David Clayton's Blog, page 29

Painting Class in Columbus, Ohio; October 20-24th; apply now

Individual tuition in a class makes it suitable for both experienced artists and beginners.

I now have full details of the painting class to take place in Columbus, Ohio in the Fall.

Where: St. Therese Retreat Center, 5277 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43213

When: October 20-24, 2014

Cost: $595 (includes registration, supplies, accommodations, meals).

More Information and Registration: Gina Switzer, ginasicons@gmail.com

About the class: I offer instruction in painting illuminations characterized by the style of the gothic Masters of the School of St. Albans, which flourished in the 13th century England. The class is taught so that each person gets a high level of individual attention and personalized instruction. This allows everyone work at his own pace and level. Each course will be suitable therefore, both for beginners and the more experienced.

If you have already done one of these courses this will be for building on what you already know – you will be able to choose your own image and will benefit from more instruction.

Students will learn the traditional technique of egg tempera. Additionally, the singing of the Divine Office will run through the course, so people who wish to will have a chance not only to sing the psalms, but potentially also learn to do so at a level that they can start doing it at home or parish – perhaps in front of your own icon corner.

Work of past students and published review by attendee: If you wish to see a display of the work of past students, you can see a step by step portrayal of them painting a gothic St Christopher, here. Or work done this past summer in the previous post on this blog, here. The latter includes a write up of the class by Fr John Bambrick of St Aloysius Church, Jackson, NJ who attended the class and wrote about it in his parish bulletin. As a result of attending the class he has invited me down to the parish in January to lead a retreat on art and prayer. Pictures below are from the Westminster Psalter and a French gothic manuscript of the same period: Christ the Creator, King David, a pious knight, and St Christopher. At the very bottom is my versions of the King David painted in the class.

 

 

 

Paintings from Students at the Gothic School of St Albans Painting Classes in July

And a review by Fr John Bambrick from St Aloysius, Jackson, NJ

Here are some of the paintings done by the recent’ classes teaching the gothic style of art using the 12th century English illuminations of the School of St Albans (with one contemporary French image there as well). As usual what strikes me hear is the ease with which Catholics from the Roman Rite take to these forms which are closely linked to that Rite. I have taught many classes of Eastern style icons and there is a cultural barrier to overcome that means that the quality of the painting is not as high. Some who have been exposed to the prejudice against Western forms that you hear in some icon painting classes, are intially suspicious. However, once they accept that they are allowed to like Western gothic art and that it is just as authentically liturgical and worth of veneration as a Russian or Greek icon, then they seem to take to these forms very naturally.

Students always want to change things and interpret. In Eastern icon painting classes, you almost always have to say no because the changes suggested are not appropriate. I find that in this form the students quickly inhabit the gothic world and when they suggest changes they would like to make, they are in accord with the tradition and so, provided that it won’t detract from the learning process, I usually them to do it.

 Fr John Bambrick, who attended the class at TMC in Merrimack NH wrote a generous review of the week in his parish bulletin and here is what he said:

“The Week of July 28th I took a class on Christian Iconography at St. Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack New Hampshire.  It is a small liberal arts college with a strong traditional Catholic identity in New England.  Professors are called ‘Fellows’ at this College. To be honest I cannot draw a straight line; however through the skill of Fellow David Clayton I competed an egg tempera copy of an illumination from a Medieval Psalter.  The excellence of his teaching was apparent when the entire class completed their Icons.  If David is ever considered for canonization this could be considered one of his first miracles!  He has just published a very fine work on prayer for the family called, “The Little Oratory: A beginners guide to praying in the home”.  You can find this gem on Amazon.com.  He also maintains a blog on Art, Religion and culture called thewayofbeauty.org.   We also had a wonderful field trip to a Russian Icon Museum in Massachusetts.  One of the most reproduced Icons is the Mother of God under various titles.”  The full bulletin is here.

Most of the students had never done a class before, although some were doing their second or third class. The image top left, which is shown again on a larger scale was done by an 18-year old who was attending his first class ever. The original images are from the 12th century Westminster psalter apart from the image of the Creator making the universe according to weight and measure and number, which is from a French manuscript of the same period.

I am receiving inquiries from about when the next class will be. So for any who are interested we will be running and icon painting class in Columbus, Ohio running from October 20-24th.  Full details will appear shortly in this blog and Facebook, but any who are interested should email me through this blog giving me your email address which I will forward to Gina Switzer who is organizing it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paintings from Students at the Gothic School of St Albans Painting Classes in July – next class is in Columbus, OH in October

And a review by Fr John Bambrick from St Aloysius, Jackson, NJ

Here are some of the paintings done by the recent’ classes teaching the gothic style of art using the 12th century English illuminations of the School of St Albans (with one contemporary French image there as well). As usual what strikes me hear is the ease with which Catholics from the Roman Rite take to these forms which are closely linked to that Rite. I have taught many classes of Eastern style icons and there is a cultural barrier to overcome that means that the quality of the painting is not as high. Some who have been exposed to the prejudice against Western forms that you hear in some icon painting classes, are intially suspicious. However, once they accept that they are allowed to like Western gothic art and that it is just as authentically liturgical and worth of veneration as a Russian or Greek icon, then they seem to take to these forms very naturally.

Students always want to change things and interpret. In Eastern icon painting classes, you almost always have to say no because the changes suggested are not appropriate. I find that in this form the students quickly inhabit the gothic world and when they suggest changes they would like to make, they are in accord with the tradition and so, provided that it won’t detract from the learning process, I usually them to do it.

 Fr John Bambrick, who attended the class at TMC in Merrimack NH wrote a generous review of the week in his parish bulletin and here is what he said:

“The Week of July 28th I took a class on Christian Iconography at St. Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack New Hampshire.  It is a small liberal arts college with a strong traditional Catholic identity in New England.  Professors are called ‘Fellows’ at this College. To be honest I cannot draw a straight line; however through the skill of Fellow David Clayton I competed an egg tempera copy of an illumination from a Medieval Psalter.  The excellence of his teaching was apparent when the entire class completed their Icons.  If David is ever considered for canonization this could be considered one of his first miracles!  He has just published a very fine work on prayer for the family called, “The Little Oratory: A beginners guide to praying in the home”.  You can find this gem on Amazon.com.  He also maintains a blog on Art, Religion and culture called thewayofbeauty.org.   We also had a wonderful field trip to a Russian Icon Museum in Massachusetts.  One of the most reproduced Icons is the Mother of God under various titles.”  The full bulletin is here.

Most of the students had never done a class before, although some were doing their second or third class. The image top left, which is shown again on a larger scale was done by an 18-year old who was attending his first class ever. The original images are from the 12th century Westminster psalter apart from the image of the Creator making the universe according to weight and measure and number, which is from a French manuscript of the same period.

I am receiving inquiries from about when the next class will be. So for any who are interested we will be running and icon painting class in Columbus, Ohio running from October 20-24th. This will be the first one that comes with the option of both continuing-education credit and, we hope, transferable college level credit (all accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts). Full details will appear shortly in this blog and Facebook, but any who are interested should email me through this blog giving me your email address which I will forward to Gina Switzer who is organizing it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diploma in the New Evangelisation launched by the School of the Annunciation, Buckfast Abbey, Devon, England

Consideration of the liturgy and beauty is central to evangelization. Visual art in particular has a role to play – it teaches and informs us through its content, it’s beauty helps to direct and deepen our worship of God in the liturgy and in a context outside the church, it’s beauty draws all men to itself and then beyond to the source of all beauty, God, so opening their hearts to be receptive to the Word when offered to them.

My good friends at the newly established School of the Annunciation situated in the grounds of Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England understand it deeply. I am delighted to learn of the launch of their Diploma in New Evangelization. Taught through a combination of residential weekends and online this means you can take it wherever you live.

The New Evangelization is a fashionable phrase to bandy about (to the degree that anything to do with the Faith can be fashionable!). When I finally read Benedict XVI’s document on the subject, written as Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Pope, what struck me is the simplicity of what he described, but nevertheless how needed it is. He wrote first of the need for personal transformation through prayer centred on the liturgy; and the emphasis on communication of final judgement by a just and merciful judge and of sure and certain hope in eternal life that brings joy to us in this life. This is made evident most plainly by the joy with which we live our lives and the love we show to our fellows. This emphasis on the next life, it seemed to me, anticipated his encyclical Spe Salvi, in which he states that it is the absence of hope in salvation, because of an over reliance in mastery of the material world to provide the answers to human problems, that is a cause of the lack of faith that exists in the West today.

They have chosen this image to promote and encapsulate the essential aspects of the course, as explained in detail below. It is Nativity in the Initial P, c. 1395, by Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339 – 1399). Tempera and gold on parchment, 570 x 380 mm from Gradual 1 for the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele a Murano (Folio 38v) (Sometimes thought to be from the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence). Now in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

This illuminated page has been chosen to introduce the Via Pulchritudinis - the ‘pathway of beauty’ that leads to Beauty itself and is itself beautiful – that is a major feature of the Diploma, a distance-learning, interactive on-line course delivered by the School of the Annunciation situated in the stunning location of Buckfast Abbey, Devon UK.  The School of the Annunciation is a Centre for the New Evangelisation and the Diploma has been designed by Dr Petroc Willey a Consultor for the Pontifical Council for New Evangelisation, The Via Pulchritudinis that is part of and accompanies the whole program has been designed and written by Dr Caroline Farey, who is also a Consultor for the Council.

Dr Caroline Farey also leads the School of the Annunciation summer school in ‘Finding Faith through Sacred Art’, August 14-17th at the same magnificent location and its not too late to enrol for that too. You can enrol through their website.

In the next week I will post a fascinating detailed description of this illumination by Dr Farey, and an explanation as to why it communicates so beautifully communicates their intentions.

 

 

 

 

 

Photos of a Monastery in Argentina that is Devoted to the Creation of Sacred Art

A student of mine at Thomas More College, who is Brazilian, sent me a link to to the Facebook page of this monastery in Argentina. This monastery he told me, has a strong emphasis on the creation and worship with iconographic sacred art. I do not speak Spanish so can’t comment on any of the text. All I would say is that the art and the setting look pretty good to me based upon these photographs from the Facebook page, here: Monasterio del Cristo Orante.

If any can read the page and give us some insights I would love to know more…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can build Jerusalem amongst the Satanic housing projects of our inner cities

Even mass housing can be made uplifting by using traditional proportions

What makes a beautiful building? I would say that traditional proportionality is one vital component that is virtually ignored by all modern architects. The new online course of the Way of Beauty (see the page of that name on this blog) gives the most detailed answer to this question yet. It’s all about traditional proportion and harmony which was principle, derived from the patterns of the liturgy, that was used to govern the whole of the culture. All of time and space, not just the beautiful buildings of the past, were ordered according to its principles.

This is why the building above left, built in the 18th century, is not only still standing, but is also a listed building and is sought after by professionals in the North of England as a fashionable place to live; but many of the equivalent mass housing projects of the 20 century, like the one show below, are already being knocked down. The one shown was Rockwell Gardens which was demolished in 2003 and didn’t even last 50 years.

The traditional idea is that certain combinations of dimensions of a building speak to us more clearly than others because they are more beautiful. The modern idea, in contrast, is that there is an infinite range of ratios and proportionalities to choose from and one is no more valid than any other, it’s just a matter of opinion.

The Christian tradition says that certain proportions are beautiful because they reflect the divine order; and the Creator hardwired us to recognize them. When we see something as beautiful in the natural world for example, it is this is divine order – the thumbprint of the Creator in His work – is what we are responding to. The work of man can reflect this as well, with God’s grace and humility and good sense on the part of man. These proportions were used in architecture almost without question through

to the end of the 19th century. (To get more information take the online course from this blog or sign on direct here.) By the end of the 19th century, its use seems to have been disconnected from the Christian understanding. When traditional taste was challenged, those who wished to resist the destruction of the old methods were not equipped with underlying principles to defent their case. The Bauhaus movement in Austria at the turn of the last century, for example, vigorously challenged tradition. they defined themselves as much by what they were not, as by what they were. The challenge was effective and by the period after the Second World War barely any architects used the traditional proportions.

I have picked out some examples to illustrate my points. Consider first the elegant housing, right, in upmarket South Kensington in London dating from the Victorian period. Notice how each storey is has a different dimension. There is a rhythmical progression: the first is to the second as the second is to the third and so on. We pick this up naturally and the effect is pleasing, but those harmonies will have been carefully calculated by the architect.

In the ideal there will be a minimum of three stories. A single relationship is created by two parties. In the context of dimensions two lengths together this relationship is called a ‘ratio’. In order to get a measure of the ratio we need another to compare it to. So a minimum of three stories is needed to create two ratios. That is, the first is to the second, as the second is to the first. A ‘proportion’ is a relationship between two or more ratios. So when the two ratios combine well, we have harmonious ‘proportion’. Consider a musical analogy. While combinations of two notes can be pleasing as harmonious intervals, the chord structure is generally based upon combinations of three notes. This was housing made for the well-to-do in Victorian England. If more than three stories are required, then the architect might continue to diminish the size of each successive storey, repeating the progression each time (as we see in these South Kensington houses). Alternatively, they repeat the dimension of the second for all storeys except the last. So the effect is of a large stable base, a number of storeys of even size, and then a cap which is the smaller than the other two. We see this in the 19th century mill building shown below: Salt’s Mill in Yorkshire, England.

Contrast it with modern apartments which were built for a today’s smart set in Chelsea Harbour, right. When this development was built the talk was of the film stars who bought the upper level apartments with the views of London’s River Thames. Lady Diana used to work out at the fashionable gym here. Yet I think they were short changed on style. Immediately one can see how each storey is identically spaced and the effect, to my eye, is one of sterility and dullness in comparison with the earlier structures. The point here is that the architects, if they had the knowledge, could just as easily have conformed to the harmonious proportion. If they had, my guess is that the value of these houses would be much higher, because they would be more sought after.

With the establishment of railways in Victorian Britain, seaside town grew up as day trip or holiday destinations a train ride from the main population centres. I grew up in the northwest of England, near the cities of Liverpool and Manchester. Llandudno, on the coast of North Wales is such a resort that grew to serve these populations. The buildings shown left are seafront hotels and one can see the same variation in the stories as we saw in South Kensington. Just to give people a sense of the place (and because it reminds me of home and like to look at them) I have included at the bottom some more photos. They are taken. Even the pier has octagonal geometric art, which looks as though its straight from Islamic Marrakesh on the cast iron railings (complete with seagull).

 

I would like to make an appeal to architects to start reincorporating these proportional ideas into their designs. How much better might the environment of our inner cities be if even mass housing conformed to them?  And just to inspire you, here is mass housing from the 19th century. These workers cottages, shown at the top and below left, were built by a mill owner, Titus Salt in Yorkshire in northern England. The mill he made, shown left and above, is so beautiful that it is now an art gallery and this and the village he built for the workers is designated a World Heritage Site. The end terrace at the top of this article is one such home. Those that have only two stories are the cheapest housing and smallest homes. Nevertheless, the architects still went to the trouble of varying the storey size  according to traditional ideas. And they are appealing enough to be desirable homes if placed on today’s open market. These simply followed design rules not only improve the environment, they add value!

The entrepreneurial spirit of 19th century Britain tends to get a bad press nowadays. No doubt the conditions of Titus Salt’s mill workers would not have been the same as those of today, but these houses do not speak of a mill owner who is seeking to exploit his workforce.

William Blake wrote in a much quoted line of England’s ‘dark, satanic, mills’. I would prefer to think that the end of the poem is more accurate and that Jerusalem was ‘builded here’. Furthermore, Titus Salt is an example that we can follow and try to build Jerusalem today.

The Way of Beauty course costs $99 for 25 hours continuing education credit from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, read more about it on the Online Course page of this blog or sign on direct by following the link here.

 

New Improved Way-of-Beauty Psalm Tones – Sarum Psalm Tones for the Vernacular

Plus progress report on where they are being used, from New Hampshire, Britain and Australia!

Just to let those who have been using the psalm tones that I have been steadily improving and adding and the latest version of the tones is up. Go to the Psalm Tones page on this blog!

Not only can any tone be used with any psalm which is pointed in the pointing system I have developed (which means if you know just one tone you can sing the whole psalter); but now I have worked out a system that allows you to distinguish systematically when a syllable can take  more than one note. This allows for more complex tones, in addition to the previous simple ones which are still there, which just like the simple ones can be sung to any psalm if you know how to point it (and it takes five minutes to learn from. The most ornate in each mode is reserved for the singing of the gospel canticle. We are talking neums and melismas! If you don’t know what any of these means, then put simply there are more twiddly bits.

Since I first start to post these up, things have developed. First Notre Dame University approached me and asked me to write a piece for their sacred music blog. When this appeared Adam Bartlett at the Chant Cafe decided to run it. As a result of that Monastic Musician, a British academic publication devoted to chant asked to reprint the article too. I have been contacted by one person who wanted to build a phone app that contained the tones. Perhaps most gratifyingly, I was contacted by a nun at a cloistered Carmelite convent in Australia. They were looking to sing the Office after reciting it for 40 years and wanted advice on how to introduce these tones into their liturgy.

This summer, the Knights of Columbus of New Hampshire approached me. They want to organise a statewide event at a mountain State Park in northern NH on Saturday, October 4th. The Bishop of Manchester, Bishop Lebasci will be present. I was asked if my friend, Dr Tom Larson and I would lead the Knights in singing Lauds in the vernacular using these psalm tones and the harmonized versions arranged by Paul Jernberg. One of the Knights had been coming to sing with us at the VA Hospital in Manchester, NH where we sing Vespers on alternate Mondays during the academic year.

So go to the page marked Psalm Tones and download the updated music, listen to the recordings and watch the video that teaches you how to point any text so that all these psalm tones will fit it. The more complex ones will need a bit of interpretative skill to make them sound really good, but I still think that this is something that can be picked up easily. If you want help then contact me…I will even sing down the phone to demonstrate!

Just to remind you, here is the article as it first appeared in the Chant Cafe……

I post it first as a pdf that you can download because the music scores will not be readable otherwise.

pdf here:  English psalm tones for Chant Cafe

 

 

 

 

Announcing a New Online Course on the Way of Beauty – continuing education for teachers, homeschoolers…and all those interested in cultural transformation

This is the most thorough and complete presentation yet of how to follow the via pulchtritudinis, to teach others how to do it too and transform the culture in the process! Includes detailed material available for the first time which is not available anywhere else.

 

A course for teachers, home-schoolers, parents, educators, artist, architects, those involved in the formation of adults at parish level… and anyone interested in seeing a culture of beauty.

Endorsed by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Merrimack, NH.

13- videos produced with Catholic TV - watch the first one for free here


A four part e-book, The Way of Beauty: Liturgy, Education, Art and Inspiration written exclusively for the course. See a chapter by chapter summary here: Contents.chapter.by.chapter

 

I am delighted to offer for the first time an online course in the Way of Beauty TM, SM for credit. It is my most thorough and deepest exploration yet of the theology and philosophy of the topics that I cover in my blog, much of it not seen anywhere else. Do you know, for example what makes an image worthy of veneration and for use in the liturgy? Did you know that icons are neither the only or the highest form of sacred art in the Catholic tradition and that the High Renaissance isn’t appropriate at all? Do you know what Newman said is the most important feature of a successful educational institution? (Clue: it’s not the curriculum, or the quality of the teachers or the teaching methods used.) Or what Pope Benedict says is the purpose of all Christian education, no matter what subject is taught?

Sign up for this course now

 

Topics in this course include:

the glory of the figurative artistic traditions of the Church (and the lack of it in those that reflect modern philosophy),
traditional harmony and proportion in art, architecture and patterned art,
and through these we demonstrate the connection between our worship in the liturgy and the forms contemporary culture, in the broadest sense of the word, which incorporates all human activity.

You will qualify for 25 hours continuing education, endorsed by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. The cost is just $99. We have set this price so that it is within the budget of all.

 

See more and sign up for this course now

 

This course is a unique presentation of the Way of BeautyTM, SM- the via pulchritudis - that leads us to Beauty itself and is itself Beautiful. What is presented here is simultaneously traditional, and radical and revolutionary. Most of the written material provided was created especially for this course and not available in this detail or in such a coherent and integrated presentation anywhere else, not even my blog, my books or past articles.

You do the study in your own time, at your own pace. To sign up follow the link here. To complete this and get the credit you simply have to:  watch the 13 videos in a series entitled the Way of Beauty TM, SM, which has the beautiful production values of Catholic TV with whom we made the shows; and then read the material written exclusively for this course and which accompanies the videos; and finally you when have done this you tell us… and we send you the diploma. For those who wish to talk about the material there will be a chat room for participants, and anyone is free anytime to email me and ask questions.

The hope is that this program will be extended to college level credit in the Fall. For high-school students or undergraduates looking to get transferable college level credit, we will require some additional reading and there will be quizzes and graded exams. For even more credit at either level, you will be able to combine it with the residential practical classes in painting supported by lectures that will appear in different locations around the country in the coming year.

We have deliberately set this at a special low price.

Sign up for this course now

A course for teachers, homeschoolers, parents, educators, artist, architects and anyone interested in a beautiful culture: this material was originally developed as a formation for artists and as such it can help in the formation of anyone interested in the creation of beauty. At Thomas More College as we contemplated offering the course to undergraduates, we realized very quickly that this is in fact intrinsic any good education no matter what is taught – every single one of us would benefit from a formation in beauty for all good things can and ought to be done beautifully. It was integrated into the core undergraduate program in the liberal arts and has been taught for the past 5 years with great success both to undergraduates and in the residential summer schools, open to all, that take place at the college campus each year. So as well as artists, musicians and architects, it will be of interest to anyone interested in the formation of adults or children and anyone who is interested in developing a curriculum for a Catholic education, for example, home-schoolers, parents and teachers of any discipline.

In the course I draw on a number of sources for this. First my experience over many years as an internationally known professional artist and experienced teacher of art using traditional methods, as well as my experience of the medieval structures of Oxford University. This course also reflects faithfully the traditions of the Church and draws upon the writings of Church Fathers, especially Augustine and Boethius; and more recent commentators on beauty, culture, liturgy and education such as Blessed JH Newman, St Pope John Paul II and  most prominently Benedict XVI. It outlines a way of educating that is consistent with the Faith and is transmitted joyously.

For those who are aware of my book, co-written with Leila Lawler, the Little Oratory, A Beginner’s Guide to Prayer in the Home, this is a much deeper exploration of the theology and theories which are the foundation of the practices of prayer and worship it describes. It is the soundness of its foundation in the Faith that caused Scott Hahn to describe the book as follows:  ​‘This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen. It is inspiring yet practical, realistic yet revolutionary. If one book has the potential to transform the Catholic family (and society), this is it.’

Sign up for this course now

 

Through a series of 13 half hour videos and detailed written materials created especially for this course. We cover such topics as:

Cult and culture: how culture in general is derived from our worship and why it is the strongest influence on is in our formation and our education, bar none – not social factors, not economics, not politics.
Catholic Education The course will explain how an education in beauty can be taught to people of any age and integrated with the education as a whole. It will also explain why every Catholic education, no matter what is taught, no matter how narrow or vocational, should be integrated with an education in beauty, for it will enable those so formed to do all things better.


The Catholic traditions in figurative art with case studies on a number of paintings in each figurative tradition. You will know, for example, what makes the gothic, the baroque and the iconographic styles distinct; and what connects them so that each tradition is appropriate for the liturgy. We contrast and compare these with the forms of art that reflect modern philosophy and from traditional non-Christian cultures.


The numerical basis of the patterns of beauty – how to order time and space according to traditional harmonious proportion. You will have a detailed account of the scriptural and cosmic sources for traditional ideas of proportion and harmony and understand how each reflects the patterns of the liturgy. This is most commonly associated with architectural proportion and music, but in fact has application in just about any aspect of human culture. You will learn why, for example, the Golden Section is not one of the traditional proportions of beauty, contrary to popular opinion.  This will also include a description of traditional number symbolism and you will see how this was used to design traditional forms of art, both figurative and non-figurative patterned art.
Creativity, Intuition and Love These are the fruits of a traditional education in beauty. It develops us as people so that we have more ideas and better ideas and can grasp the relationship between particulars and the whole in any context better. It also increases our capacity to love God and man and our inclination to do so. This is demonstrated not only by reference to the traditional understanding of these things, but also to modern scientific research which supports the points made. While this is presented as a discussion about these topics as subjects to learn, we provide guidance also to those who wish to become more creative, intuitive and loving by actually practicing and experiencing the principles described.

Sign up for this course now

The Way of BeautyTM, SM is a service mark and trade mark wholly owned by David Clayton and cannot be used by others except with his permission.

Sign up for this course now

 Our chivalrous modern day Knight of the New Evangelization is my symbol of today’s mission for the Church!

 

Announcing a New Online Course on the Way of Beauty for Credit

This is the most thorough and complete presentation yet of how to follow the via pulchtritudinis, to teach others how to do it too and transform the culture in the process! Includes detailed material available for the first time which is not available anywhere else.

 

A course for teachers, home-schoolers, parents, educators, artist, architects, those involved in the formation of adults at parish leve… and anyone interested in seeing a culture of beauty.

Accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Merrimack, NH, credits recognized throughout the country.

13- videos produced with Catholic TV - watch the first one for free here


A four part e-book, The Way of Beauty: Liturgy, Education, Art and Inspiration written exclusively for the course. See a chapter by chapter summary here: Contents.chapter.by.chapter

 

I am delighted to offer for the first time an online course in the Way of Beauty TM, SM for credit. It is my most thorough and deepest exploration yet of the theology and philosophy of the topics that I cover in my blog, much of it not seen anywhere else. Do you know, for example what makes an image worthy of veneration and for use in the liturgy? Did you know that icons are neither the only or the highest form of sacred art in the Catholic tradition and that the High Renaissance isn’t appropriate at all? Do you know what Newman said is the most important feature of a successful educational institution? (Clue: it’s not the curriculum, or the quality of the teachers or the teaching methods used.) Or what Pope Benedict says is the purpose of all Christian education, no matter what subject is taught?

Sign up for this course now

 

Topics in this course include:

the glory of the figurative artistic traditions of the Church (and the lack of it in those that reflect modern philosophy),
traditional harmony and proportion in art, architecture and patterned art,
and through these we demonstrate the connection between our worship in the liturgy and the forms contemporary culture, in the broadest sense of the word, which incorporates all human activity.

You will get 25 credit hours continuing education credit, accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. The cost is just $99. We have set this price so that it is within the budget of all.

 

See more and sign up for this course now

 

This course is a unique presentation of the Way of BeautyTM, SM- the via pulchritudis - that leads us to Beauty itself and is itself Beautiful. What is presented here is simultaneously traditional, and radical and revolutionary. Most of the written material provided was created especially for this course and not available in this detail or in such a coherent and integrated presentation anywhere else, not even my blog, my books or past articles.

You do the study in your own time, at your own pace. To sign up follow the link here. To complete this and get the credit you simply have to:  watch the 13 videos in a series entitled the Way of Beauty TM, SM, which has the beautiful production values of Catholic TV with whom we made the shows; and then read the material written exclusively for this course and which accompanies the videos; and finally you when have done this you tell us… and we send you the credit. For those who wish to talk about the material there will be a chat room for participants, and anyone is free anytime to email me and ask questions.

This program will be extended to college level credit in the Fall. For high-school students or undergraduates looking to get transferable college level credit, we will require some additional reading and there will be quizzes and graded exams. For even more credit at either level, you will be able to combine it with the residential practical classes in painting supported by lectures that will appear in different locations around the country in the coming year.

We have deliberately set this at a special low price that will enable those who do not need the credit but are interested in this unique course anyway to pay for it.

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A course for teachers, homeschoolers, parents, educators, artist, architects and anyone interested in a beautiful culture: this material was originally developed as a formation for artists and as such it can help in the formation of anyone interested in the creation of beauty. At Thomas More College as we contemplated offering the course to undergraduates, we realized very quickly that this is in fact intrinsic any good education no matter what is taught – every single one of us would benefit from a formation in beauty for all good things can and ought to be done beautifully. It was integrated into the core undergraduate program in the liberal arts and has been taught for the past 5 years with great success both to undergraduates and in the residential summer schools, open to all, that take place at the college campus each year. So as well as artists, musicians and architects, it will be of interest to anyone interested in the formation of adults or children and anyone who is interested in developing a curriculum for a Catholic education, for example, home-schoolers, parents and teachers of any discipline.

In the course I draw on a number of sources for this. First my experience over many years as an internationally known professional artist and experienced teacher of art using traditional methods, as well as my experience of the medieval structures of Oxford University. This course also reflects faithfully the traditions of the Church and draws upon the writings of Church Fathers, especially Augustine and Boethius; and more recent commentators on beauty, culture, liturgy and education such as Blessed JH Newman, St Pope John Paul II and  most prominently Benedict XVI. It outlines a way of educating that is consistent with the Faith and is transmitted joyously.

For those who are aware of my book, co-written with Leila Lawler, the Little Oratory, A Beginner’s Guide to Prayer in the Home, this is a much deeper exploration of the theology and theories which are the foundation of the practices of prayer and worship it describes. It is the soundness of its foundation in the Faith that caused Scott Hahn to describe the book as follows:  ​‘This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen. It is inspiring yet practical, realistic yet revolutionary. If one book has the potential to transform the Catholic family (and society), this is it.’

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Through a series of 13 half hour videos and detailed written materials created especially for this course. We cover such topics as:

Cult and culture: how culture in general is derived from our worship and why it is the strongest influence on is in our formation and our education, bar none – not social factors, not economics, not politics.
Catholic Education The course will explain how an education in beauty can be taught to people of any age and integrated with the education as a whole. It will also explain why every Catholic education, no matter what is taught, no matter how narrow or vocational, should be integrated with an education in beauty, for it will enable those so formed to do all things better.


The Catholic traditions in figurative art with case studies on a number of paintings in each figurative tradition. You will know, for example, what makes the gothic, the baroque and the iconographic styles distinct; and what connects them so that each tradition is appropriate for the liturgy. We contrast and compare these with the forms of art that reflect modern philosophy and from traditional non-Christian cultures.


The numerical basis of the patterns of beauty – how to order time and space according to traditional harmonious proportion. You will have a detailed account of the scriptural and cosmic sources for traditional ideas of proportion and harmony and understand how each reflects the patterns of the liturgy. This is most commonly associated with architectural proportion and music, but in fact has application in just about any aspect of human culture. You will learn why, for example, the Golden Section is not one of the traditional proportions of beauty, contrary to popular opinion.  This will also include a description of traditional number symbolism and you will see how this was used to design traditional forms of art, both figurative and non-figurative patterned art.
Creativity, Intuition and Love These are the fruits of a traditional education in beauty. It develops us as people so that we have more ideas and better ideas and can grasp the relationship between particulars and the whole in any context better. It also increases our capacity to love God and man and our inclination to do so. This is demonstrated not only by reference to the traditional understanding of these things, but also to modern scientific research which supports the points made. While this is presented as a discussion about these topics as subjects to learn, we provide guidance also to those who wish to become more creative, intuitive and loving by actually practicing and experiencing the principles described.

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The Way of BeautyTM, SM is a service mark and trade mark wholly owned by David Clayton and cannot be used by others except with his permission.

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 Our chivalrous modern day Knight of the New Evangelization is my symbol of today’s mission for the Church!

 

The Need for Chivalry in Modern Age, and an Example of Such a Modern Knight

My friend Stratford Caldecott died very recently of cancer. I heard the news at a time that I was was reading his newly published book, Not as the World Gives: the Way of Creative Justice.

Contained within the book, which focusses for a large part on Catholic social teaching, especially in the light of Pope Benedict’s Caritas in Veritate, he has a chapter on the evangelization of the culture. Within this, in turn, he makes a call for a new chivalry (p145):

‘The Crusaders, with whom we associate the first Christendom – and who in fact represent one of its greatest failures – made the mistake of confusing and interior and spiritual struggle with an earthly and political one. The most important struggle is within. [This] suggests a way in which the ideal (if not the historical example) of medieval chivalry remains valid even today.’

He then quotes Hans Urs von Balthasar from his who felt that the West was built on the spirit of chivalry: ‘Francis was a knight of Christ, as was Ignatius in turn while Newman’s refinement resists every temptation to take things easy. Knighthood changes its form, but it does not change its soul…The glorification of the body of knights is no backward looking romanticism, no ancien régime that turns its face aside from the march of time, but the only effective equipment with which the Christian can meet the present day.’ This body of knights, he says, ‘is the fellowship under obligation to the King of Kings,’ in which each strives for an inner peace, a personal transformation and then take that peace out to the world through his interactions with others; for ‘how is the world to be healed, how are the peoples to be reconciled, if not through such a new body of knights which is nothing other than carrying out the will of Jesus Christ, here and now, in this time?’

It is from this body of knights that the economic social change, political change and cultural change in its broadest understanding will occur. For each person so transformed can contribute to the change of the world. ‘In other words, the Evangelization of the culture takes place first in the encounter of one person with another before it affects governments or organisations.’

I think that few who have ever met Strat would deny he was one of those knights, brandishing the sword of the spirit and through each personal encounter transmitting the love of Christ. RIP

Afterword: the past two weeks I have been teaching art classes in which students learn the style of the English gothic illuminators from the period of the 13th century, especially Matthew Parris. Our classes had been discussing the relevance of painting a medieval knight today because our model for study was an image from the Westminster Psalter of a knight kneeling, see below. We discussed it and felt that the age of chivalry is not dead, or at least it shouldn’t be; and assigned our knight the symbolism of the chivalrous Christian who is strong in virtue and who carries the light of Christ out into the world. For want of anything better, we called him the knight of the New Evangelization.

It was just yesterday that I discovered that in fact he is portrayed kneeling before an unknown king.

 

It was pure coincidence that this is the image that we were studying when I heard of Strat’s death and then happened to read the above passage in his book.

The picture that I painted of this knight, top left and below, is my Christian Knight. When I painted it I thought of him as accepting his call from God to take up his personal vocation in life. But now I see him paying homage, as Strat described in his book, to the King of Kings, seeking personal transformation in Christ and accepting his role as a walking icon of Christ in the world.