Comments on: Q&A: LDS Fiction Author E.M. Tippetts

By: EM Tippetts

EM Tippetts — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:52:55 +0000

Agreed. The only reason people don’t think that art has an obvious benefit to society is because they don’t look. Offhand, I can’t think of a single item in my home that doesn’t have an element of art/design. (The dog perhaps? The layer of dust coating everything?) Art and our ability to see a composition to our surroundings is part of what makes us human. Creativity is one of the traits that identifies us as the children of our Creator.

By: William Morris

William Morris — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:12:30 +0000

I agree, Larry. And would that art is not only work, but also craftsmanship, which is a better form of work.

By: Larry Ogan

Larry Ogan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:31:42 +0000

As far as I’m concerned society as we know it doesn’t exist without art. Life would be like having mush for every meal with no milk or sugar. With out creativity we would be bunch of hairless ape like creatures eating grubs from under logs. That creative spark is us trying to be like our Father in Heaven. Art is work.

By: Th.

Th. — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:17:44 +0000

Art doesn’t have obvious benefits to society so it requires extra justification — especially as it requires so much time to do well.

So we always have to balance art against other obligations. Family, Church, Work, Art. What do we choose to have suffer? Most people will say Art should go.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:06:38 +0000

nothing to do with artists feeling like they need to justify the time it takes to make, write, compose or whatever their art.

I would argue that artists aren’t the only ones who feel like this. I have my own business (at home) and thus, I am a work-at-home mom. Loosely translated for the rest of the world, I’m a STAY-at-home mom.

That means that everyone else sees me as available to render service, do X chore, or otherwise spend my time doing something other than making money.

By: Larry Ogan

Larry Ogan — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:56:55 +0000

“Always, for an LDS artist, there is that sense of having to justify the time you take for it.”

I think being LDS has nothing to do with artists feeling like they need to justify the time it takes to make, write, compose or whatever their art. Much of American society views art as fun to do so it may not be “real work”. They see it as a good hobby.

By: Darlene

Darlene — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:25:39 +0000

I also try to start my writing sessions with prayer, much as I wince at the corniness of saying that. (Why? Is it because I look down on the “earnest” “poets” who, while writing terrible poetry, tend to claim that it was all “inspired”? I think even my wincing here makes me look uncharitable.) But, anyway, I decided that God is the author of creativity, right? And it’s a sort of placing it on the alter. And maybe not a little passing the buck: “You gave me this talent, or at least this urge. Now you’ve got to show me how to use it, or I can’t justify taking the time away from other things.”

Always, for an LDS artist, there is that sense of having to justify the time you take for it. Do you feel that too?

By: EM Tippetts

EM Tippetts — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:58:25 +0000

lol. I wouldn’t mind seeing her kind of commercial success. I suspect there are a ton of convert LDS artists, simply because there are a ton of LDS converts. I’ve never set about asking people when they joined the Church.

By: Th.

Th. — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:44:03 +0000

I would like to see more fiction from converts, myself. Would you like to be the Gladys Knight of books, Emily?

By: Melanie Goldmund

Melanie Goldmund — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:06:20 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this Q&A, and the details about being a new convert in the church that Emily has mentioned, her daydreaming of fraught situations, and the phrase that a loving God can also be a mysterious God have all made me want to run right out and buy everything that she’s written. I’d even like to get my hands on the manuscript that Covenant rejected. Thanks for this wonderful interview!