Day One: Friday 8th May
Day Two: Saturday 9th May
Day Three: Sunday 10th May
| DAY ONE |
| 09:00 Registration |
| 09:30 Welcome by Visual Theology Madeleine Emerald Thiele and Dr. Flora Armetta |
| 10:00 – 11:00 Panel One: Platonism and Romanticism |
| Dr. Gareth Polmeer, Royal College of Art, London, and Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge – Translucent Nature and the Vision of Wisdom Benjamin Davidson, Clare College, University of Cambridge – Finite Participation in Infinite Creativity: Art and Artist in Coleridge’s Platonic Aesthetics |
| 11:00 – 11:30 Tea Break |
| 11:30 – 12:30 Artist Keynote Address Chair: Madeleine Emerald Thiele |
| Simon Bray – Searching Beneath the Silence: Art as an Act of Prayer |
| 12:30 – 13:30 Light Lunch |
| 13:30 – 15:00 Panel Two: Devotion and Artistry |
| Whitney White, University of Vienna – A Brush with the Divine: Re-examining Victorian Hair Work Heather Glover, University of Lincoln – Landscapes of Faith and Beauty in the Art and Poetry of Augusta Theodosia Drane Henriette Marsden, Newnham College, University of Cambridge – ‘Woman’s Mission’, Ecclesiastical Embroideries, and the Materiality of Love in Victorian Britain |
| 15:00 – 15:30 Tea Break |
| 15:30 – 17:00 Panel Three: Revision and Restoration |
| Dr. Cornelia van der Poll, Restore Trust – The National Trust Deconstructs a Palladian Country House Dr. Amanda Himes, John Brown University – Jane Austen, Trauma, and Healing: A Way Forward for the English Church Penelope Hines, Curator, Watts Gallery – Mary Watts: Interior Decoration as a Devotional Act |
| 17:00 – 17:20 Pausa |
| 17:20 – 18:30 Keynote Address Chair: Madeleine Emerald Thiele |
| Dr. Bijan Omrani, Historian – E.W. Benson: Sacred Spaces and the Purpose of Beauty |
| 18:30 Wine Reception, Archbishop’s Palace |
| 19:30 Dinner (on your own) |
| DAY TWO |
| 08:30 Registration |
| 08:45 Welcome by Visual Theology |
| 09:00 – 10:30 Panel Four: Continental Christianity |
| Anthony Padgett, Artist – Vincent van Gogh and the Revival of Faith Bernadette Lamb, Author and Illustrator – Léon Guipon: Catholic Illustrations with a Chestertonian Heart Maria Agnesa Puscasu, St. Mary’s University, London – La Vie du Christ: The Beauty in the Moving Image |
| 10:30 – 11:00 Tea Break |
| 11:00 – 12:00 Keynote Address Chair: Dr. Flora Armetta |
| Reverend Dr. Jamie Franklin, Holy Trinity Winchester – The Aesthetics of Original Sin: How the Church’s Liturgy Recovers the Meaning of Creation |
| 12:00 – 13:00 Light Lunch |
| 13:00 – 14:30 Panel Five: Worship and Wilderness |
| Marcus Bicknell, Historian and Chairman of the Clarence Bicknell Association – Beauty and Faith in the Nineteenth Century: Clarence Bicknell Eira Bethell, University of Essex – Beauty at the Edge: Frontier Chapels and the Aesthetics of Spiritual Renewal in the Long Nineteenth Century Olivia Jensen, Ralston College – Rewilding the West: Transcendentalism, “Trad Life,” and the New Spiritual Frontier |
| 14:30 – 16:00 Panel Six: History and Hope |
| Dr. Caroline Ings-Chambers – ‘The Soul of the Eye’: John Ruskin’s Sacramental Vision and Louisa Waterford’s Aesthetic Grace Susan Francis, Winchester School of Art – Making Space for Wonder – Orchestrating Collective Enchantment in the Domestic Sphere Dr. Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert, Don’t Divide Us – Aesthetic Wonder and Julian of Norwich |
| 16:00 – 16:20 Tea Break |
| 16:20 – 17:20 Roundtable with Visual Theology |
| Professor Douglas Hedley (Clare College, University of Cambridge), Dr. Bijan Omrani (Historian, Writer, Classicist), Reverend Dr. Jamie Franklin (Holy Trinity Church, Winchester), and Simon Bray (artist). |
| 17:20 – 17:30 Pausa |
| 17:30 – 18:30 Keynote Address Chair: Dr. Flora Armetta |
| Professor Douglas Hedley, Clare College, University of Cambridge – The Metaphysics of Beauty: reviving the sacred |
| 18:30 – 18:45 Closing Remarks |
| 19:15 Conference Dinner |
| DAY THREE |
| 10:00 Eucharist Service, Southwell Minster (optional) |
| Informal gathering at the Refectory Café, Southwell Minster (lunch on your own) |
| 13:00 Tour, Southwell Minster (optional) |
