Disney-Britton

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton OHIO---Cincinnati, Ohio may not have another church as architecturally stylistic and eclectic as St. Mary's Church (know known as Old St. Mary's Church) in Over the Rhine.  The exterior shows signs of the 19th century's growing interest in Romanesque and Gothic but i t is the stunningly beautiful sanctuary that attracts visitor's mixing  Greek Revival with Baroque styles.  The interior is richly embellished both with works of art and objects of devotion. Especially noteworthy are three oil paintings of the Blessed Virgin Mary above the main altar. Fifteen feet high, the paintings are changed at appropriate seasons of the year, being hoisted into place by a system of pulleys. Visible under the high altar are the bones of a woman martyr discovered in 1844 in the Roman catacombs.  On July the 3rd, 1842, the church was dedicated and at the time it was the largest church thus far erected in the Mississippi Valley, being 142 fe...

THE DESIGN FILE By Lesley Weidenbener INDIANA---I spent this month's First Friday night at the Harrison Center in Indianapolis, checking out "Black and White and Read All Over," a show featuring work from 30 artists. The above is another painting by William Denton Ray . This one -- which was my husband's and my favorite of the show -- is called "Nurturing the New King." At $3,600, though, it was more than a bit out of our price range! [ link ]

USA TODAY By Ken Kusmer, Associated Press Writer The exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art includes 71 pieces from 45 lenders in Spain, Mexico, Peru and other countries. INDIANA---El Greco's vision of the veil of Veronica hangs near a golden crown with 447 emeralds. Just a few steps away, a recumbent sculpture of the crucified Jesus Christ rests before its return to a Spanish hermitage in time for Holy Week. "Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art is drawing visitors from around the world for an unprecedented exhibition of 71 pieces from 45 lenders — many of them private — in Spain, Mexico, Peru and other countries. Madrid's Prado has loaned five works alone. The free exhibition, which continues through Jan. 3, has thrilled experts and other visitors alike. Harvard Art Museum curator and cultural historian Ivan Gaskell said it inspired him intellectually like no other exhibition he has seen this year. [ link ]