...where all the beauty came from.

"It was when I was happiest that I longed most. The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from."
C.S. Lewis

The duty of an artist...

“To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.”  
Schumann 

In Art...

“ In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” 
Ralph Waldo Emerson 

About Art...

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.”  
Auguste Rodin 

...the meaning of life and art...

"In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love."  
Marc Chagall

Luther's dictum on the poor and beauty

“The poor need beauty as much as bread because they live in the midst of ugliness.”

N.T. Wright on art, excerpt from Surprised by Hope

"To make sense of and celebrate a beautiful world through the production of artifacts that are themselves beautiful is part of the call to be stewards of creation, as was Adam's naming of the animals. Genuine art is thus itself a response to the beauty of creation, which itself is a pointer to the beauty of God."

Excerpt from Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright, a New Testament scholar and the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England

"God has made everything beautiful for its own time."

"God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Eternity and beauty are echoed in the same verse. Make no mistake; this is no coincidence. The two concepts belong together because God, the Eternal One, is also Lord, the Beautiful One.

Everything he does lasts forever, and everything He does is beautiful. He plants his Spirit of eternity in the hearts of his people, creating in us a spirit of beauty that will reflect his own forever. ...we see that forever is intricately associated with beauty, and both are gifts from God.

The Daily God Book: A Year of Listening for God by Erin Keeley Marshall

Beauty was created by God for a purpose

“Beauty was created by God for a purpose: to give us the experience of wonder. And wonder, in turn, is intended to lead us to the ultimate human expression and privilege: worship. Beauty is both a gift and a map. It is a gift to be enjoyed and a map to be followed back to the source of the beauty with praise and thanksgiving.”

Eyes Wide Open: Enjoying God in Everything  by Steve DeWitt

Beauty...

The definition of Beauty: "Goodness made manifest to the senses."
Dallas Willard

Creativity as spiritual...

"One experience we may easily overlook as spiritual is our creativity; the inspiration behind a drawing, a poem, a play, a dance, a painting, story, a weaving, a gourmet meal, a product of our design and/or manufacture, or a speech that can come from God. The whole creative process can be guided by God, and it can change the style and intent of the product and process. Even creativity can be enriched by simply letting go." 

 The Critical Journey, Stages in the Life of Faith by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich 

Finding ourselves in art...

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” 
― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island