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This blog has come a long way in its short life. Launched in January 2009, the idea originated back in July 2008 when I was attending daily mass at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Chelsea, NYC. During 2009, the blog featured weekly posts about discoveries of religious art in museums, churches and galleries primarily in NYC, but also in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. In 2010, the explorations continued but I added daily posts on news from around the world. As I look ahead to the second half of 2010, I'll be adding a Saturday imagery focus along with occassional essays on the state of collecting religious art.

Honey, Didn't we see "any movies" during February? If we didn't do a movie, what did we do on Saturday nights?  Look at my list on the blog: Ghost Writer (4/24) Why did I get Married too? (4/23) Date Night (4/7) How to Train Your Dragon (3/27) Bounty Hunter (3/20) Alice in Wonderland (3/13) Shutter Island (3/5) Twilight (3/2) NA (2/27) NA (2/20) NA (2/13) NA (2/6) Tooth Fairy (1/31) Princess & the Frog (1/30) Legion (1/24) The Book of Eli (1/16) Sherlock Holmes (1/9) It's Complicated (1/2)

As I drove past a neighborhood cemetary today, I was struck by the notion of people visiting cemetaries as places to find religious art. I did some Internet research and discovered that I'm not the first to make this connection. In 2008, Dr. Lori in the Ann Arbor News wrote,  Grieving angels, classical muses and sleeping children all took their place in early 20th century gravestone art. Spilled flowers and broken columns were common symbols of a life ended too soon. In addition, subject matter such as opened books, broken tools or other images indicating work left incomplete was selected by grieving families." There's also a society in England which compiles background on religious symbols used in cemetaries. Maybe this is something to add to the Sacred Art Tours for Halloween.

Matthew 12:38-42 (Keep Faith Strong) Matthew 12:38-42 reminds me that if you feel too confident in your faith and spirituality and start to live a life of relaxed faith you can be suprised how the devil will invade and it can actually seem worse than ever. I must remember to be strong in my faith daily and praise and give thanks daily for all my blessings!!

"If there is a God, he's a great mathematician." - PAUL DIRAC

From his teen years, it was easy to see that Albrecht Durer, born in German in 1471 was destined to be a great artist. However, it was during his visits to Italy in 1494 and 1505 that he was exposed to the Italian masters of the Renaissance and evolved into a master himself. He was the painter to the Holy Roman Emperors for much of his career and his great works include " Adam and Eve " (1504).

Nebraska's Concordia College is home to the Center for Liturgical Art . The Center works with architects, liturgical consultants and master artisans in the design of worship space and the creation of ecclesiastical art. Mark Anschutz serves Concordia University and The Center  for Liturgical art as the director and permanent resident artist. Anschutz has made a career of service to the church in the arts as a professor, designer, and consultant. According to the groups website, "The CLA also promotes the use of visual art in worship, encouraging artists to assist the church in its ministry and providing educational outreach programs in the visual arts through the stewardship of God's gift of art."

There are 5 primary mediums which painters use to create their masterworks. They are oil, pastel, graphite pencils, acrylic and watercolor. Oil is a ground pigment that is rich and buttery favorite of Renaissance masters. Pastels are powdered pigments packed into sticks. Graphite Pencils are softer than typical lead writing pencils. Acrylic is a combination of pigment and acrylic polymers. Lastly, Watercolor is a pigment suspended in a binder of gum arabic. Which artists from the religious arts tradition used each of these mediums?

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Tahlib NEW YORK---Visualize a Catholic Mass where the choir is all Haitian  and the congregation of Parisians all pray in French. That was my home church in  New York City, Saint Vincent de Paul Church in Chelsea. The only problem was this  artistically exceptional church was falling apart. I am glad to hear that now the French Heritage  Society is raising funds to save one of NYC's only French house's of worship.

"Untitled" CALIFORNIA - The art of Jim Denevan is monumental and inspirational. He is a California artist & surfer who uses the beach as his temporary canvas. His work reminds you of the Nazca Line in Peru but his works fade with the incoming waves. Denevan approaches his work in an almost ritualistic fashion and it's been reported that he has called these sandy beaches his "cathedral." Photos of his work are part of my fantasy art collection.

This week was a good blogging experiment even if we received very few responses. We tested 3-days of telling "Ryans" story and 1-day of Greg post on a Ryan story. Here's what I happened: Our readers were unresponsive to stories about Ryan. As the week went on, we recieved fewer and fewer replies. When I tested a post by you, our readers didn't respond. Was it the final straw about Ryan; was it simply unfunny, or was it because it wasn't from me? On Friday, when we returned to the norm of me posting about me, we go tons of responses, even from people who never respond. The big key about Friday responses was they I asked what others were doing and not just telling about self. Here's what I believe: One story a week about someone other than us is funny but not every day. We should do one post a week from you. I don't think our readers, who are mostly my friends know how to respond. You should do the weekly Friday post. Not only sharing the weekend schedule, a...

We all know Paul Gauguin as one the great Impressionists who left France for Tahiti and invented a new, flatter, brighter style. What you may not know is that he was the son of a Creole woman from Peru and a rebellious French journalist. He was also a vocal critic of colonialism; a married man who abandoned his wife and children; and at the time of his death in 1903, he was awaiting a three-month long sentence for attacking the Catholic Church.

AOA NEWS By Ernest Britton INDIANA - The act of creating art is sometimes considered an escape. Graham Greene said, "...Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human condition." Constrast that thought with those engaged in creating religious art, such as Orthodox painter Mother Catherine in Indianapolis. These artists consider it a form of prayer. What about the act of collecting religious art? Is it escape? Is it prayer? Is collecting itself, the creation of a work of art? I guess each of us will have to answer that for ourselves. 

The Fig Leaf is a symbol of artistic censorship. It has been used by censors to cover genitalia. Its introduction into the world of art was part of a Post-Renaissance movement toward greater modesty. Even Michelangelo's "David" was deemed "indecent" by some. Fig leaves began being attached to the finished works of average and great masterpieces including : paintings and sculptures during the Counter Reformation . 

Now I know why you gave me that cross: http://virtualblog.splinder.com/post/22592190/ After reading this online story, I looked at the one over my head.

The Association of Consultants for Liturgical Space ( ACLS ) sponsors the National Conference on Environment and Art for Catholic Workship. It is an opportunity for Catholics to gather for continuing education on the role of visual expression (and other arts) in the liturgy. Of course, the only authorities on this subject are the Bishops.

Our insurance to date has paid $32,504.08. We got $12,045.87 is plan discounts for having insurance. We paid out of pocket $2,224.08 so dar this year. If we didn't have insurance our bill would have been $46774.03 Sent via BlackBerry by AT

Nativity Rigaud Benoit (Haitian, 1911 – 1986)  c. 1950. Oil on masonite, 20 x 16in (50.8 x 40.7cm) May 11, 2010 Auction Est. $8,000 - 12,000 at Bonhams, NYC

Instead of painting the image of God or the Prophets, Islamic art relies on calligraphiclines/sentences detailed in an expressive way that tells the words of God whilecreating ornate decoration. Recently, there have been death threats by extremists for creating an image of the Prophet Mohammed, but the most well known are a  Sweddish artists  cartoon in 2007 and author Salman Rushdie's " Satanic Verses " (1988), a book based on Mohammed's life.

It was Good Friday and the service was plain and simple at this United Church of Christ facility. I prefer a bit more Catholic drama for Good Friday.

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest  Disney-Britton INDIANA---After a $10 million rehabilitation, a 1922 Indianapolis United Methodist Church will become home to the state's preservation group . The building, vacant since 2008 but considered a gem because of its Romanesque Revival-style has been using a grant of $150,000 to stabilizd the building's foundation. The church building will be renamed, "Indiana Landmarks Center."

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Tahlib "A Last Supper" (2009) by Lorna May Wadsworth (b. UK, 1979) UNITED KINGDOM --- The altar painting for St. George Church in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire was unvieled on St. George's Day, Friday, April 23, 2010 ( Source: BBC ). The artist, Lorna May Wadsworth is best known for her landscapes and portraits. Her studio is in Shoreditch, East London. Oil on canvas, 12' x 3-1/2'. Gift bequest of Alan Denman and commissioned by St. George's Church, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England.

PAFA - In celebration of the acquisition of Violet Oakley’s stained glass lancet windows  The Wise and Foolish Virgins  and Tiffany Studios’  Saint Cornelius and Angel , PAFA presents a selection of religious art by Oakley from the vast holdings of the Violet Oakley Memorial Foundation at the Academy [Thru July 11].  Included are sensitively drawn studies for various ecclesiastical projects, the full-scale oil cartoons for  The Wise and Foolish Virgins , and examples of Oakley’s World War II altarpieces. ( Read All )

When I first began visiting churches in New York City in 2008, some friends wondered if I was having a spiritual crisis. One noted sarcastically, "You are always crying." It's the aesthetic merit however that's addicted me. Religious art is created to touch the soul. So, I search it out, blog about it and post the imagery all the time. I guess it is a crisis, because I don't ever get enough.

Today I asked a United Methodist Minister if his denomination was the one with the logo of a long red, curving banner? His answer: @dansden: Actually , its a black cross w 2 red flames extending upward from the cross-flames represnt 2 traditions that grew N2 U Meth Church. Since you were baptised Methodist, before you became a Catholic at JMCC, did you know it was two flames around a black cross?

The Cleveland Museum of Art is getting ready for an American first, a major U.S. exhibition of Christian relics and reliquaries. How do you know this is a big deal? First, in this week's story in  ArtDaily , two museum curators: Holger Klein and Griffith Mann, and not just one are quoted thereby reinforcing the importance of the exhibiton.  

Oklahoma's wealthy owners of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. say their home state isn't big enough to be home to the National Bible Museum. This week, according to the   Oklahoma Gazettle , family members say they plan to help fund the new museum but only in one of the top tourism markets like Dallas or Washington, D.C.

ART DAILY For nearly three decades, Sister Mary Corita [Corita Kent] —a Catholic nun and teacher devoted her life to creating cutting-edge serigraphs. In 1946, a decade after joining the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sister Corita began teaching art at Immaculate Heart College and by 1952 she had exhibited her first screenprint. The exhibition at the University of Michigan Museum of Art is comprised of 44 prints that illustrate Sister Corita’s signature work beginning in the 1960s, which broke free from the more traditionally religious or Biblical imagery to works that encompassed a wider concept of spirituality. The exhibition runs June 19 through August 15, 2010.  [ link ]

Definitely! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tahlib@aol.com Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:15:14 EDT To: Subject: Fwd: IMA announces Summer Nights 2010 This Friday night schedule of old movies at IMA could be fun for us this summer. It's everything from Pee Wees Big Adventure and Rocky Horror to A Fish Called Wanda. Shouldn't I put this down on our calendar? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: kzarich@imamuseum.org To: tahlib@aol.com Sent: 4/14/2010 11:27:17 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time Subj: IMA announces Summer Nights 2010 For immediate release: April 14, 2010 IMA announces films for its annual Summer Nights series INDIANAPOLIS—The Indianapolis Museum of Art announced today the schedule for its 35th annual Summer Nights film series. From June 4 to August 27, 2010, movies will be shown every Friday in the IMA’s amphitheater, located on the west side of the M...

Nominated of six Tony Awards (2010), "Red" , a play about abstract expressionist Mark Rothko ends June 27th. Described as "raw and provocative", with groundbreaking performances, Red is a searing portrait of an artist's ambition and vulnerability as he tries to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting.

In the   news release   for the Jewish Museum's latest exhibit, “Modern Art, Sacred Space: Motherwell, Ferber and Gottlieb,” Anne Scher, Director of Communications and her team have decided against writing the typical promotional style new release and have instead crafted a tightly composed art & religious history piece that provides a near scholarly background on this new exhibition.  [ View NYT Review ]

Associated Press/WXOW   - Just in time for the Easter season, a Minneapolis insurance firm is exhibiting a 62-work art exhibition of pieces by old and modern masters depicting the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus. "Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is putting on "The Passion: 500 Years in Art." It includes pieces by Rembrandt, Manet, Durer and 32 other artists. The pieces are hanging in the Thrivent Financial Collection of Religious Art Gallery through the end of August. Gallery hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and the exhibit is free. "The exhibition includes work from the 15th to the 20th centuries and includes works by Rembrandt and Manet as well as other major artists. One centerpiece is "The Crucifixion" by George Wesley Bellows, which Thrivent Financial owns but has not displayed publicly since 1996." Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewr...

Mark Rothko. Retrospektive  (2008) Um 1961 Mark Rothko  (Lativia, 1903-1970) C.  1961. Oil on canvas . Hamburger Kunsthalle | Hamburg, Germany

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Tahlib "I will never leave you" by Adrian Kellard I cried. The Museum of Contemporary Religious Arts (MoCRA) was established in 1991 in the former Fusz Memorial Chapel. It’s a stately facility and an exceptional place to exhibit contemporary religious art. We saw their powerful exhibit, “ Good Friday: The Suffering Christ in Contemporary Art ” of works produced by artists living with AIDS. I recommend this beautiful museum, and promise we will be back again next year, if not before. This was an exceptional Easter Weekend in Saint Louis, Missouri which included, of course, Sunday morning worship at The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis:

Title: The San Damiano Cross (2009) Artist: Janet Jaime, local artist Location: Warr Acres, Oklahoma Church: St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church

AOA POST By Tahlib Lovers by Adrian Kellard, carved painted wood MISSOURI - As part of a moving  Lenton season exhibition, the  Museum of Contemporary Religious Art in St. Louis, MO featured Adrian Kellard's Lovers (above) as part of this season's closing exhibition, Good Friday: The Suffering Christ in Contemporary Art . The late artist(1959-1991) died from AIDS in New York City in 1991. The wood-cut print Lovers explores being a "gay man loved by god" in two eccentrically and emotionally wrought works that move between the traditionally liturgical and explicitly kitsch in a delicate manner. The work was on view through Easter weekend.

YALE PRESS - While the collected writings of many major 20th-century artists, including Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Ad Reinhardt, have been published, Mark Rothko’s writings have only recently come to light, beginning with the critically acclaimed The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art . Rothko’s other written works have yet to be brought together into a major publication. Writings on Art fills this significant void; it includes some 90 documents—including short essays, letters, statements, and lectures—written by Rothko over the course of his career. The texts are fully annotated, and a chronology of the artist’s life and work is also included. ( Read All )