Forthcoming book chapter

My essay will be published next month in the Oxford book "Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader."

I am glad to announce that my chapter “‘Draw All Men Unto Him’: The Mormon Art and Belief Movement” will be published next month in the Oxford University Press book Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader.

Amanda Beardsley and Mason Allred did a marvellous job editing the tome, and I’m grateful to Laura Hurtado, executive director of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, who was very involved in the beginning of the project and whose research I drew upon extensively in my chapter.

Here’s the description from the publisher:

The first expert critical treatment of Mormon visual art, featuring over 200 high-quality color illustrations

Nearly every major religion has a significant artistic tradition, and religion's relationship with art—sometimes inspirational, sometimes antagonistic, often complex—has generated a substantial body of writing stretching back centuries. In its nearly two centuries of existence, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has produced, inspired, and provoked a wide range of artistic responses. Yet that artistic output has not generated a commensurate amount of critical examination.

Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader seeks to fill a substantial gap by providing a comprehensive examination of the visual art of the Latter-day Saints from the nineteenth century to the present. It defines Mormon art broadly as art by, for, or about Mormons, including work by artists who share a Latter-day Saint identity and by those with no personal attachment who have responded artistically to Mormonism.

The volume includes 22 essays by scholars from various disciplines, perspectives, and backgrounds who offer rigorous research and analysis of Latter-day Saint artistic production and culture alongside elegant reproductions of more than 200 works of Mormon art, including panorama paintings, quilts, architecture, sculpture, and cartoons, to film, gallery installations, indigenous works and more. Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader explores Mormon visual art in unprecedented breadth and depth.

My only edit would be that there are 21 essays by scholars, and then one that I penned. I imagine what applies to real estate also applies here—be the worst chapter on the best essay street.

If you’re planning to buy the book to read the really thoughtful chapters by my colleagues, let me know, and I can share a discount code.