When we hear the word “artifact” we think of things that are old or historical. The word, however, comes from the Latin “arte factum” which translates more closely to “thing made by skill.” It evokes the idea of craftsmanship—toiling over a camera angle or a line of poetry until you’ve pruned it into something beautiful.

At New College Franklin, students are challenged to toil—to engage with great books, ideas, and art. This journal’s goal is to create a place for students of NCF to share their craftsmanship. The speech written for class. The drawing sketched on a Sunday afternoon. The poem started on a napkin at a café and polished on a friend’s couch. Many of us use these mediums to wrestle with the great ideas we encounter in the classroom and to capture a moment that moved us deeply. We hope that Artifact will serve as a place to share the work born out of this wrestling, so you might also see the beauty God reveals through our work.

Cheers,

Emma Claire Morgan, Editor-in-Chief

Selena Brown, Designer

Artifact Team, 2024