The Eliot Society  ·  Annapolis, Maryland  ·  Est. 2017

Enriching the church and fostering spiritual formation through the arts

Our events support local artists and provide opportunities for people to enjoy and interact with creative works from various disciplines and eras. Here, in community, believers explore the ways beauty shapes faith and faith shapes art making.

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Watercolor: a windswept tree leaning in a blizzardWatercolor: a cottage with lit windows in a snowy woodWatercolor: a rooster weathervane silhouetted against the moonWatercolor: three glowing mock suns over a dark horizonWatercolor: a lone fir tree in falling snow
From the Winterreise commission — twenty-four watercolors by Betsy Marsch, 2017

“The artistic sensibility is impoverished by its divorce from the religious sensibility, the religious by its separation from the artistic.”

T. S. Eliot — Notes towards the Definition of Culture
Chamber concertLectureArt exhibitionAudience listening

Our Programs

Artists Fellowship

A community of Christian artists working across a wide range of creative disciplines — writers, poets, painters, photographers, dancers, songwriters, actors, and more — meeting for fellowship, encouragement, and collaboration.

Lecture Series

Our annual lecture series brings in local and international speakers to help us restart long-neglected conversations about the place of aesthetics in Church culture, and the Christian in secular culture.

Living Room Series

Throughout the year we host more intimate community events, such as house concerts, poetry readings, discussion groups, and other special events.

A kintsugi bowl, its cracks mended with gold

Workshops

Occasional hands-on afternoons led by working artists — kintsugi, linocut printmaking, and more. All skill levels welcome; materials provided.

The Winterreise Commission

For one winter evening in 2018, Schubert’s song cycle was sung beside a newly commissioned cycle of paintings — new art, made for our community.

The Eliot Society commissioned artist Betsy Marsch to create twenty-four watercolors, one for each song of Schubert’s Winterreise. Performed by tenor Robert Petillo and pianist Todd Fickley, each song was accompanied by its painting, projected above the stage — then discussed with the artist afterward.

The full cycle, in song order:

1 · Good Night (Gute Nacht)
2 · The Weathervane (Die Wetterfahne)
3 · Frozen Tears (Gefror’ne Tränen)
4 · Numbness (Erstarrung)
5 · The Linden Tree (Der Lindenbaum)
6 · Flood (Wasserflut)
7 · On the River (Auf dem Flusse)
8 · A Backward Glance (Rückblick)
9 · Will-o’-the-Wisp (Irrlicht)
10 · Rest (Rast)
11 · A Dream of Spring (Frühlingstraum)
12 · Loneliness (Einsamkeit)
13 · The Post (Die Post)
14 · The Grey Head (Der greise Kopf)
15 · The Crow (Die Krähe)
16 · Last Hope (Letzte Hoffnung)
17 · In the Village (Im Dorfe)
18 · The Stormy Morning (Der stürmische Morgen)
19 · Illusion (Täuschung)
20 · The Signpost (Der Wegweiser)
21 · The Inn (Das Wirtshaus)
22 · Courage (Mut)
23 · The Mock Suns (Die Nebensonnen)
24 · The Hurdy-Gurdy Man (Der Leiermann)

Upcoming Events

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Our fall season is taking shape now. Join the email list below and we’ll let you know the moment tickets open.

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From Past Seasons

Video of many of our past lecture series events — from Ken Myers’ inaugural lecture to recent evenings on medieval art, jazz, and poetry — can be found on our YouTube channel.

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“Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”

T. S. Eliot — Burnt Norton

The Still Point

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Subscribe to our email list and follow us on social media to stay up-to-date with event announcements and other news. Subscribers receive The Still Point, our monthly e-digest — a poem, a visual artwork, links of interest from around the web, and more.