The MFA is the new MBA. Is it the new M.Div?
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
-Albert Einstein
The MFA is the new MBA 1, according to Daniel Pink, and it might even be the new MDiv 2.
Pink portrays artists' conceptual skills, developed through drawing, color theory and eye-hand discipline, as essential to today's business skill set. America's boardrooms have begun to listen. Corporations like General Motors are training employees with workshops to develop their conceptual thinking skills.
In this morning's New York Times one workshop teacher talks about what happens when he goes into a Fortune 500 corporation and teaches the employees to draw. Brian Bomeisler says that in teaching people how to draw, "I am teaching them an entirely new way to see. They unbox their minds and absorb what's really there, with all of the complexity and beauty."
Bomeisler sounds like a minister. After all, one of the church's missions is to teach people how to see with new eyes. This blog carried an article 'With Eyes to See New Life' just two weeks ago. The 21st century church encourages the formation of merciful eyes because it seeks a merciful heart for the world. The church's aim is to show the world what the world 'most needs to see,'3 in all of its global complexity. And so, as the church moves forward in its 21st century mission, the MFA may just be the new MDiv.
On View: Contemplation I by Jerome Lawrence. 24x36, acrylic on canvas. BFA, Georgia State University. Jerome Lawrence's solo exhibitions in Georgia include galleries such as Sabra Gallery, Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, Chances Gallery, City Gallery East, VSA Arts for All Gallery, and others. His artwork is part of the documentary Shadow Voices & Building on Faith by Mennonite Media, and he has been interviewed by CNN news, WXIA-TV and WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jerome Lawrence's work was featured in Visual Preludes 2006, an exhibition of Episcopal Church & Visual Arts for the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, Columbus, Ohio, 2006.
1 Masters of Fine Arts, Masters of Business Administration. Daniel Pink is the author of A Whole New Mind.
2 Masters of Divinity, the degree held by many ordained priests and ministers
3 Frank Burch Brown, Gesa Elsbeth Theissen, Theological Aesthetics, A Reader, 2004, Wm. Eerdmans, p. 268.
Wow! You've given me a lot to think about and to look at!
At church yesterday, at the end of a class about wealth and poverty, particularly derivatives, a conversation partner pointed out an analogy, the way postmodern art creates community. I asked for an example. "Andy Warhol's soup can," came the reply.
Posted by Deirdre Good![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/art/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 7, 2008 9:08 AM
Postmodern art may create community (re, Andy Warhol's soup can). The question remains to be asked, what are the common qualities of the community it creates? Not all
contemporary artists that achieved success are decadent amoral fame seekers; some are.
Posted by MelAhlborn![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/art/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 7, 2008 2:56 PM
As a student of both fields in parallel institutions, I'd be delighted to see a seminary offering a MFA in Sacred Art, for example.
Art, which was practically detached from the realm of religion in the last century, should surely be reconnected to the Church. Such a trend, already noticeable, is very welcome.
Posted by Luiz Coelho![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/art/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 14, 2008 10:12 AM