How Do We Develop the Cultural Sensibilities of Children?

I am regularly asked by parents how they can teach an appreciation of good traditional art to their children. One father recently went further than that and asked me if there was anything I could do to unculturate them in such a way that their sensibilities are in tune with a catholic culture in its broadest sense. These are the  ideas that I offered to him as personal thoughts. I do not have a family so cannot say that I have direct experience of this. 1. All traditional training in art involves drawing

How Knowing About Traditional Proportion Helped a Young Architect Move Forward in His Career

An architecture student who attended a drawing class in last summer’s the Way of Beauty program at Thomas More College tells how what he learnt about traditional proportion has improved his designs and enabled him to get a prestigious scholarship.… Read More

Should an artist copy from photographs?

Does the means invalidate the end? Shortly after moving the US I was contacted by someone I knew when I was studying if Florence. When I was in Florence Martinho Correia had been teaching the academic method at one of the ateliers in Florence. He contacted me because he had just converted to Catholicism and was keen to tell me about it. It was good to hear from him, especially with such good news! More recently Martinho told me about a two-week course he was

How to Compose Sacred Music that is New but Conforms to Tradition by Paul Jernberg

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A composer tells us his approach in composing works that are fresh and new, while reflecting the timeless principles that constitute sacred music. Listen also to his beautiful newly composed Mass. 
The following is an essay written by the composer… Read More

Liturgy, Anthropology, Economics and Work

It seems at first an unlikely connection but it is made directly in a book called the Wellspring of Worship, by Jean Corbon. I read it because I heard Scott Hahn recommend it recently. It was Hahn’s excellent book the Lamb’s Supper which first made clear to me how the Book of Revelation relates the heavenly and earthly liturgy to each other and first opened the door to a sense of the cosmic dimension of the liturgy upon which so much of

What Makes Music Sacred? by Paul Jernberg

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A composer tells us his approach in composing works that are fresh and new, while reflecting the timeless principles that constitute sacred music. Listen also to his beautiful newly composed Mass.  The following is an essay written by the composer Paul Jernberg. Paul has composed his Mass of St Philip Neri for the new translation of the Mass. In the essay below he discusses the principles that guide him in composition and which enable him to compose new music in accordance with timeless principles. We have been singing his

The ‘Fiveness’ of Mary – Is it Genuine?

How do we authenticate traditional number symbolism? I was recently asked to contribute an icon to an exhibition. The exhibition is about ‘the Blessed Virgin Mary and the number five’. The promotional flier lists examples of how the number five is associated with the Virgin Mary. For example, one of her titles is Morning Star, which is the planet Venus and this links to five because the planet Venus traces a path across the sky that has a fivefold symmetry. The Lady Chapel at Wells Cathedral, it said, has a shape that constitutes three

A Traditional Western Icon – from the Rheinau Psalter

How we might re-establish Catholic traditionsin sacred art After my references to Western icons and also my assertion of the importance of re-establishing the gothic style as living traditions, people have been asking me to give examples of the images I am talking about. I am going to do a regular series of features of such examples in order to promote these styles. My hope is that we in the West will follow the remarkable work of the Russians

Beauty and Superabundance in Business

Consider two musical notes. They can be played separately, but when heard simultaneously something profound happens. Without destroying the integrity of each individual note, a new third entity has been created – a chord. What is interesting about the chord… Read More

Upcoming Event: I am speaking in Portland, Oregon on May 3rd

Our Lady of Peace Retreat Centre, Beaverton, OR; May 3, 7pm. Details here. If any are interested in hearing me speak about the Way of Beauty, then please come along, I would love to see you there. The talk will focus on the themes that I have mentioned before – Catholic culture, liturgy and family: the Mass is a jewel in its setting which is the Liturgy of the Hours;  Liturgy (with the Eucharist at its centre) is a jewel in its setting, which is the cosmos. The cosmos reflects the

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About David Clayton

David Clayton

The Way of Beauty is managed, maintained, and, unless otherwise stated, written by David Clayton. David is an Englishman living in New Hampshire, USA. He is an artist, teacher, published writer and broadcaster who holds a permanent post as Artist-in-Residence and Lecturer in Liberal Arts at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. The Way of Beauty program, which is offered at TMC, focuses on the link between Catholic culture, with a special emphasis on art, and the liturgy. David was received into the Church in London in 1993.