Awake. Love. Think. Speak:
Language, Ikon and Creativity in a Discordant World
Cameron J. Anderson
Associate Director
Upper House
University of Wisconsin
Cam is currently serving at Upper House, a Christian Study Center located within the rich environment of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, WI. In this season of life, he is excited to have this opportunity to serve and lead in arenas where his passion burns most bright – art and culture, spiritual formation, and the rich environment of a university campus. Formerly, Cam completed a ten-year term as the Executive Director of CIVA | Christians in the Visual Arts. Earlier in his career, he served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, devoting much of his time as National Director of InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries.
In 2016, his book, The Faithful Artist: A Vision for Evangelicalism and the Arts, was published by IVP Academic as a volume in their prestigious series Studies in Theology and the Arts.
His most recent book, God in the Modern Wing: Viewing Art with Eyes of Faith, 2021, seeks to answer these questions: “Should Christians even bother with the modern wing at the art museum? After all, modern art and artists are often caricatured as rabidly opposed to God, the church—indeed, to faith of any kind. But is that all there is to the story?” Cam and his co-editor, G. Walter Hansen, gather the reflections of artists, art historians, and theologians who collectively offer a more complicated narrative of the history of modern art and its place in the Christian life. Here, readers will find insights on the work and faith of artists including Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and more. (Special note: Cam has generously arranged for each of our CSLSC conference registrants to receive a free copy of God in the Modern Wing.)
Cam holds a B.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He completed post-graduate coursework in Art History and Aesthetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and his wife, Cynthia (C.K.), have two adult children, two grandchildren, and a cocker spaniel named Seamus. They have resided in Madison, Wisconsin since 1986.
Steven A. Beebe
Professor Emeritus,
Texas State University
Scholar, Author, Editor
Dr. Steven A. Beebe made international headlines when conducting research at Oxford University when he discovered an unpublished manuscript written by C. S. Lewis that was the partial opening chapter of a book that was to be co-authored with J. R. R. Tolkien called Language and Human Nature. In 2016 and 2019 he also discovered unknown and unpublished poems by Lewis in the Oxford University Bodleian Library.
His newest book, C.S. Lewis and the Craft of Communication (2020), is the result of thoroughly researching and then analyzing Lewis’s communication skill. (Without revealing the spoiler, we at the C.S. Lewis Study Center invite you to explore “HI TEA” with Dr. Beebe in June.)
A true Anglophile, Dr. Beebe has been a Visiting Scholar at both Oxford University and Cambridge University and was elected a permanent member of the Common Room of Wolfson College, Oxford University. Steve has given lectures and conference presentations throughout Europe, Asia, and Central America and has made fifteen visits to Russia where he has helped to establish the first communication studies programs there.
He is author and co-author of fourteen books that have been used at hundreds of colleges and universities (including international, Canadian, Russian and Chinese editions) by several million students throughout the world. He has written more than 60 articles for publications such as Communication Education, Human Communication, Communication Research Reports, and several Russian academic journals.
Note: All registrants and attendees of the conference will be able to order C.S. Lewis and the Craft of Communication at a significant discount, thanks to the generosity of Dr. Beebe and his publisher, Peter Lang, Inc. You will receive a registration confirmation and the discount code a few days following your registration.
Brad Davis
Poet
Priest
Poet Brad Davis was born in San Diego, California. He is the author of seven collections, including Trespassing on the Mount of Olives (2021), Song of the Drunkards (2007), Opening King David (2011), and Still Working it Out (2014). He has two chapbooks: Short List of Wonders (2005), winner of the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, and Self Portrait w/ Disposable Camera (2012). Davis’s poems have appeared in Poetry magazine, Paris Review, Michigan Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Brilliant Corners, Image, LETTERS, Presence, and many other journals. In 2012, he edited the anthology Sunken Garden Poetry: 1992-2011 for Hill-Stead Museum, home of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.
Davis served as an Episcopal priest for 25 years and a boarding school chaplain/teacher for 33 years. He was also the first director of educational programming (and poet-in-residence) for Sylvester Manor Educational Farm on Shelter Island, NY. He has taught creative writing at two universities (College of Holy Cross, Eastern Connecticut State University) and two boarding schools (Pomfret School, Stony Brook School). He earned an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He now lives in Putnam, Connecticut, with his spouse, Deb.
Margaret I. Hughes
Tutor
Thomas Aquinas College –
New England
A native of Connecticut, Dr. Hughes is a graduate of the University of Chicago. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy at Fordham University, where she taught undergraduate philosophy, and then served for six years at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in New York. She is now a tutor at Thomas Aquinas College – New England.
Her interests run both broad and deep, as might be observed in the titles of some of her publications and presentations:
- “Josef Pieper and the Beautiful Uselessness of Church Buildings.” Journal of Sacred Architecture, Winter 2016 (30).
- “Humor, Hope, and the Human Being.” Thomas Aquinas: Teacher of Humanity. ed. John P. Hittinger. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2015.
- “Teaching the Antepenultimate Cantos of the Divine Comedy: The Dilemma of Not Moving.” Pedagogy. October 2017 (17:3).
- “There Will Be Dancing at the Wedding: Music, Dance – but not Art? – at the Heavenly Banquet.” Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Fall Conference, South Bend, IN. November 2016.
- “The Love of Beauty and the Pursuit of Excellence: What Plato’s Phaedrus Teaches about Teaching.” The Quest for Excellence: Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Core Texts. ed. Dustin Gish, Chris Constas, and J. Scott Lee. Lanham, MD: Hamilton Books. 2016.
Jasmine Myers
CEo, Still Small Theatre
Playwright, actor, composer
Jasmine is CEO, co-founder, and self-described “piratical maid-of-all-work” for Still Small Theatre, a troupe based in the Boston area and reaching out to churches and community groups throughout New England. Jasmine is a writer, composer, director, actor, producer, stage manager, costumer, and llama farmer.
Most recently, Jasmine and her troupe premiered a movie adaptation of The Diary of Perpetua, adapted from the musical she wrote/composed and directed in several venues throughout the Northeast.
A graduate of Gordon College, she also serves her church in Northampton as Artist in Residence, leading worship, discipling, conducting theatre classes, and coordinating overseas ministry service projects.
Her writing and music are available on www.patreon.com/jmdmyers.
More Speaker and Artist bios to be added as available