Co-presented with the Abigail Adams Institute
PRACTICAL WISDOM THROUGH THE ARTS
THE POWER OF AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE IN OUR LIVES
Weekly Wednesdays (unless noted otherwise), 6PM-7:30PM
Begins September 10, Fall Term, 6 sessions
St. Paul’s/Harvard Catholic Center, Harvard Square
Karen Bohlin, EdD, Director, Practical Wisdom Project at the Abigail Adams Institute, Harvard Human Flourishing Program
In a culture that prizes speed, productivity, and performance, this six-week seminar offers a place to pause, look closely, and engage one another in dialogue. Participants are invited into a shared aesthetic experience—reading poetry and contemplating works of art in a way that, in the words of Josef Pieper, teaches us “to learn to see again.” Together, we’ll consider what it means to be phenomenologically present to a work of art. Drawing on poetry from Chaucer to Langston Hughes and artists such as Brueghel and Rembrandt—and taking advantage of some of the unexpected places we find art right here in Harvard Square—we’ll ask how the arts might deepen our attention, enlarge our understanding of the human condition, and perhaps even make us more capable of wise and wholehearted engagement with the world. Dinner provided.
OPEN TO BOSTON AREA UNDERGRAD/GRAD/YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
IN-PERSON ONLY
Edgar Degas, Visit to a Museum, oil on canvas painting, c. 1879-1890, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
This course is supported by a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #63614).