS people or cultures or experiences or history? Is it anything by anyone that's written about LDS people? We can't seem to define it.

And because we can't define who we are, we have a very difficult time bringing what we have to offer to anyone else.

I discovered that because I wrote Books that have no overt LDS themes in them, though they often touch on themes of atonement and forgiveness and eternity. They aren't overtly LDS. And so I didn't fit into that definition.

Many of my books are published by LDS publishers, which makes me fit over here. But then those who feel that's the “lesser- than literature" would push me out of the way as well. And I found myself again and again not part of the LDS art community. And from that, grew an increasing desire to help expand the view of obvious art.

As I was trying to narrow down what I was going to include in my list, this debate has returned to my mind again and again: what constitutes LDS art?

I found myself graduating toward works that I felt, in some way, had expanded my personal view of what LDS art could be:

Works that took LDS literature into new domains. We have an LDS writer who's writing young adult horror, which is unheard of amongst LDS writers.
I have on that list a set of books set in the American West, at the time of the pioneers but not about the pioneers.
I also included works by artists that were established in one medium or arena who have done work in another one.
I included works by LDS artists that are not specific to religion or that were in style different than what we depend to think of when we think of LDS art.

It's not an all inclusive list, but it's works that helped me expand my view.

Art... Helps remind us of the power that art has. It shows us who we are. It can show us who we are as people.

It can touch us, while we are touching others. We can bring to people the joy of many cultures. We do ourselves a great disservice when we define LDS art in ways that are exclusive instead of inclusive. If we're willing to expand our view of what LDS Art is and what it means, we're going to find there's such richness and culture in the membership of the church, far more than we realize because we're too narrow minded.

So if I had to sum up what I think every LDS person should know about LDS art, is that it's deeper, and broader, and richer than we can imagine. And if we're willing to embrace that and look for it, it will deepen and enrich our lives and our religion.

– Sarah M. Eden, author

“The quality of a congregant's voice is not the determiner of a spiritual experience through music.”

– Jeanette Ensley, violinist & educator

I'm going to try to tell you something you haven't heard before about my grandmother, Minerva Teichert. She's my maternal grandmother, and after her death in 1976, she became very popular in LDS circles. She has been the subject of articles, theses, lectures, books, videos, and multiple exhibits, with copies of her works appearing in many meeting houses and temples.

Once while she was singing with the congregation at a conference in the tabernacle in Salt Lake, a man next to Grandma turned and said, “my, you have a terrible voice.”

And her reply was, "I sing with the voice God gave me."

I use this as a segue to my comments on Mormon music, and in particular Mormon hymns. They are the foundation of our sacred music. Their use in our meetings is a primary means of congregational participation. They may be considered a modern type of antiphonal sound or responsorial singing.

A prayer is offered, the congregation responds by singing, or vice versa. The organ plays an introduction or an interlude, then there is singing. The congregation sings a sacramental hymn and then the sacramental prayers are said. This is congregational participation based on and initiated with our hymns.

Contrary to the visual arts, music is an art which is allowed in the chapel. It can be awe inspiring. It should be a spiritual blessing to everyone in the congregation. The quality of a congregant's voice is not the determiner of a spiritual experience through music. I believe thoughtful choices of hymns and regular practicing and preparation can be a spiritual experience.

The same may be said for prelude and postlude choices, vocal solos, instrumental solos, choral works. Careful choices need to be made, but, some bishops have a more liberal interpretation than others, and some are more or less musically informed.

In an undergraduate class in keyboard harmony at the University of Redlands, we were required to transpose on the spot from the Baptist hymnal. I took the LDS hymnal to class one day and the professor recognized some of the tunes and commented on the simple harmonizations. And I realized it's because we have a staff of lay musicians in most of our churches. But since that time I've found a lot of pleasure in hymn arrangements.

Some of my favorite sources for re-harmonizations are in non-denominational volumes of prelude, postlude, and hymnals of other Christian churches. I don't just choose those that come out of Salt Lake City, the Motab, or the musical cadre in Utah, there's a plethora of hymn arrangements.

Early American tunes are included in our hymnal, and these are usually known by the tune name, and they're listed in our hymnal. And of course, Protestant hymns are the roots of our hymns, and you can search them. Do a Google search of those two names and find all kinds of interesting things, including information on their origins and uses in the liturgical calendar.

I believe that LDS church musicians should use diverse genres when appropriate. We must look at the hymns of African American and other ethnic Christian traditions. We must appreciate other music cultures and situations because we are a worldwide church.

And no sooner had I written those comments than I got the email from LDS.org announcing a forthcoming revision of the hymn book and the children's song book. This is so exciting. There will be one volume of each, used around the world in various languages. This is actually a moment of historical significance, where what musicians do influences the entire church.

– Jeanette Ensley, violinist & educator