Why create art?

This blog is essentially the fulfilling of an assignment in a Mormon Cinema class I'm taking at BYU. Hence, many of these posts will deal specifically with those issues. However, I'm excited to have somewhat of a "sounding board" for my admittedly strong opinions of Mormon Arts and Culture. I believe that we create art to bridge the gap between the mortal and the divine and that an essential aspect of the "dispensation of the fulness of times" is the flooding of the earth with good, uplifting art. We hear over and over again that we are a chosen people and need to build up Zion in order to bless all the nations of the earth. Well, isn't it time, then, that we buckle down and behave like the artists we need to be?...