Jon grew up a Quaker in Richmond, Virginia. But it wasn’t until his Senior year, when he recorded an album of biographical songs about the Early Friends (at Guilford College in NC… indie rock territory) for his Senior Project that he truly committed to the Religious Society of Friends.
When Jon Watts moved to West Philadelphia in 2010 to be closer to a burgeoning Young Adult Quaker movement, he was reconnected with his old friend Maggie Harrison, who had been working on a research paper for the Earlham School of Religion.
Maggie's paper was about nakedness, and she had done her homework. It shed light on the Early Friends' practice of going naked as a sign... the stories, the theology, and the implications for modern life. It was powerful. It was playful. It was kind of difficult work. And Jon was inspired.
It was a warm Spring afternoon on the campus of Guilford College in 2006. Jon had just completed his first full-length Quaker-focused album, and Maggie her first year at Guilford. Finals were going on in classrooms all over campus, and there was an air of seriosity on the quad.
In a fit of spontaneity, Jon and Maggie (who knew one another less deeply than you might imagine) stripped off their clothes to do a lap around campus, complete with celebratory yipping and attempts to climb art sculptures, hoping (in part) to give the madly scribbling students behind the open windows a temporary reprieve from the singular stress of their focused test taking.
With the Spirit as their guide, Jon and Maggie set out in 2010-2011 to bring their ministry of nakedness into an appropriately authentic public format. For Maggie, that meant exploring old texts over long hours in various Quaker libraries, exploring Nakedness in her own spiritual life, and writing a devotional pamphlet.
For Jon, it meant searching himself and engaging with his muse to write the songs for an album, always asking "what canst thou say?", with the underlying intention of radical authenticity... or nakedness.
For both Maggie and Jon, the work was difficult. The transformation was real. The product is inspired.
One beautiful Summer evening in 2011, a group of giddy Friends piled into Jon's Volkswagon van and, along with photographer Mike Goren, made the trek out to a lake outside of Philadelphia to frolic in the water and woods in the fading light (photo above).
In the video above, Jon Watts and Maggie Harrison discuss their joint multi-media project, "Clothe Yourself in Righteousness"... an exploration of "going naked as a sign" amongst Early Friends and the implications for Quakers today. This video is an excerpt of an interview for the podcast "Friend Speaks My Mind", by Madeline Schaffer. B
In the above video, a Quaker Meeting for Worship at Guilford College quickly transforms into naked quaker group streaking after some rousing ministry from Jon Watts, encouraging us to disrobe and shed these fig leaves. This is the music video for "Let's Get Naked".
TEXT/PHOTO: Clothe Yourself in Righteousness / Jon Watts.com
Clothe Yourself in Righteousness | Album from Jon Watts
Pamphlet | Clothe Yourself in Righteousness
Music | Clothe Yourself in Righteousness
Tour | Clothe Yourself in Righteousness
Blog | Clothe Yourself in Righteousness
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