We humans have had a fascination with making things, shaping things, and collecting things for as long as we can remember. We are makers, we are keepers, we are environment shapers. From the cave paintings of Lascaux to Andy Warhol's soup cans, from Pablo Neruda's odes to things to Maira Kalman's paintings of various mundane objects to the ordinary objects that often fill the images of the Madonna and Child, humans seem to have a knack for finding and creating beauty in unexpected places. At the end of the nineteenth century, Oscar Wilde wrote a manifesto for the significance of the decorative arts, calling it the “art we live with.” The "art" that does, or could, fill our homes, our offices, our classrooms, works on the soul, he writes, stirs our imaginations, gives us rest, and trains us to see. However, amidst the technologized and fast-paced spaces we inhabit, we can too easily forget to think about choosing beauty, and instead opt to maximize other outcomes, whether that’s speed, profits, efficiency, at the expense of the dignity and aesthetic conscience of the human person.
The Collegium Institute and Dappled Things invite you to join us for this online event which will bring together a diversity of voices to explore the need to prioritize, make, and seek beauty in our everyday lives, beyond the walls of museums and concert halls. To do so, our Ars Vivendi Arts Initiative Director, Jess Sweeney, will engage in conversation with:
James K.A. Smith, editor-in-chief of Image Journal & Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University
Shemaiah Gonzalez, a writer & editor based out of Seattle
John Herreid, graphic designer, illustrator, & catalogue manager at Ignatius Press
Marina Gross-Hoy, a writer, Museum Studies Ph.D. candidate, and mother based out of Montreal
We are grateful to our co-sponsors: Dappled Things, Image Journal, the Lumen Christi Institute, PRRUCS, Nova Forum, the University of St. Thomas Catholic Studies Department, and Wellspring: A Mother Artist Project.
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Time: 12:00 PM-1:30 PM ET
Location: Zoom
Registration: Registration is free and open to the public. This is a fully virtual Zoom webinar. To register, please click here or click the button below. If you have any questions, please feel free to send an email to info@collegiuminstitute.org.