Anyone can make a religious object: undoing spirituality and contemporary art

ABSTRACT

The spiritual dimensions of art and education have been explored for their potential to offer different ways of understanding or representing knowledge and their potential to inspire transcendence or cultivate wholeness. This article examines connections between transcendent or sacred territories of human existence, teaching, and contemporary art. Experiences of walking in the Himalayan mountains with Tibetan Buddhist monks, conversing with rabbis in Jerusalem, and teaching in state school classrooms are used to illustrate connections between education, spirituality, religion, and contemporary art. We seek to understand how the spiritual dimensions of education and contemporary art could be understood through the lenses of different spiritual traditions and cultures.

KEYWORDS:

• Holiness
• sacred
• religious education
• sacred education
• contemporary art

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark A. Graham

Mark Graham is a professor in the Art Department at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and an internationally known illustrator of children's picture books. His research interests include teacher education, place-based education, graphic novels, ecological/holistic education, secondary art education, STEAM education, and Himalayan art.

Clark Goldsberry

Clark Goldsberry is a photographer and designer based in Provo, Utah. He works as a secondary school art teacher in the Alpine School District and is affiliated with Concordia University in Quebec.

Isaac Calvert

Isaac Calvert is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership in the McKay School of Education of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. His research focuses on the way different cultures and religions treat teaching and learning as a sacred activity.

CORRESPONDENCE: Mark Graham, 3116 B JKB Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.