Fully Human: Art and the Religious Sense

The Glen Workshop, sponsored by Image journal, is an innovative and enriching program combining the best elements of a workshop, an arts festival, and a conference. Add to this the intimate setting at St. John’s College and the rich cultural, spiritual, and natural resources of northern New Mexico and the result is an unforgettable experience. Daily classes are taught by nationally known authors and artists, and are small enough to allow the faculty to give close attention to each participant—to beginners as well as those advanced in their craft. The seminar class is for artists and non-artists alike, a forum to explore the workshop theme in more depth through discussion and in-class creativity. The Glen also offers a retreat option for those who wish to join us for meals, readings, and worship, but prefer to spend mornings writing, painting, exploring the area, or in contemplation, instead of attending a class. Like its sponsor, Image, the Glen is grounded in a Christian perspective, but its tone is informal and hospitable to all spiritual wayfarers.

The Glen Workshop combines an intensive learning experience with a lively festival of the arts. Each participant selects a workshop, the seminar class, or the retreat option. Classes are held concurrently each morning. Afternoons and evenings feature readings, lectures, and concerts. Each day will conclude with a worship service incorporating the arts.

The theme for the week, “Fully Human: Art and the Religious Sense,” will provide a focal point for discussion. The recent spate of books on the new atheism has proved that even when the subject is the existence of God, our deepest debates seem to be over human nature itself. Is there a religion gene in our DNA that predisposes us to faith? Or do we have an inbuilt religious sense that responds to something present in reality? And what of the human impulse to make art, which is as ancient as the desire to worship and thoroughly entwined with it? In the postmodern era, when art and faith have so often been separated, how do we find authentic ways to re-integrate them, ensuring that we body forth the fullness of our human nature?

Writing classes combine general instruction and discussion with the workshop experience, in which each individual’s works are read and discussed critically. In the visual arts classes, students will create new work throughout the week, while also receiving individual and general instruction. For those seeking a non-workshop class, we offer a seminar called “Culture Making: Meaning in the Material World,” led by Andy Crouch, which will explore the "meaning-making" project of culture through encounters with five dimensions of the material world: landscape (desert, mountains, sky, and sun), music (classical, folk, and popular, especially drawing on the black gospel tradition), architecture and urban design (buildings, streets, parks, and zoning decisions), visual art (through visits to selected exhibits in local galleries and museums), and writing (including pieces written in the course of the week by seminar participants).

Free time (including a free day) will offer all participants opportunities for conversation, hiking, visiting the many museums and sights in and around Santa Fe, and exploring the stunning scenery around the St. John’s campus. Here in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, you will encounter a stimulating and inspiring environment saturated with the spirituality of Hispanic and Native American cultures.

2009 Faculty

The Glen Workshop is held in collaboration with Christians in the Visual Arts and Christians in the Theatre Arts.

For more information, please write to: Image, 3307 Third Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98119. Phone: (206) 281-2988. Or send us an e-mail.