Contact
For information about ordering prints, commissioning pieces, or setting up shows, you may email me at wtrentonanthony@gmail.com.
About
You may be visiting because you have seen one of my many shows up in Raleigh, NC. If you are interested in any of these pieces, I would be happy to quote you a price for them. Also, if my style of art interests you, I would be delighted to discuss the possibility of some custom artwork. I’m not in art school and haven’t been in an art classroom in a very long time, so the challenge of making something to meet your specific desires would be an interesting, fun, and welcome challenge!
I received a BA in English from Virginia Tech and will be graduating from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in December. My master’s project is entitled “An Introduction to Art as Worship, Considering Ayn Rand and HR Rookmaaker.” If it is not posted on this site yet, it will be soon. I am working part time at the moment at basically three different places, so if you think to pray for me, it would be nice to have full time work! I know we are all feeling the hit from the economy, but we’ll make it.
On Art
About art. So many people I talk to about art argue that it is a realm in which there is much room for subjective assessment. Talk about art becomes a platform for the discussion of a person’s likes and dislikes. I propose to dispel this in my master’s thesis as well as to progressively move away from it in how I make my own artwork.
It is my belief that art and art making are gifts from God and that, as such, they are for his glory. I also believe that there is a universal standard for beauty that is supported by ideas in the Bible. To me, and to others from whose books and articles I will draw, beauty is an apologetic for God’s existence. To say that beauty in creation (and the arts) is relative to its viewers (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) is, in part, an attack on the ability of God to create things which are universally recognized as beautiful. Obviously, I have a lot of research and thinking to do.
These thoughts do not mean that a person can’t find her own husband attractive while the rest of the world does not. Neither does it mean that a person can’t find cognitive value in a piece of artwork or literature that is, perhaps, not exactly aesthetically pleasing. It does mean, however, that I hope to reveal and prove that there are parameters in which an artist should work if he hopes to glorify the Lord and Creator of the universe, the foremost of which is in line with the greatest and second greatest commandments; that is, love.
People to read so far include Francis Schaeffer, HR Rookmaaker, Ayn Rand, Steve Turner, and a slew of others I’ve yet to catalogue. I hope the posts on this blog will spark in you an interest in the arts, in thinking and analyzing ideas, or perhaps even in God.
I wish to encourage you in your research! I am currently researching the notion of Art & Virtue…not for a thesis, for the fun of it. I hope you will continue to post your thoughts on Art, I’ve found reading what you’ve posted so far to be very interesting & thought provoking. Your aim to prove “that there are parameters in which an artist should work” will be of paticular interest to me, particularly as you isolate this to the virtue of charity, or ‘love’.
Thanks for your encouragement, Ann! I could use it right about now… being artsy sometimes for me means that once I’ve said something, I get a little tired of trying to prove it! Have a great day!