“The entire qualification one must have for understanding art is responsiveness.” - Susanne K. Langer, Feeling and Form: A theory of Art Developed from Philosophy in a New Key

This quote undergirds what may be the best sermon I’ve ever heard. In Beauty Is Truth, the Rev. Gail Seavey dove into two topics not usually discussed in UU circles: art and beauty. With her background in art (a degree from Rhode Island School of Design and many years work as a sculptor) she is uniquely qualified to examine these subjects.

Doing web design, my thoughts often hover on the edge of art and beauty. When I create a really good design, surprisingly perhaps, I don’t mind that inevitably it will be gone within a few years, morphing into something else, or evolving into a new aesthetic that keeps pace with both new technologies and new tastes.  It reminds me a bit of Tibetan sand paintings.

At times I have wondered if web designs might be art. Until I heard this sermon I’d always thought no - it’s more akin to craft. The answer still may be no. I don’t know. But there’s unquestionably much beauty in the web that I respond to from deep within myself. I think of the simplicity of the Copyblogger design that this site uses, the famous minimalism and whimsy of Google’s home page, the elegant Flash of Hobart Design, the evocative colors use by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and so on.

Paralleling what Rev. Seavey said about white European males “inventing” an art, you mostly hear about male web designers. I’m hard-pressed to think of the names of any women web designers other than those I know personally. No matter that they are every bit as good as the big names in web design. In fact, I tend to minimize my role as a designer because if (as is often done) you divide web work into the more feminine design (look and feel, CSS, etc., etc.) and masculine development (programming, PHP, MySQL, etc., etc.), developers get more respect — and money.

In the end, though, what really matters, as Rev. Seavey puts it is: “When we become part of the creative god-process - making our own true feelings – our beauty - visible to the world and seeing the beauty made visible by others - we enter into a profound communion that helps us transcend our limits a little, mutually expanding our visions of beauty, truth and right.”