About Visual Arts
The Visual Arts section of the ML&CA Database is a centralized scholarly resource to biographical and bibliographical information by and about Mormon artists in areas including painting, drawing, prints, illustration, photography, mixed-media, book arts, and design. It is intended to serve students, scholars, and the general public by providing current and historical information about Mormon artists.
Parameters
The material about Mormon artists included in the Database is not intended to be a comprehensive resource for all Mormon arts, nor all publications about Mormonism or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its principal focus is on artistic output and the creators of those works. General parameters in this area for the database are detailed below.
Inclusion
In general, the Database seeks to include records of:
- Any and all artistic works in which Mormons or Mormonism is depicted, regardless of the religious affiliation of the authors or creators involved, and regardless of the accuracy or the quality of how Mormonism, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is represented.
- Any and all artistic work whose creators are identifiably Mormon or who have obvious affiliation or association with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, regardless of whether those works include any obvious Mormon subject matter. This will sometimes include people and works by those clearly not LDS and not writing about Mormon subjects, but which for historical reasons are still reasonably associated with Mormon culture.
In all cases, if the connection to Mormon culture or to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not obvious in any given record, editors of the database will attempt to include justifications to demonstrate the relevance of that person or work to Mormonism.
Exclusions
All editions
The Database is not intended to be an exhaustive bibliography of all editions of specific works, or all published articles in periodicals or newspapers. Database editors attempt to include links to websites or publications that have significant content. The Database is to be considered an adjunct to the BYU
Harold B. Lee Library Catalog, which should be consulted for a more comprehensive listing of resources.
Proselyting Material
The Database generally excludes all "Mormon literature" intended primarily for proselyting purposes, or whose primary purpose is to defend or attack the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If a critic has made a case for the artistic or literary quality of such material, it will be included with a rationale and/or a link to the criticism that establishes its relevance.
Curricular Material
This database generally excludes all publications whose primary purpose is doctrinal instruction or administration within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including Sunday School, Relief Society, Priesthood instruction materials, and literature published for use in the seminary and institute programs of the Church.
Manuscripts
This database excludes manuscripts and archival material such as journals, letters, and diaries, unless such items have been edited, published, or reviewed in print publications.
Tributes
Any literary tribute about a Mormon author or artist will be included, as will tributes about non-Mormons that are of a demonstrable scholarly quality. Otherwise, tributes are excluded.
Letters
Letters will generally be excluded unless they are published, selected, and/or of some demonstrable literary quality. Generally letters to editors in newspapers will be excluded, but letters to the editor will be included which are found in journals focused on LDS literature or literary topics.
Humor
Humorous cartoons by and about Latter-day Saints will generally be excluded as these are published incidentally in newspapers and periodicals. However, published humor collections or collections of humorous newspaper columns (such as those by Calvin Grondahl or Robert Kirby)