What do you see?
It’s that time of year again when Christmas-themed books, advent devotionals, crèches of all sizes, greeting cards, and oodles of holiday décor arrive daily via UPS and FedEx where I work.
These are quickly inventoried and hidden out of sight. We wait for the holiday spirit – or shopping fever – to be just right before displaying them throughout the store.
While unpacking a box of items the other day a block of wood caught my attention. It is a tad larger than a 3×5 card. It sits vertical. A dusty blue background suggests it is a dark night. The grayish, white foreground hints of sandy hills. The hills are lit up by a bright star hanging in the sky. A faceless woman wears a white head covering while she cradles a faceless infant in her arms. Between the woman and the star are letters in white: “Be still and know that I am God.” No reference is given.
I have no doubt you imagine this is a picture of Mary holding baby Jesus, as that’s what first comes to mind. And you are very close to being correct. But is that all it is?
I bought the piece. Somehow it drew me in. There had to be more to ponder.
Tchotchke or Art?
I’m not a fan of cheap knick-knacks that are here today and on the thrift store shelves tomorrow. It’s that stuff we call tchotchke.[i] Trendy, cheap, and disposable. Yet, looking around my kitchen with its chicken-themed décor, I must admit I too am a tchotchke collector!
I have a friend who collects dolls that creep me out! Another collects salt and pepper shakers. My husband collects clocks. And yes, I collect chickens!
Would any of our items be classified as art? It all depends on our definition of art.
Since there is no longer a consensus on the definition of what is art, as Lisa Marder suggests, it is complicated. Currently we can agree that “art is the conscious creation of something beautiful or meaningful using skill and imagination.”[ii]
I treasure a gift from my husband. It is a one-of-a-kind set of a hen and rooster carved from tree branches – obviously a conscious creation on the part of the carver who lived in the Ozark hills. I would call these pieces art, but you might declare them to be clutter.
However, even the cheap, mass-produced items flooding the market were at one time considered to be art – coming from the minds of the artists – before they fell into the hands of the marketeers. How can we forget the beanie babies and the precious moment figurines? I guess that’s why we call the cheaper renditions tchotchke.
Emotional Power of Art
Marder goes on to say that “[artwork is] intended to evoke an emotional response …as artists look to connect with and evoke responses from their viewers.”
All the chicken-themed items take me back in time, reminding me of gathering eggs and running after white hens my mother raised. Coming into the house after a long bus ride from school to the delicious aroma of a fried chicken signaled to me that my mother had enjoyed a rare and good day!
What does the 3×5 painted block of wood evoke in me? That is what I intend to explore in the next few posts.
Marder concludes, and I agree, that we humans are a “species awash in symbols, from the signs that guide [our] progress down the highway to the wedding ring on your finger and the icons on your iPhone.”
Tchotchke or Icons?
Let’s talk about icons. In our digital, image saturated era, the icon points beyond itself to give meaning to something that is important to attend to. Thus, it’s meant to draw our attention.
It’s a short-hand way of communicating something significant. Yes, a small picture conveying a thousand words.
The ring on my left hand, though not an image, reminds me of vows spoken to my beloved on our wedding day. The ring is meaningless without the event that gave it a wealth of meaning. When I close a text to my husband with the charming kiss emoji, 💋 that is an image, like an icon with hopes of turning his thoughts to our relationship of love and adoration to each other.
In religious parlance, an icon is intended to point beyond itself as well. It has not always been understood that way, nor is it even today. Throughout church history many were accused of worshipping the icon instead of that to which it referenced. Much religious art was destroyed for fear of idolatry and sinning against the mandate to not make graven images.[iii]
In a way, we salvage the idea of emojis and icons when we embed meaning into them.
So, is the inexpensive piece I bought a Tchotchke, an Icon, a work of Art? To what does it refer? What revelations might it relay? How many layers of meaning might it hold? On the surface it’s merely paint on a small block of wood. Or is it?
I believe there’s much more to be uncovered once we look deeper into the painted image. Join me as I explore this in the weeks to come.
Until then, happy dusting all the tchotchkes on your shelves. 🙂
[i] https://www.conversations.org/story.php?sid=600
[ii] Marder, Lisa. “Ways of Defining Art.” ThoughtCo, Sep. 2, 2024, thoughtco.com/what-is-the-definition-of-art-182707
[iii] https://www.arcaneknowledge.org/catholic/councils/comment07.htm
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