Read about Mary Favro's lecture series during Education Week 2023.
Education Week at BYU lasted from August 21 to 25, 2023. Ensign College professor Mary Favro (Art History, Women's History) gave a series of lectures about how the humanities help us live well.
From Wintering to Flourishing
By Lauren Walker
A flourishing relationship with Christ looks much like a lush garden. Just as a garden requires time and care, our relationship with Christ only thrives when we prioritize our spiritual growth and effort. In her August 22 Education Week lecture, Mary Favro expressed her appreciation for artistic gardens and how they help her understand how to carefully cultivate a gospel-centered life.
Favro noted that gardens historically allude to a flourishing life and shared photos of some of the most beautiful gardens in history, including Mesopotamian paradise gardens, Spanish Islamic gardens, and Jewel Changi Airport’s garden in Singapore. Each location required diligent care to create thriving ecosystems, and so our testimonies require deliberate cultivation and effort. Favro said, “Flourishing means building habits and practices that enable you to make good decisions.”
But even some of the most successful gardens don’t thrive all year long. Favro mentioned Katherine May’s book Wintering, which uses winter as a metaphor for difficult life seasons. These challenging times require adapting, preparing, and finding strength in the cyclical nature of life. But God will never leave us during these trying times. Favro quoted Isaiah, saying, “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Finding happiness and fulfillment requires embracing suffering as part of growing and turning toward God.
Our lives will never be void of challenges and struggles. But despite these hardships, our spiritual relationship can flourish. Mary Favro concluded, "Flourishing is having this knowledge of God's love at the forefront of our minds and having a living relationship with Him and His son, as we make our way through mortality.”
Seek Wonder, Invite Inspiration
By Emma Farnsworth
“What does it mean to live well, flourish, and thrive?” asked Mary Favro during her Wednesday Education Week class. The answer she offered? To seek wonder. In her presentation, Favro explored how curiosity can open our eyes to the wonders of the world and the arts, which, in turn, builds resilience and invites inspiration into our lives.
Favro shared stories about several individuals who continued to seek wonder in their lives, even as they faced challenges. Some of the individuals she highlighted included children’s author Pablo Neruda, renowned fossil hunter Mary Anning, and artists John Singer Sargent and Alma Thomas. Each of these individuals saw past the roadblocks in their paths and, in Favro’s words, “operated with vision and resilience” by seeking out and experiencing wonder through beauty, truth, and knowledge.
Alma Thomas, for example, trained as a realist painter and spent 35 years as an art teacher. After retiring, she had a stroke and developed severe arthritis, which prevented her from painting in her usual style. She feared her career was over, but one day she noticed the beautiful light streaming through her windows—something she had previously overlooked. This moment inspired her to develop a new abstract style of mosaic-like paintings done in bright colors. This new style catapulted her to stardom, and at the age of 81, she became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City. Today, her piece titled “Resurrection” (1966) is part of the permanent collection at the White House.
Favro concluded by quoting Terryl Givens: “What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest reflection of who we are and what we love.”
Creativity Cultivates Confidence
By Emma Farnsworth
Everyone wants to feel confident, but figuring out how to obtain that confidence can be difficult, especially when self-criticism gets in the way. In her Thursday Education Week class, Mary Favro taught that exercising creativity can help people develop trust in themselves and build self-confidence.
Favro began with the observation that “It is often our own inner critic that prevents us from being creative.” She pointed out that some of the most celebrated artists, musicians, and writers started out as uncertain amateurs who had to overcome their doubts before achieving success. Her list included architect Zaha Hadid, who pushed forward with her designs, even when she feared they could not be built; poet Friedrich Schiller, who believed himself a failure but wrote a poem that inspired one of Beethoven’s greatest works; and children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter, who doubted her scientific abilities but inspired an environmental awakening in England.
Favro also shared the story of Jo van Gogh, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law. After Vincent and his brother Theo died, Jo was left with very little money and no real means to support herself. Instead, she inherited hundreds of Vincent’s paintings, which were considered worthless at the time. Despite her self-doubt and lack of business training, Jo developed creative strategies, such as pairing paintings with text from Vincent’s journals, to market his artwork. Her creativity paid off, making her a highly successful business woman and completely changing the world’s perspective on Vincent van Gogh’s artwork.
Favro concluded by describing how engaging our creativity can bring us closer to the divine Creator and help us fulfill the measure of our creation. Quoting Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Favro said, “We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.”
Time, Art, and Religion
By Garrett Gunnell
Time encompasses every aspect of our lives including our literature, art, and even our religion. In her Education Week presentation on August 25, Mary Favro explored the depiction of time in art from a spiritual perspective, explaining how our art and religion reflect the impact of time.
Favro decided to divide her subject into four parts:
- How is time depicted in the arts?
- What is the link between time, perspective, and change?
- Why is it memory important in Christianity?
- What does God want us to know about time?
As she addressed each of these questions, she presented examples of artists exploring the concept of time in art throughout history. For example, J. R. R. Tolkien addressed the concept of time in The Hobbit, where Gollum gives Bilbo a riddle about time. Favro noted that in this riddle, “time appears as a predator . . . that brings about change, even destructive change.”
Favro also demonstrated how Lin-Manuel Miranda explored time in his musical Hamilton, which revolves around the concept of memory. In the final number, the characters appear on stage reflecting on their impact on history, singing, “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” In a less modern example, Favro mentioned Dutch painter Pieter Claesz, who explored the fleeting nature of time through his still life paintings depicting wilting plants and melted candles.
Favro concluded by explaining how God uses time to teach His children. She noted how God commanded Moroni to hide the Book of Mormon so it could be brought forth in the latter days. Favro said, “God preserved records to come forth in future time to save families. Redemption for families is backwards and forwards through time.” She expressed her testimony that now is the time to prepare to meet God.