I live on a street with a fair number of retired couples who like to garden. These faithful tenders have spent time planting, weeding, pruning, and watering; consequently, purple petunias, yellow pansies, and pink roses greet me when I walk around my neighborhood.
Unexpectedly, I'm also encountering a springtime of arts on my computer screen, with beautiful and free material blossoming from well-nurtured places!
With my home full of makers (artists, poets, sword-fighters, and writers) I have particularly appreciated these talks about our role as creators. Perhaps you will find one to nourish your soul or inspire your own art!
Heidi White gives a humble and inspiring talk: "Finding our Place in the Larger Story" from the Redeeming our Imagination conference for artists. After I watched it, I decided to share it with my children, and my teens appreciated it too. Afterwards one said, "I just got inspired on how to start my next science fiction!" and the other admitted, "I feel like I need to put more effort into my drawings." My littlest guy (8 yo) spent most of the talk wiggling around on the floor, so maybe he is a little young to appreciate it, but he did note the references to patterns that repeat across stories, and shared a connection between Zaine in his Lego Ninjago book and Martin the warrior mouse from the Redwall book Legends of Luke.
S.D. Smith, author of our beloved Green Ember series, shares this talk: "Tolkien Can't Write Like Me" from the same conference. I haven't listened yet, but the title reminds me of his Q&A from the Hope*Writers workshop that I listened to a few weeks ago. Like Heidi, he emphasizes the need for humility and writing as a servant, out of love for the readers, as opposed to writing to be awesome. I look forward to watching this later.
The next two talks are from Dn. Nicholas Kotar, author of the epic fantasy Raven Son series. My older teen and I really liked this series that has been described as "Lord of the Rings meets 1984." Ha! The first talk is a zoom meeting sponsored by St. Raphael School and Ancient Faith Ministries. You can register join this meeting on May 4: "Don't Just Look for Good Culture: Go Make It!" His talk at the Doxamoot last year (which I heard on Amon Sul) motivated me to write a short story, and I am curious to see what he will share about Russian writer and philosopher Ivan Ilyin in this talk. The other interview with Dn. Nicholas Kotar looks like it will share many of the same ideas: "The Vocation of the Sub-creator" from the podcast Good Guys Wear Black.
These are the opportunities that have just sprung up this past week, but beautiful art is everywhere.
Have you tried the first opera in Wagner's Ring Series that inspired the "one ring to rule them all?" The Met Opera has a free one week trial. Das Reingold is mostly family-friendly and offers amazing set design and beautiful music. The children immediately picked up on the Lord of the Rings connections. I had never seen an opera before - what a great introduction for a Tolkien fan! I do recommend reading a summary of the scenes before watching. Operas are long! Depending on the ages of your audience, it might take you several days to watch one.
The entertaining and enlightening The Literary Life Podcast recently discussed Reading in a Time of Crisis and offers a free Handbook for Morning Time as well as an intriguing upcoming line-up of plays, novels, essays, etc.
On May 1, you can watch a ballet of Shakespeare's The Tempest on the Royal Opera House facebook page. You'll need to check to see what time 7:00 pm BST is for you! I highly recommend the free Shakespeare online course from Hillsdale College, with one of my favorite instructors, Stephen Smith, discussing Hamlet and The Tempest.
For older viewers, The Royal National Theatre is making both version of Frankenstein available for one week on youtube, April 30- May 6. Having the two actors playing Frankenstein and the monster switching roles on different nights really highlights the question: who is the real monster? Radio Read Along offers a well-done a free audio read-aloud.
Finally, I'll end with a tie-in back to Heidi White's talk. She mentions the role Anne of Green Gables played in her formation as a child. Hosts Heidi, David, and Tim discuss this novel on the Close Reads Podcast.
I know that I haven't even touched the surface of what is available. Perhaps our little tour of this spring's online art garden will inspire you to find and share other opportunities!
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