THEY BELIEVE IN BEAUTY

I visited the Amish Quilt Exhibit at the De Young Museum this past Sunday. Breathtaking works of art! Much of the Amish ethos is admirable: plain, simple, thrifty, humble, and they rightly view no distinction between the religious and the secular. The quilts they have created are stripped bare of self-involvement, pride, and even the need to create self-conscious works of art. While avoiding pictorial art (in something of a misunderstanding of the second Commandment) and eschewing pride, Amish women clearly do believe in beauty. 


This very telling quote was on the museum wall:   

“ They proceed from the place modern artists sought to find - - the rich interior world of spiritual calm, shared values, and mutually beneficial self-denial made by believers, not seekers.” 

by Robter Shaw