Why Art at Home?

As the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts has matured, we have come to realize that education is at the heart of our mission. We need to learn more about our amazing artistic tradition and be able to understand and evaluate good work. We should also help our children to make art and even take a stab at it ourselves. The aim is more art in our lives.

The Art and Home lessons will help us individually and as families delve deeper into art. We believe our lives will be better with more art.

Richard Bushman, Co-Executive Director, Center for Latter-day Saint Arts

There is beauty all around…

The Center for Latter-day saint arts is committed to education. art at home honors that commitment.

It will not surprise anyone reading this to learn that arts in public school education is diminishing in the U.S. Certainly, the COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the disparities that exist in our educational structures. The most recent government report paints a bleak picture in some ways, and it’s even more stark if the performing arts classes are removed from the statistics—chorus, band, and so forth. Schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods have the least art education in them, which has far-reaching consequences. Hybrid and remote learning is, again, highlighting these educational inequities. And what about the child who does not plan to be a visual artist but just wants to learn about art or gain important critical thinking skills or a new vocabulary? What instruction is available for those boys and girls, and how do children think of themselves regarding creativity?

KQED reported that 95% of second graders, when asked, “Do you think you’re creative?,” said that they were. By middle school, that number drops to 50%, and by high school? Only 5% of high school seniors say they’re creative. This should be a shocking statistic to us all.

What’s to be done? Many things. But let’s start with what we can do in our homes, right now. Visual art can be a part of our daily life. As individuals and families, we can make art, study it, learn to interpret and talk about it, and value it. You might not know exactly how to begin. Art at Home, we hope, will open a window to more art in your life.

What are people saying about Art at Home?

“Young children want to create, to learn and to express and Art at Home offers the perfect vehicle for that, impeccably done.” — Laura Allred Hurtado, Executive Director, Museum of Contemporary Art

“I love the Art at Home course. For us, art is a part of our life. It is a way of being able to understand and see the world with a look of gratitude and wonder.” —Georgina Bringas & Ricardo Rendón family, Artists, Mexico City, Mexico

“Art at Home is that education you always wished you would have taken in college, or the teacher that you hope would inspire your children. Truly something for the ‘artist’ inside each of us at every stage.” — Stanley Hainsworth, Chief Creative Officer, Tether

“To have art hung on our walls at home is to put our children in a better world. When you are raising someone like I am, I urge you to do something about it and take part in Art at Home.” —Hildebrando de Melo, Artist, Luanda, Angola

“Art at Home…is an incredible resource for helping youth and families grow in their appreciation and confidence with art. If they begin early, it will bless them for life!” — Ashlee Whitaker, Curator of Religious Art, Brigham Young University Museum of Art

“I’m impressed. I can’t believe how much content there is…What a resource!” —Jeff Lambson, Curator, Emmanuel Art Gallery at University of Colorado Denver

Testimonials

How do I use Art at Home?

Art at Home is comprised of 20 lessons for children and 20 for teens/adults. The curriculum is free and available to all. It is divided into four areas: create, study, interpret, and value. While the course is designed so a participant can become more familiar with Latter-day Saint art and artists, it is not intended to exclusively benefit an LDS audience. Anyone can use critical and aesthetic tools learned through Art at Home. The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts believes the curriculum is timely and significant for this moment when individuals and families are rethinking how learning works for them in their homes during a pandemic.

Many Art at Home lessons will also give you, the participant, a chance to send in your work to the Center. You may also share your ideas and work with other readers if you choose. We genuinely want you to connect with us and others! At the end of the course, there is even a final project to test what you’ve learned.

Who wrote Art at Home?

Art at Home is written by Glen Nelson, co-executive director of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts.

Learn more

What is the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts?

The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts has a three-fold mission: To display and perform art by Latter-day Saints in New York City and elsewhere; to publish scholarship and criticism about our art to reach a wider public; and to establish a comprehensive archive of Latter-day Saint arts, 1830 to the present.

In the four years since its founding, the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts has made historic strides to advocate and explore the arts of our culture: visual art, music, literature, film, dance, design and drama. The Center is addressing significant challenges, primarily that we Latter-day Saints are largely unaware of our own cultural history.

Unlike visitors to the Jewish Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, Museo del Barrio, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and other institutions, Latter-day Saints have limited opportunities to expand their identity through our arts; likewise, others lack the chance to see us through our works.

First, we must gather together influences, scholars, artists and educators to begin a rigorous and inclusive discussion. Next, we must collect information. Who are the artists of the past and present? What are their stories? What are their works? What do they mean? Finally, we must share and educate, including general education regarding why art matters and how it can enrich a life.

We seek to be a resource for the Church and an asset to the culture. We realize how much more is possible, how much remains undiscovered, undocumented and unshared.

Download Media Kit

Art at Home: Press Kit

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