An idea: in-depth, laser-focused mini-courses

A long deep dive into a single subject

Some of the really great works of pre-Renaissance work go almost unnoticed by many Catholics in English speaking countries. How about a long deep look at the great Ghent Altarpiece?

I thought I’d just drop a quick little post here to float an idea and run a few polls for some reader feedback. As we know I opened paid memberships a few weeks ago and I’ve been tremendously encouraged at the response so far. In just a few days we’ve gone from five paid members to 20! And the overall number of subscriptions has been climbing steadily. I really do want to thank those who have voted with their wallets, so to speak, and it has helped in more ways than just material.

It really does help reinforce my hope that this whole project is going to be useful to people and it confirms very much the idea that good art is to the human soul and mind as good food is to the body. It’s something we need, and very urgently, especially given what’s going on in the world.

My general plan for the division between paid and free posts is to simply go deep in the paid section. Where we keep things broad and general in the free section, talking about more sweeping philosophical and historical issues, with the camera pulled back, in the paid we’ll go more in-depth and laser-focused, more details and background. I think this makes sense because if you have a more casual or general interest in our subject, Christian sacred art, you’ll be happy with the broader view. But if you’re enough of a keener to have paid for a membership, you probably have already picked up the general gist and want to go into more detail.

And for these keeners I’ve had an absolutely brill idea: short courses. Intensive deep-dive looks at a single work or topic.

It’s been a bit of a frustration to me that I have to do so much editing and simplification, shortening and leaving out so much detail, that I find fascinating but I think would overwhelm a more general audience, and create posts of impossible length. But with a course package, there’s no limit to the number of images or the details to pack in. The more the better.

Portinari Triptych (detail). There’s a lot more to be said.

Little mini package online courses that will let you drill deep down into a single laser-focus topic. Like, a close examination of a single work of art, like the Portinari Triptych that we’ve already taken a short look at. Or an in depth look at one of the great Romanesque monasteries, architecture and history.

Or how about that Ghent Altarpiece?

These could go on their own or as supplements for the larger course as we go along.

I think we really suffer from the short attention span problem. A work like the Ghent Altarpiece, for example, is a rich and deep well of meaning and beauty, something worth really getting to know, but we can only spare it a few minutes? We don’t really even have much chance to know a work when we go on holiday in Europe and make a point to see it. You can’t look at it with a long and steady gaze as you could if you attended Mass every week or every day in a church where it hangs above the altar.

Guido Reni. Trinity. Altarpiece at the parish of Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini, Rome.

I spent years simply gazing at the great Guido Reni painting of the Trinity at my parish in Rome, and it was like getting to know a person. I would like to help people get that kind of depth, that kind of intimacy, in their knowledge of art, the kind that can change a person.

These mini courses could be created on some course platform like Podia and linked to the posts in the paid section, and sold separately in my ko-fi shop as “digital products,” with downloadable supplemental pdf materials (high res images, etc) linked directly in the body of the Substack post.

With this idea in mind, I’ve spent the evening looking at ways to create “faceless” videos, that is, video content that isn’t me talking into a camera (<shudder>) but a close look at the images themselves with a voiceover. It’s a whole nother set of skills - I’ve never really made serious video content before - but it looks like there’s a lot of support out there to get started. I can definitely figure this out.

What do we think? Let me know in the comments.