Beauty Through Faith: Rocky Mountain Conference

Name: Beauty Through Faith: Rocky Mountain Conference
Start: 2025-09-26T19:00:00-06:00
End: 2025-09-27T17:30:00-06:00
Location: Fort Collins High School

Schedule

Fri, 26 Sep, 2025 at 07:00 pm to Sat, 27 Sep, 2025 at 05:30 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Fort Collins High School | Fort Collins, CO

Our conferences are where our mission to bring the living voice of the Church, spoken through art, can be best experienced. We are planning a rich and varied time together beginning Friday at 7P and finishing Saturday at 5P. We will share time together with Dr. Junius Johnson, pianist Dr. Paul Barnes, violinist Teimuraz Janikashvili, Fr. Jeromie Rand, Brian Brown, vocal ensemble Attuned, and the music of composer N. Lincoln Hanks. Throughout the day, we will have space for ad hoc interaction with each other to explore and encourage each other. It will be a rare space for diving in the life of Beauty with others. We will be at Fort Collins High School in the McNeal Auditorium and are looking forward to having you join us!
Register here - https://kalosarts.org/store/p/2025-beauty-through-faith-conference
General Admission - $150 (Early-bird before Aug 24 - $120)
College Students with ID - $95
Children under 18 accompanied by a General Admission ticketholder - $75

Conference Program
Friday, September 26, 2025 - 7:30p - 10p
Beholding Beauty -Dr. Junius Johnson with Dr. Paul Barnes at the piano. The first truth of our being is that we are creatures. And it is proper to creatures to receive: from their world, from one another, and above all from their Creator. A properly human disposition is one that is well tuned to receiving the gifts of grace. In this talk we will explore what that looks like, and how it grounds the way we approach beauty as presented through art.

Saturday, September 27, 2025 - 8:30a - 5:30p
Beauty in the Church - Fr. Jeromie Rand. You were made for beauty. The story of God’s relationship with humanity begins and ends with beauty—with creation and new creation and union with God himself. Knowing we are destined for this good end, how can the gift of beauty in our present age prepare us for the age to come?
Finding Beauty in the Verbal Arts - Joffre Swait . Humanity’s first words, as recorded in Scripture, were a poem, arranged for beauty as much as for truth and goodness. The world itself came into being as it was spoken. The cosmos of things depends upon the very word of God. Here we are, special speaking animals made in the image of God, tongues afire, called to create. What could be more foundational to the craft of beauty than the exercise of speech? The spoken arts call to each of us; we are all word-wielders. We may not all be poets, but since we must speak, and we must pursue beauty, we must all learn to speak poetically. In this session, we will exercise tongue and pen with each other, seeking in word and deed to uncork our poetic potential to the glory of God. Come, Holy Spirit!
Daniel and the Art of Courage - Donald Petrille. Society is polarized. We talk at each other, rather than to each other. As our society strays from its Judeo-Christian roots, we are losing our common foundations, and along with it shared morality and mutual standards of goodness. We are descending into narrow subcultures. At the same time, Christians are becoming unsure of their role as leaders in this increasingly secular society. The prophet Daniel serves as an example to us how to deftly navigate power systems, naysayers and adversaries. Daniel’s ability to serve pagan kings while staying true to his faith serves as a model for how we can stand for truth and beauty inside and outside the church
Toward Illumination: Piano Works Inspired by Byzantine Chant - Dr. Paul Barnes. Dr. Barnes explores his many recent commissions of piano works based on Byzantine Chant. Exploring the penetration of spiritual beauty with music, works by Philip Glass, Victoria Bond, JAC Redford, and N. Lincoln Hanks will be discussed. Barnes who serves as the head chanter of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Lincoln Nebraska will also chant all of the hymns upon which the new works are based..
Finding Beauty in the Visual Arts - Matthew McHugh. Is artistic beauty purely in the eye of the beholder, or are there tangible components that contribute to an artwork’s beauty? In this session led by Matthew McHugh, we will explore methods of interpreting visual and conceptual traits in art. McHugh will also present some of his large-scale drawings and paintings that explore the connections between the book of Ecclesiastes and the history of artistic creation.
Encountering Beauty - Dr. Junius Johnson. Beauty is the great danger that besets our existence, that which has the power to commandeer everything about our lives and forbid any return to who we were. And yet there is no fleeing from this danger, for it stands at the end of history to confront each one of us and demand an account. And so, if we would live well, we must confront this beauty and its deep demands on us. In doing so, we will find surprising wellsprings of strength and blessing.
Beauty Isn't Optional: Your Role in God's Cosmic Chorus - (Brian Brown). “Beauty isn’t for me. I’m not an artist, I’m not qualified, I don’t have the leisure time, that’s my wife’s thing.” We know somebody ought to do something about beauty, but we tell ourselves a lot of stories to convince ourselves it’s not us. And that is exactly how the Enemy wants it. But what if “it is the deeds of ordinary people that keep the darkness at bay? What if there were a way for ordinary people, through ordinary things, to participate in the life of Christ and the building of His Church? In this session, we’ll take the theological vision of this weekend and bring it to the dinner table, the workplace, the backyard, and the small group–and leave with a door open further up and further in.
Part-singing workshop - Attuned. Here’s an opportunity to stretch your legs and your lungs and join with other conference attendees in song. It is a time to bring your full embodied person into the pursuit of beauty together with others. Vocalists from Attuned will teach the voice parts to a handful of well-known hymns. If you’ve never had the opportunity to sing a part in harmony with others, you won’t want to miss this special ‘hands-on’ session.
Panel discussion - Now What? - All Speakers. Join this roundtable discussion with all of our speakers to engage in a conversation on how to bring Beauty into our lives. Executive Director Gustav Hoyer will moderate this panel discussion. Bring your questions and ideas for an enriching time together.
4P - Closing Concert - Dr Paul Barnes, Teimuraz Janikashvilli, Dr. Junius Johnson, Attuned