Simple Tools in the Hands of a Master

“If we would be happy, then it is for us to follow Christ in His humility.”

Robert Bateman

Robert Bateman is one of the world's most acclaimed wildlife and nature artists. He has won numerous awards and his life and work is documented in dozens of books and films, Prints of his paintings offered through Mill Pond Press have raised millions of dollars for environmental causes.

But being an artist was not a childhood goal he set for himself. In 1954, he graduated with a degree in geography from the Victoria College in the University of Toronto. Starting in 1957, Bateman travelled around the world for 14 months in a Land Rover with his friend J. Bristol Foster. As they made their way through Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia, Bateman painted and sketched what he saw. Painting and sketching for him was simply a means to record what he saw as he travelled.

He taught High School art and geography for nearly twenty years before becoming a full time artist in his mid-forties. Mill Pond Press picked him up in 1977, producing signed limited edition prints.

His wildlife art captured the imagination of the public. It showed a deep understanding and appreciation for the natural world. He painted animals in their native habitat encouraging us to see the beauty of the created world.

As his fame grew he naturally became the subject of many books and films documenting his life and work. In one of these films I was struck by his response to what has become a standard question when artists are being interviewed. He was asked about his materials and techniques.

To most of the world there is something magical about the artistic talent. Artists can seemingly create entire worlds and new realities within a blank canvas. When interviewers ask an artist about the tools they use and their painting techniques, the questioner is really trying to get at the magic, the secret that makes the work of that artist so captivating to the world.

Bateman's answer was simple, he uses acrylic paint and inexpensive synthetic brushes.

Greatness Runs Through Us

The writer and philosopher John Ruskin once wrote, “I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own power, or hesitation in speaking his opinion. But really great men have a ... feeling that the greatness is not in them but through them; that they could not do or be anything else than God made them.”

Artists can spend a great deal of money on materials. But expensive paints and brushes do not make a good artist, it is not the tools that create beautiful art, but rather how the artist uses those tools.

In the Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching and Preachers, W. Wiersbe tells this story. “Hudson Taylor (Taylor was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission) was scheduled to speak at a Large Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced the missionary in eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as 'our illustrious guest.' Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, 'Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master.'”

Like the simple acrylic paint and synthetic brushes of Robert Bateman, we are simple tools in the hands of an illustrious Master. Our gifts and talents are not in us but flow through us. Or as Polish poet Zygmunt Krasiński put it: “The torrent of beauty flows through you, but you are not Beauty.”

In the Book “God is Beauty,” published by the Theology of the Body Institute, Stanislaw Grygiel explains, “Every human being is an artist, through whom Beauty flows. We have received a talent that allows this ‘torrent of beauty’ to flow through us. To a certain extent, we are this torrent. We identify with it and are responsible for it. The torrent of beauty that flows through us draws from us what is beautiful and rejects what is ugly, and hinders its flow. It does this, however, on the condition that we collaborate with Beauty itself.”

The great Renaissance painter Michelangelo is perhaps more responsible than any other artist for elevating the status of the artist from craftsman to what we would call today, celebrity. But even he acknowledged “The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.”

In all of his work Michelangelo only signed one pice of sculpture, the Pieta. He did this in a fit of pride when he overheard his work attributed to another. He regretted it and never again put his name to any of his work.

In the evolution of the artist from craftsman to celebrity, I think we have lost much. We have lost that humility that allows us to share in the spark of Divine Creation simply for the joy of doing so. To collaborate with Beauty, to allow the “torrent of Beauty” to flow through us we must first recognize that we are merely servants of the Master, only doing what is expected of us.

If we would be blessed (happy), then it is for us to follow Christ in His humility. This means putting God and the needs of our brothers and sisters ahead of everything else and allowing God to work through us.

Poor in spirit, clean of heart, a peacemaker, merciful and mournful, meek, and a seeker of justice and beauty, these are the qualities of a humble person and a true artist.

Pax vobiscum
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Pontifex University is an online university offering a Master’s Degree in Sacred Arts. For more information visit the website at www.pontifex.university

Lawrence Klimecki, MSA, is a deacon in the Diocese of Sacramento. He is a public speaker, writer, and artist, reflecting on the intersection of art and faith and the spiritual “hero’s journey” that is part of every person’s life. He maintains a blog at www.DeaconLawrence.org and can be reached at Lawrence@deaconlawrence.com