Art as a Hammer to Shape Culture

I’m just back from visiting with friends in Kyiv, Ukraine and speaking at an arts conference while there.  To the left is The Art of Helping Others logo we printed onto T-shirts, which translated means “the art of doing good.”

One interesting topic of discussion at the conference that resonated with many of us was the thought of art as a hammer to shape culture.  This comes from the quote, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”  So what does that mean?  That’s a good question, which I may not have a watertight answer for – but I do have an opinion.

While I believe we should hold a mirror up to everyday life and reveal the reality – even the frailty of the human condition, we should pick up the hammer, be forward thinking, innovative and imaginative enough to be creatively dangerous, and shape our “circles of influence” in our communities, which will eventually affect culture itself.

So, what is the hammer?  I like to think in part it’s the words you write from the depths of your heart that inspire others, the lyric and melody of a song longing to be heard, a painter’s brush wielded with emotion and faith across a canvas, a moment in time captured through the photographer’s camera lens that needs no words yet leaves us in awe.  The dancer that dances first, then thinks later.  It’s the power of the arts to uncover truth.

Disregard what others expect of you or may think and employ the hammer passionately – use it differently than ever before.