This year the Sunstone Symposium is going digital, July 29-August 2. You can participate in over 100 different presentations, and connect with Mormons from across the Restoration Spectrum.Here are some literature and arts-related panels and presentations.
The ARCH-HIVE, a collective of eclectic Mormon artists, presents a panel on the struggles & successes of Mormon art in the past, present, and future. From the orthodox to the esoteric, the official to the underground, Mormon and Mormon-adjacent artists have used art of all forms to express their feelings on spirituality, the divine, and even Mormon culture itself. In this panel, a diverse roster of artists and scholars of Mormon arts will discuss topics including artistic license vs. orthodoxy, media and cultural taboos, current trends, the future of art in Mormondom, and what our artwork tells us about ourselves.
Speakers: Emily Larsen (Springville Museum of Art, Head of Exhibitions and Programs), Mattathias Westwood (AML board), Michael Austin, LAZERos (Laz), Nathan Florence,Camilla Stark.
162 – A Faith Journey through the Music of Mumford and Sons
Thursday, July 30th, 3:25pm-4:25pm
Come experience the highs and lows of a faith journey through the music and lyrics of Mumford and Sons. Some songs capture the feelings of a relationship that works for a time, as you purely hold on to your truth. Others talk about something that calls you away from this first truth, and you become lost. Others speak of the need for someone who can see your pain and find no fault, giving you space to show your weakness. Others talk about finding strength in pain so that you can see a new path, and emerge from your cave to live your life as it is meant to be lived — your soul totally free. “Awake my soul!”
Speaker: Ryan Pence
236 – Folksong of the Fringe: David HarrisFriday, July 31st, 11:20 am-12:20pm
Since my teenage years, I’ve been interested in songwriting as a way to document my experiences. Religion was a big part of my life in my early years while growing up in a Mormon family and serving a mission in the early 1980s. Faith, doubt, rebellion, heresy, mysticism, ecumenicism and universalism all have their expression in my songs. I studied music composition at BYU, and I’ve written instrumental music for small ensembles and also worship music, such as hymn arrangements and choral music, but only my songs will be featured in this session.
Performer: David Harris
272 – Does God Care about Aesthetics?: A Dialogue
Friday, July 31st, 4:50pm-6:20pm
Will heavenly beings go to services in a grand church like Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia or something akin to the Provo Temple? Will such a building be adorned with Rafael’s paintings or propagandistic illustrations by Mormon artist Jon McNaughton? Will the Telestial Kingdom hear only Muzak while Celestial Choirs inspire with the Hallelujah Chorus? Bob Rees will argue that God inspires great art of all kinds, while Clifton Jolley will argue that aesthetically superior expressions have little to do with glory. Is there anything in Mormon theology suggesting a celestial or heavenly aesthetic such as Rees imagines and Jolley argues against?
274 – Grief & Gratitude in Poetry: A Reading of Signature Books PoetsFriday, July 31st, 4:50pm-6:20pm
Signature Books has a rich history of publishing high quality poetry from a broad range of Mormon poets. In this reading, poets published by Signature over the past 25 years will gather together to read poems of grief and gratitude.
Speakers: Dayna Patterson, Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, Lisa Bickmore (Salt Lake Community College, Professor), Susan Elizabeth Howe, Warren Scott Hatch
275 – LDS Artists of Color: An IntroductionFriday, July 31st, 4:50pm-6:20pm
The future of Mormon art, like the future of the Mormon people, lies with its global, diverse, and multicultural population. This session highlights the work of five women of color whose work is transforming the landscape of Mormon visual art. All of these artists invite and challenge questions about culture and faith.
322 – “They have lost their love”: Grief and Tragedy in the Book of Mormon
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This paper examines the grief Moroni expresses at the conclusion of the Book of Mormon and argues that it renders the work as a whole a tragedy, as the term is defined by the philosopher Stanley Cavell. Cavell suggests in several works that tragedy is closely associated with both alienation and skepticism, that it is “a refusal to know or to be known, an avoidance of acknowledgement.” I apply Cavell’s definition of tragedy to the books of Ether and Moroni in order to explain both the actions of the Jaredites and the grief that Moroni feels as he witnesses and records the Nephites’ destruction .
Speaker: Gary Ettari
355 – Mormon Women in Art: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going
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Mormon art sometimes places women in submissive, peripheral, secondary roles. The explosion of art by Mormon women in the last decade has changed that. This session will address how social media has made space for women without traditional representation or financial backing to form successful careers in the arts. We will discuss how Mormon women of color are creating art that mixes their family culture with doctrine, creating results that look very different from what we typically see on our church building walls.
361 – PLAN 10 FROM OUTER SPACE — 25th Anniversary Screening and Q & A with Trent HarrisSaturday, August 1, 3:25pm-4:25pm
PLAN 10 FROM OUTERSPACE, described as “Nancy Drew on acid,” is a science fiction mystery movie based on Mormon history and symbolism. It stars Karen Black and Stefene Russell. Premiering at Sundance, PLAN 10 has become a Mormon cult classic.
Watch PLAN 10 at the recorded video link below before Saturday, August 1st! This session will be a live Q & A with PLAN 10’s director Trent Harris.
Watch PLAN 10 at the recorded video link below before Saturday, August 1st! This session will be a live Q & A with PLAN 10’s director Trent Harris.
364 – The First Vision in Poetry
Saturday, August 1, 3:25pm-4:25pm
Two hundred years ago Joseph Smith walked into the woods near his family farm and experienced the founding vision of the Restoration. While theologians and scholars have debated the veracity and contours of Joseph’s theophany, painters and poets have attempted to capture its essence in pigment and verse. This session presents examples of both visual and verbal expressions that have attempted to capture what happened on that spring day in 1820 when the heavens were opened to usher in the Last Dispensation. We will include examples of Latter-day Saint art and readings of Latter-day Saint poetry.
372 – Could Addressing the Gender of God Help Heal the World? Carol Lynn PearsonSaturday, August 1, 4:50pm-6:20pm
What if it never was intended that in the heavens there be a near-total eclipse of the Female Divine? What if half of God has been continually present but not accounted for? What if the disappearance of the Mother from history and from religion is not a cold case but can be cracked wide open? What if we Latter-day Saints have a rare opportunity and obligation never again to propose the nebulous claim that somehow, hidden, there’s a Mother there—but to firmly declare that there’s a Mother—there—here—and now—taking Her place at the Family Table in absolute and divine Partnership with the Father? Let’s talk about it. And let’s share some of the radical poems in my soon to be released book, Finding Mother God: Poems to Heal the World.
Speaker: Carol Lynn Pearson
373 – A Reading by BCC Press’s Newest Authors
Saturday, August 1, 4:50pm-6:20pm
This session wil feature three of BCC Press’s newest authors reading from their work. Twila Newey will read from her novel, Sylvia, which explores faith and family when four sisters come together as adults when their mother, and the matriarch of their extended Mormon family, dies suddenly in an automobile accident. Melody Newey Johnson will read from her book An Imperfect Roundness, a collection of poetry that explores the lived experience of womanhood, motherhood, aging, loss, and healing through spiritual inquiry grounded in faith and in the natural world. And Dr. Fatimah Salleh will read from The Book of Mormon for the Least of These—her bestselling book, co-authored with Margaret Olsen Hemming. It explores the social justice undercurrents in the Book of Mormon and casts it, in a verse-by-verse close reading, as a book that speaks directly to issues of racism, sexism, immigration, refugees, and socioeconomic inequality. Michael Austin, publication director at BCC Press, will give a brief introduction to the philosophy and mission of the press.
Sunstone is currently offering single session tickets for $10, available through 5 p.m. MDT this Wednesday, July 29th. You can follow this and select single session tickets. Or you can pay $75 and have access to the full symposium.
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Crap. I wished I’d seen this earlier. I signed up for some single sessions and missed a couple I would have happily paid for.