Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive All Theses and Dissertations 2016-11-01 Creativity & Religion: A Self-Study of Mormon Mindset in the Art Classroom Shon Scot Feller Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Art Practice Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Feller, Shon Scot, "Creativity & Religion: A Self-Study of Mormon Mindset in the Art Classroom" (2016). All Theses and Dissertations. 6185. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6185 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. i Creativity & Religion: A Self-Study of Mormon Mindset in the Art Classroom Shon Scot Feller A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfllment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Daniel T. Barney, Chair Mark A. Graham Sharon R. Gray Department of Art Brigham Young University Copyright © 2016 Shon Scot Feller All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Creativity & Religion: A Self-Study of Mormon Mindset in the Art Classroom Shon Scot Feller Department of Art, BYU Master of Arts A high school art teacher investigates the relationship of his religious beliefs with his notions of what it means to be creative. Tis Mormon teacher examines his religious and experiential life through self-study, by drawing from autoethnographic and hermeneutic phenomenological strategies. He believes that everyone, including himself and his students, has a creative potential. He also analyzes how his Mormon religion affects his view of creativity and how creativity has affected his behavior as a Mormon. Te conclusions he reaches uncover the need for balance between his creative self and his Mormon self and outlines several ways to merge these two aspects of his life. Keywords: self-study, autoethnography, Mormon, creativity, religion, art education iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in the process of writing this paper because it would not have been possible to complete this study without other people. Tank you to Dr. Barney, Dr. Graham, Dr. Gray, and my friends in the cohort for inspiring me to be a better educator and to think about my creative practices with a new perspective. I will be forever changed because of my association with all of you. Dr. Graham and Dr. Barney, thank you for never giving up on me, even though others in the same situation would have. Tank you to all of my colleagues at Woods Cross High School who have been involved and supportive through this entire process. John and Shauna, specifcally, thank you for motivating me to get fnished. Tank you Melanie Swann for your expertise and for helping me during your off hours. To my friends Roger and Lise, thank you for being creative examples my entire life and for constantly pushing me to fnish. Tank you James Best IV for always being online and available to chat when I have been stuck. Your edits and comments were a guiding star on my journey to Tesis Land. Tank you Robin for being a support at the most inconvenient times. Tank you Steven W. Hopkins for being there for me for over a decade as I have come to understand both the spiritual and the creative. A very big thank you to my dear children, Scoty, Rylee, Mac, and Jo, who have put up with my absence. Te biggest thank you goes to my beautiful wife, Vinnie, who put up with the kids while I was away, and who has always encouraged me to keep going. To my mother, who has always inspired me to continue in my education. To my dad, thanks for your legacy that you left, and the impact it has had 23 years later as I fnish this thesis. Tank you to my Heavenly Father for support and guidance, for being the Supreme Art Teacher, and for providing a creative Savior to save us all. iv Table of Contents ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................iii Table of Contents .....................................................................................................................iv List of Figures ..........................................................................................................................vi Chapter I: Introduction .............................................................................................................1 How I Arrived at this Study ................................................................................................1 Chapter II: Literature Review ...................................................................................................5 Spirituality vs. Religion ......................................................................................................5 Where I Am Headed ...........................................................................................................6 A Brief History of Creativity in Art Education ..................................................................7 The Lowenfeld Era .............................................................................................................7 DBAE .................................................................................................................................8 Amalgam of Ideas ...............................................................................................................9 Mormon Literature ...........................................................................................................11 Mormon Citations on Creativity .......................................................................................13 Chapter III: Methodology .......................................................................................................18 Methodologies ..................................................................................................................18 Self-Study .........................................................................................................................18 Autoethnography ..............................................................................................................20 Hermeneutic Phenomenology ..........................................................................................21 How Am I Going to Do It? ...............................................................................................22 Why Am I Doing It? .........................................................................................................23 So what? ...........................................................................................................................23 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................24 Me as a Mormon ...............................................................................................................24 Me as a Creative Person ...................................................................................................25 Chapter IV: Creativity & Religion (Mormon Belief and Creativity) .....................................26 Losing My Dad .................................................................................................................26 v Study of Creativity ...........................................................................................................30 Career Selection ................................................................................................................32 Being Mormon While Being Creative ..............................................................................32 Being Creative While Being Mormon ..............................................................................33 Similarities between Art Education and Mormon Religion .............................................37 Swann’s Feedback ............................................................................................................39 Moving Forward ...............................................................................................................41 Chapter V: Conclusions ..........................................................................................................44 Creativity and Religion Are Similar .................................................................................44 God is Creativity ...............................................................................................................45 We Are All Creative ..........................................................................................................46 Thesis Writing as Inquiry .................................................................................................46 Creativity in Life ..............................................................................................................47 Teaching Ethics/Social Responsibility ............................................................................47 Epilogue: July 2016 ................................................................................................................49 References ..............................................................................................................................51