art history af patreon membership benefits
Monthly Members-Only Talks by Brenda Edgar
Art History AF is Brenda Edgar’s new members-only space for the bizarre, the secret, the unpublishable, the fascinating, the “I can’t say this in a classroom” material. Talks, posts, peeks behind the scholarly curtain, and deep dives into everything strange and wonderful that doesn’t fit anywhere else. This is your opportunity to be there from the very beginning! JOIN FREE THROUGH MARCH 15, 2026! After that, AHAF is just $10/month, and you can cancel at any time.
Hard Launch! Erotic Mysticism and Christian Desire
Thursday, April 2, 2026 @ 7:00 PM
In the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods, mystics wrote of God with the language of hunger, sweetness, melting, wounds, kisses, milk, fire, and longing. Artists followed — and sometimes led — with imagery that is intimate, startling, and profoundly embodied.
This one-hour, adults-only talk explores the strange, sensual, and often hidden world of medieval ecstatic experience.
Relic Theft, Holy and Otherwise
Thursday, May 7, 2026 @ 7:00 PM
Relics were priceless — so of course, people stole them. Monks, merchants, crusaders, and entire towns plotted elaborate furta sacra (holy thefts) to claim the bones, blood, and body parts of saints. This talk uncovers the wildest true stories of relic robbery: midnight extractions, forged miracles, papal cover-ups, and the peculiar medieval logic that made theft not only acceptable… but sacred.
Breasts in Christian Iconography
Thursday, June 4, 2026 @ 7:00 PM
From Mary nursing the Christ Child to saints offering their breasts as symbols of compassion, martyrdom, or spiritual authority, Christian art is far stranger — and more embodied — than most people realize. This talk explores how breasts became sites of nourishment, miracle, power, and theology. Expect milk streams, mystical lactation, exposed ribs, and the uneasy intersection of gender, piety, and the holy body.