Advent, Art, & Attention - Part 1

Nov 29, 2023

Advent is a season in the Christian church’s liturgical year that in many ways complicates our consumerist culture’s approach to the holiday season leading up to Christmas. Are the days following Thanksgiving anything other than a mad dash toward Christmas? Is it possible that there’s an alternative to this rush of days, one that might offer spaciousness, slowness, a stillness in which we understand the difference between generous attention and insatiable wanting?

I don’t know. I feel the rush. I buy gifts. I decorate. I go to parties and family dinners. I shop. I plan. I plow ahead. And honestly, I enjoy a lot of it. There’s room for joy in this season. There’s space for such generous love. I want it all. And yet, there are also the moments when I see how I participate in the plundering of my own energy.

It seems to me that, regardless of one’s belief in God or any particular religion, we all must choose how we aim our own energy and attention as we move through our days. And if I don’t choose, many choices are often made for me.

But I do know this: Art is one thing that slows me down. Art is one thing that exists on a different timeline, or in a different relationship to time altogether. When I find myself drawn to a particular work of art, when I feel compelled to gaze closer, when I can’t help but stop and behold, it is a moment in which I am reminded of my own agency in choosing where I will aim my attention, one minute at a time.

As we draw closer to the winter solstice and celebrate the reality of the Source of creation living among us, I can’t help but reflect back on some of the art that caught my attention this year, how certain paintings or pieces often brought me light and life on days when I needed it most, and how it often reminded me of the simplicity of the gift that is life itself. I’ll share a few more reflections in the comings weeks about Advent, art, and attention, but for this week I thought I’d begin by simply sharing a number (quite a large number, turns out) of the paintings and works of art that I encountered this year in various galleries, museums, and other spaces.

If you have a moment to view and spend some time with them, I’d love to hear which ones stand out to you, which ones might make you pause, which ones draw you in.