Spiritual Journey Project

Religion teachers Lara Freeman and Jonathan Ogle combine art and spirituality in their Quakerism course in the Spiritual Journey Project. For this project, students create an artistic representation of their spiritual identity. In this Quakerism course—an Upper School requirement—students are asked to reflect on their own relationship with spirituality and religion and consider the influences on their lives that have shaped the identity and beliefs they claim or are exploring at this point in time. “We invite them to see themselves as more than just embracing or rejecting a particular label, but as a unique person engaged in figuring out what spirituality and religion mean to them and how they see the world,” shares Ogle. “There are so many pressures in our society that either dictate specific ways to talk about these things, or work against talking about our spiritual and religious lives at all. The collage project moves students out of the usual verbal modes of communication and forces them to engage with these questions in an unaccustomed way that is often unexpectedly revealing to them in their understanding of themselves, as well as creating interesting, varied visual expressions of parts of their inner lives that are often hidden.” 

For the Spiritual Journey Project (an idea first shared with Ogle by fellow religion teacher Tom Hoopes of George School), students create a 2D collage or 3D sculpture that depicts their spiritual identity at this moment of their journey thus far. Ogle and Freeman ask students to consider: Have your beliefs changed or what is your perspective on them? What do you focus on? What are your questions? What people and experiences have influenced your your journey?  At the conclusion of the project, students presented their art and shared their journeys with the class. “Another purpose of the project is to open a space of curiosity about the diversity of ways their peers have experienced and are thinking about these topics,” continues Ogle. “It’s much more comfortable to ask someone, ‘Can you explain what that green yarn in the corner represents?’ than to say, ‘Tell me what you believe.’ It’s more comfortable to answer, too. Through this, and other activities, we want students to develop more skill and comfort living in a world and in communities where people may openly have many different relationships with spirituality and religion. This project can set the stage for more open, authentic conversations in class as the year goes on. That skill and comfort can be transformative in the communities they will live and work in throughout their lives, including Westtown.”