The Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies or "SARTS" had its charter meeting at the 2002 AAR/SBL (American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature) conference. The Society was organized to provide a forum for scholars and artists interested in the intersections between theology, religion, and the arts especially in the classroom. The goal of the Society is to attract consistent participation of a core group of artists and scholars of theology and religion in order to have dialogue about the theological and religious meaning of the arts, and the artistic/aesthetic dimension of theological and religious inquiry. SARTS is located at the United Theological Seminary in Minnesota.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
The Annual Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards program is co-sponsored by Faith & Form Magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA), a Knowledge Community of the American Institute of Architects. The Awards program was founded in 1978 with the goal of honoring the best in architecture, liturgical design, and art for religious spaces. The program offers three primary categories for awards: Religious Architecture, Liturgical/Interior Design, Sacred Landscape, and Religious Arts. To join IFRAA's mailing list [click: here]. I did.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Founded in 1979, Christians in the Visual Arts exists to explore and nurture the relationship between the Christian artist in the church and in the world-at-large. Known widely as CIVA, its purpose is "to encourage Christians in the visual arts to develop their particular callings to the highest professional level possible; to learn how to deal with specific problems in the field without compromising our faith and our standard of artistic endeavor; to provide opportunities for sharing work and ideas; to foster intelligent understanding, a spirit of trust, and a cooperative relationship between those in the arts, the church, and society; and ultimately, to establish a Christian presence within the secular art world." Just eight year ago, In 2002, CIVA hired its first full-time staff and accepted Gordon College in Massachusetts' invitation to make the school its first permanent home. It has 1,300 members and conducts conferences, exhibitions and auctions.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Faith & Form, as an organization and a journal developed over a 40 years period. Its roots include the Church Architecture Guild of North America founded in 1940; Guild for Church Architecture founded in 1965; and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA, now part of AIA). Faith & Form represents clergy, lay leaders, artists, architects, and landscape designers concerned with design for worship. It is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization incorporated in Washington, DC and a quarterly magazine, Faith & Form. The group also sponsors a yearly Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards program. To view the 2009 honorees, [click: here].
Saturday, 27 March 2010
The non-profit Christus Rex is dedicated to the dissemination of information on works of art preserved in churches, cathedrals and monasteries all over the world. They intend to assemble a collection of images that will constitute a visual representation of the Bible, ad maiorem gloriam Dei! (for the greater glory of God!). According to the groups website, they are in the process of "building the data base for a world wide tour of churches and monasteries, comprising in excess of 10,000 images." The group is soliciting artistic works for display. To participate, send them a color photograph and they indicate they will present online them with appropriate credits. The contact information is E-mail: christusrex_inc@hotmail.com.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
The Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art is seeking papers on the lack of major religious artists of today. The deadline is Oct. 1, 2010. They are seeking 20-minute papers that examine specific examples of art from the 20th century which employ Christian subjects, symbols, and contexts in order to consider the methodological challenges that these works of art pose. The symposium will convene on February 8, 2011 at NYC's Museum of Biblical Art, the day before the annual meeting of the College Arts Association.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
The Society for the Art, Religion and Contemporary Culture (ARC) was established in 1961 and is based in Kutztown, PA. Its archives are maintained at the Harvard Divinity Library and Nelvin Vos is the executive director. The Society meets three times each year, normally in New York City, on the first Saturday of November, February and May. It's purpose and program are based on the belief that the roles of the arts and religion are decisive. The Society believes that "Religion in isolation from the arts is starved of concrete embodiment of its insights into the fullness of human life. Art gives religion the eyes to see ourselves in all our dimensions." (Source: SARCC)
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
The website for Modern Religious Art reads that it "displays and encourages and the work of contemporary artists who are in some way motivated by or engaged with the religious." The project (site) also indicates that it is "not prescriptive of any particular belief system" and is open to contributions from artists who follow a particular faith as well as artists with no interest in faith including atheists, religious humanists and agnostics. It's a curious project
Monday, 22 March 2010
The genesis for The Freedom ART Project came in 1996. This California-based project is the calling of California born artist, Jeff LeFever. The 66 Project artworks are visual interpretations the 66 books of the Canonized Bible, with the intent of being the heart of a non denominational, non doctrinal sanctuary. Each painting for each book will contain that books full text in the original language gilded in 23 Karat gold. The size of each painting is determined by the amount of scripture contained in each book - the largest book being Psalms will be 30 feet tall by about 24 feet wide, and where John 3, will be only a few square feet.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., is the pre-eminent Marian shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Envisioned by its founder, Bishop Thomas J. Shahan (1857-1932) as a “monument to artistic truth” that would speak with “divine eloquence,” the Shrine is home to the largest collection of contemporary ecclesiastical art in the United States. Amid a rich patina of mosaics, sculptures, and artistic renderings, the more than 65 chapels and oratories reflect not only the devotional traditions of the American Church but also the rich ethnic mélange of the Universal Church. In 1990, Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) named the National Shrine a minor basilica, the 36th in the United States.
Saturday, 20 March 2010
AOA NEWS
By Ernest Britton
INDIANA - Saint Seraphim of Sarov Book Store of Indianapolis reports that it is one the few area Eastern Orthodox bookstores open during weekday hours. They have been in operation since 1992 and specialize in Orthodox books, gift items, prayer ropes and anything else needed to support an Orthodox rule of prayer and world view. The website isn't much but it's a store rich in collectables. I purchased one cross to wear, one of place on the wall and a third to house precious memories.
By Ernest Britton
INDIANA - Saint Seraphim of Sarov Book Store of Indianapolis reports that it is one the few area Eastern Orthodox bookstores open during weekday hours. They have been in operation since 1992 and specialize in Orthodox books, gift items, prayer ropes and anything else needed to support an Orthodox rule of prayer and world view. The website isn't much but it's a store rich in collectables. I purchased one cross to wear, one of place on the wall and a third to house precious memories.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ken Johnson
NEW YORK - In a recent essay in The New York Review of Books about R. Crumb’s illustrated “Book of Genesis,” the literary critic Harold Bloom seems bemused by Mr. Crumb’s graphic style, which reminds him unpleasantly of Mad magazine. Mr. Crumb may be irreverent, but in his attention to every detail of word and image he is as devout as any medieval manuscript illuminator. Scanning the 207 drawings on gallery walls is not the best way to take in the epical narrative, but it is good to see them in the original, undiminished by the inferior reproductive quality of the $24.95 book published by W. W. Norton. The inks are blacker, the pages whiter and the artist’s touch visibly subtler. [link]
By Ken Johnson
OAKLAND PRESS
March 20, 2010
MICHIGAN - Twenty-foot wooden crosses and black linens set the stage in Farmington, Michigan. Somber music fills the air as a bloodied man hangs on a cross, calling out to God and asking forgiveness for those crucified with him. It’s a biblical scene all Christians are familiar with. Catholics hear the story, known as Christ’s passion, at Mass the week before Easter, and many hear it weekly during Lent. Yet The Living Stations of the Cross, in its ninth annual performance at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Farmington, tells the story so poignantly that the audience is often moved to tears. Some 140 parishioners, including actors, singers and behind-the-scenes crew, participate in The Living Stations, a one-hour scripture-based theatrical performance that incorporates live music and images projected on a 12-by-15-foot screen. At least 1,500 people attend each performance. The Living Stations is the vision incarnate of parishioner Kelly Nieto, who 10 years ago joined the Catholic faith after being raised with no religion at all. Nieto said she had the vision during her first Good Friday mass at Our Lady of Sorrows. [link]
March 20, 2010
MICHIGAN - Twenty-foot wooden crosses and black linens set the stage in Farmington, Michigan. Somber music fills the air as a bloodied man hangs on a cross, calling out to God and asking forgiveness for those crucified with him. It’s a biblical scene all Christians are familiar with. Catholics hear the story, known as Christ’s passion, at Mass the week before Easter, and many hear it weekly during Lent. Yet The Living Stations of the Cross, in its ninth annual performance at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Farmington, tells the story so poignantly that the audience is often moved to tears. Some 140 parishioners, including actors, singers and behind-the-scenes crew, participate in The Living Stations, a one-hour scripture-based theatrical performance that incorporates live music and images projected on a 12-by-15-foot screen. At least 1,500 people attend each performance. The Living Stations is the vision incarnate of parishioner Kelly Nieto, who 10 years ago joined the Catholic faith after being raised with no religion at all. Nieto said she had the vision during her first Good Friday mass at Our Lady of Sorrows. [link]
Friday, 19 March 2010
ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
TEXAS---Lord's Art (lordsart.com) is an online store centered around Jesus Christ. Every piece of religious art they sell is intended to glorify God and reminds buyers of how the Lord is to be the center of their lives and homes. The owners consider their Christian Art an enhancement of any Home Decor and a blessing to all who see it. The store carries Christian framed art and unframed Christian art featuring biblical themes, scripture, pictures of Jesus Christ and more. Artists represented include Christian artists Ron DiCianni, Nathan Greene, Graham Braddock, Morgan Weistling, Stephen S. Sawyer, William Hallmark and others.
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| "The Sower" by Ron DiCianni |
Thursday, 18 March 2010
After many years as a successful buyer for a large religious store, Verna Panaccio decided to follow her heart and opened her own store in July of 1996. Since she had never been comfortable with the large mark-ups most religious stores charged, it wasn't long before the name Many Blessings became synonymous with beautiful religious and inspirational goods at very, very reasonable prices. People of faith in the New Jersey area recognized the values "Many Blessings offered, whether they were looking for the perfect gift for a special person or just wanted a plaque or statue for the home.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Romanesque paintings are generally done in fresco, but not having perfected this technique, retouching must be done with oils or tempera. The figures which appear are submitted to a process of abstraction which is derived from the sense of creative expression characteristic of the anonymous masters who do the paintings. As a result, this painting, whose flatness and bi-dimensionality have Byzantine origins, leads in a realistic-expressionistic path and tries, through patches of color on the faces and hands, to liven up the flat tones and disocover volumetric effects which will be more fully achieved in the Gothic period.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Under the command of the master masons the buildings are constructed with architecture, sculpture and painting forming a single organic structure. This is what causes the painting, being subordinated to the architecture, to possess a decorative as well as theological character. In general, these pictorial decorations are religious in character but not exclusively.
Monday, 15 March 2010
The Romanesque style is born as Latin begins to break down into the Romance languages; with the disappearance of linguistic unity, a new nexus will be found, thanks to art, which along with the pilgrimmages to Santiagao de Compostela and Rome, will link the European peoples. This new "universal language" will make it possible for the pilgrim or travelor to read, without need of translation, the messages expressed by a new figuration, whether it be presented in a sculptural from on the facades or capitals of the buildings, or pictorially on the walls and vaults.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Along with Western civilization, art after the fall of Rome is submerged in shadows; the universal meaning of Classical art desintegrated into a plurality of national and local styles. Thus, in Spain there is a consecutive development of the Visigothic, Asturian and Mozarabic styles. But when it seems that European art has reached complete desintegration, a series of religious, economic and social causes will motivate the creation of a new utilitarian artistic style, the Romanesque one. It will no longer be that of an empire, such as the Roman one, but of a spiritual ideal, Christianity.
Saturday, 13 March 2010
On EWTN, Fr. Menes claimed that some Catholic universities are removing the crucifix from classroom walls so as not to offend non-Catholic students. He found this particularly odd since these students freely choose to at a Catholic vs secular university for their higher education. He challenges today's school to answer how they can lift up the Christ as they take down his crucifix? It's a good argument.
Friday, 12 March 2010
AOA NEWS
By Ernest Britton
INDIANA - iMOCA will exhibit Frank Warren's PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God, August 6 through September 18. The opening reception is August 6, 6-11 p.m. at iMOCA, located inside the Murphy Art Center in Fountain Square in Indianapolis. It will feature the original postcards Warren received during a community art project where people anonymously mail in their secrets. Details will come out this summer.
By Ernest Britton
INDIANA - iMOCA will exhibit Frank Warren's PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God, August 6 through September 18. The opening reception is August 6, 6-11 p.m. at iMOCA, located inside the Murphy Art Center in Fountain Square in Indianapolis. It will feature the original postcards Warren received during a community art project where people anonymously mail in their secrets. Details will come out this summer.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
March 10, 2010
AUSTRALIA--Gavin Lacanillo, a former St Mary’s Cathedral College student, was this month named the 2010 winner of The Clancy Prize Religious Art Exhibition at Australian Catholic University’s (ACU) Strathfield Campus. The exhibition at the University’s McGlade Gallery is in its 11th year and is run collaboratively by the Catholic Education Office (CEO) Sydney and ACU. It gives high school students the opportunity to explore religious themes through visual art. This year’s exhibition, based on the theme ‘You are the salt of the earth… you are the light of the world’ (Matt 5:13-14), showcases 76 art works from 34 Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney. Gavin’s four-part entry on canvas, entitled Scratching the Surface, was made using a mix of acrylic, glass and pencils. The 17-year-old said the self-portraits were created to “peel back the layers and expose a true self”. [link]
March 10, 2010
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
To encourage engaging conversations about religious art; have a look at these 10 ideas and share them with your family members, church members, and friends. Perhaps we can collectively shift American culture and engage more people, simply by improving our approach to the dialogue. As we become courageous in asking questions, listening and in exploring, we will find that our own ability to talk about religious art increases.
- Explore a painting. Search for art in gallery openings that respond to religious influence. Do it with a partner and get agreement to explore it intensely. Do it together and notice the engagement between you sparkle.
- Ask someone to teach you. Hear about someone who knows something you would like to learn? Reach out and ask them to show you how, or teach you. Be attentive, curious, and encouraging as they share with you some new knowledge.
- Listen deeply. Engage another in conversation about a work of religious artistic controversey by giving 100% focused, present, and deep listening. When someone feels heard their value, worth and engagement rises.
- Allow silence. When the person you are speaking with pauses, allow the silence to hang suspended and continue to hold a focus with them. Don't interrupt. They will take a breath, realize you are truly engaged and continue sharing their thoughts.
- Coach Others.If someone expresses a weakness or concern about appreciating religious art, ask if you can coach them. Use gentle, powerful, and thoughtful questions to engage them in conversation, listen well, and suspend your own judgement helping them to find their own answers.
- Share a moment from a film. To illustrate, or spark conversation in a new way, reflect on the messages in popular culture, especially commercial films. Re-tell the story and encourage communication to stem from the movie stimulating different thoughts and engaging different parts of the brain.
- Ponder a quote. Quotes are words spoken and remembered. They often inspire and make us think. Create a question from the quote about art and engage in conversation with others about the meaning and application to your life. You may find it surprising to see the shift in your thinking and the level of your engagement.
- Integrate it into someone’s passion. When you know someone has a passion try to engage them in dialogue about religious art through the lens of that passion, an obsession with "free", an compulsive shoe shopper, or money manger and share it with them. Engage them in conversation on their passion and sense the energy and vitality.
- Converse with artists. Artists provide a window to a new way of seeing the world but because of their education and training, it is not without baggage. Many for instance have been taught not to pursue religion in their art. Learning what artists see brings an engaging energy to old topics. Find ways to connect to the artists in your community and ask them to engage you in their conversations about their own faith journey.
- Define Artist. Artist as a word has no recognized definition. Create a definition with others, explore what Art looks like, find examples of Artists from history including Michelangelo and Byzantine icons; and engage in Artist-filled conversations.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
The mission of this blog is to "arrest and engage through contemporary religious art." That's a mission statement very consistent with the philosophy of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944). Best known for his hallucinagenic The Scream; and to a lesser degree for his religious work, Madonna. Munch believe that art should be more than "pretty pictures" hanging on a living room wall. He wanted to shake people up with his art and awaken something kept locked away, deep inside. He wanted to create art that spoke to "one's innermost heart." That is why he is celebrated as one of the leaders in the genre of Expressionism. He packed into his lithographs, etching and woodcuts powerful emotions that stirr the observer as much today as they did in the early 1900s.
ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest Disney-Britton
- 10-foot wooden cross
- Motto: together we make a difference
- Dramatic story-telling of how a community of diverse Christians came to a counts estate (Herrunhut) on August 13, 1729 aka "Unity of the Bretheren"
- St. Augustine wrote "In essential unity and non essential liberty in all things love."
- Since 1450 we still gather despire our disagreements
Saturday, 6 March 2010
AOL - Voodoo pilgrims bathe in a waterfall believed to have purifying powers during an annual celebration in Saut d' Eau, HaitI. The annual pilgrimage to Saut d'Eau venerates the site where believers say the Virgin Mary, whom many here revere as the goddess of love, Ezili Danto , once appeared. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Friday, 5 March 2010
- Listen to WGBH [Audio]
- Read Architects [description]
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Andy Warhol was a practicing Byzantine Rite Catholic. His family in Pittsburgh, the Warhola family worshipped regularly at St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church. It's still there at 506 Saline Street. In his final decade (1980s), he attended at St. Vincents Ferrer Roman Catholic Church and many of his later works contain almost-hidden religious themes or subjects. The priest there said of his "Religious Beliefs" that the artist went there almost daily, "although he never took communion or made confession, and sat or knelt in the pews at the back." The priest assumed he was afraid of being recognized; Warhol said he was self-conscious about being seen in a Roman Catholic church crossing himself " in the Orthodox way".
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
The Missouri History Museum in St. Louis will be the only Midwestern stop in a traveling exhibition of rarely seen art and artifacts from the Vatican Museum. "Vatican Splendors: A Journey through Faith and Art" opens May 15.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
John Logan’s two-man Broadway show, "Red" revolves around an episode in Abstract Artist Mark Rothko’s life in the late 1950s, when the architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson commissioned him to paint murals for the Four Seasons, the fashionable new restaurant in the Seagram Building. (Read NYT Review)
Monday, 1 March 2010
YALE PRESS - One of the most important artists of the twentieth century, Mark Rothko (1903–1970) created a new and impassioned form of abstract painting over the course of his career. Rothko also wrote a number of essays and critical reviews during his lifetime, adding his thoughtful, intelligent, and opinionated voice to the debates of the contemporary art world.
Although the artist never published a book of his varied and complex views, his heirs indicate that he occasionally spoke of the existence of such a manuscript to friends and colleagues. Stored in a New York City warehouse since the artist’s death more than thirty years ago, this extraordinary manuscript, titled The Artist’s Reality, is now being published for the first time. (Read All)
Although the artist never published a book of his varied and complex views, his heirs indicate that he occasionally spoke of the existence of such a manuscript to friends and colleagues. Stored in a New York City warehouse since the artist’s death more than thirty years ago, this extraordinary manuscript, titled The Artist’s Reality, is now being published for the first time. (Read All)
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