Disney-Britton

FORT LAUDERDALE - The final leg of a three year national tour of a special exhibit of “Vatican Splendors: a Journey Through Faith and Art" opened yesterday at the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale in Florida. The exhibit is one of the largest exhibits ever to leave Vatican City and some of the items have never been viewed by the public. Attendees can see original works by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Giotto as well as experience a sense of what it was like to paint the Sistine Chapel or to be in the catacombs in the early days of Christianity. Whether you are interested in history of art, this exhibit is definitely worth the time to visit.

DALLAS (REUTERS) – Rare, lavishly-illustrated manuscripts from the Sistine Chapel that were rescued from Napoleon’s army, went on display in Dallas last week. The exhibit at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Museum will run through April 23, and is the only chance for the U.S. public to see the stunning hand-made codices or manuscripts. “There were in the Sacristy of the SistineChapel so there were the most private books ready by the popes and cardinals at very special ceremonies. There are some codices here that Michelangelo would have heard or read from,” said Meadows director Mark Roglan. ( Photo: books on display for “The Lost Manuscripts from the Sistine Chapel.” AP Photo/LM Otero )

LONDON (GUARDIAN) - Surrealist painter Max Ernst’s Pietà or Revolution by Night , in Tate Modern, is a gateway to the psychological power of one of the great themes of European religious art. Ernst’s painting depicts a man – the artist himself – supported in the arms of a kneeling bowler-hatted figure. Neither the supported nor the supporting figure seems fully alive: the grey flesh of the one held up is reminiscent of stone or a ghost, and the bowler-hatted helper is brown, like a figure of clay or wood. The painting is taken from the traditional scene of Mary clasping the body of her son Jesus with an image of the artist himself, held by his father, a Roman Catholic. According to historians at Tate Modern, Ernst's father "denounced his son's work, and the painting is often seen as rising out of their troubled relationship, although - like dreams - it resists precise analysis." Reproductions of Michelangelo's  Pietà  are currently on view in the US in Tex...

AOA NEWS By Ernest Britton INDIANA - Photographer Rick Nahmias took California as a window into the diversity of religion in America in an exhibit at the Cultural Ats Gallery  at the Campus Center building of IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis) in Indianapolis. Entitled, “ Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited ,” the exhibit completed in 2006 documents marginalized communities at prayer in their own faith traditions.

by JAMES HIPPS When I was growing up, the only times I remember going to church on a Saturday was either to attend a wedding, attend a Saturday Mass (so that we wouldn’t have to go on Sunday), or the rare occasion Christmas eve fell on a Saturday. I remember my parents joking about how Catholics would attend Saturday evening Mass so they wouldn’t have to show up in church on Sunday with a hangover…although I later figured out the joke really was derived from personal experience.

The following is this week's listing of current art exhibits exploring religious, spiritual and human justice themes in the United States.

 ALPHA OMEGA ARTS  By TAHLIB "Bust of an Angel" (After 1304) by Giotto di Bondone (1267?-1337) Polychrome mosaic, 92 x 98 x 6.5 cm On view: Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale , FL Owner: The Reverenda Fabbrica of Saint Peter, Vatican City State 

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Britton At 8:00 a.m. yesterday, art collectors around the world excitedly clicked onto the online experiment which is VIP Art Fair  -- the world’s first major online art fair. The excitement however faded fast. Unlike the emotional high of a attending a crowded live art fair, such as Art Basel Miami Beach , the hype for VIP Art Fair didn't match the delivery. It was painfully slow. Pages crashed when loading forcing me to reload multiple times. After two-hours online trying to view the undeniably world-class collection of galleries, and especially looking for spiritually themed works, I stopped trying.

All art is Advertising, "even religious art" according to Mark O'Connor one of the nominees for the 2011 Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP). O'Connor's comical but effective entry in AICP's annual commercial competition argues that the Sistine Chapel was an ad campaign project for the Roman Catholic faith that worked.

The Museum of Biblical Art in New York City is currently closed but will reopen February 11 for the premier of the exhibition Passion in Venice: Crivello to Tintoretto and Veronesa . This will be the first exhibition ever to focus on the image of Christ as the Man of Sorrows , an artistic figure than enjoyed a dynamic history in Venice and the Veneto than anywhere else in Western Europe.

Three artists on the lips of many in the art community this week are Nikki Huizinga (New Zealand), Salvador Dali (Spain) and Brian Keith Byrd (Georgia, USA). Each artist made a commitment to using their art to explore religious and spiritual themes. Two emerging artists are shaking up what people assume about religion today just as Dali, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work, did in the last century.

Months after the complaints of two powerful legislators prompted cutting David Wojnarowicz's controversial religious-themed video  from display at the Smithsonian, the controversy has not gone away and finally the Smithsonian is rising to its own defense.

I am convinced that ignorance of US religious history underpins some of the most serious problems the country currently faces. So, I have been more than pleased with the new PBS approach to religious themed programming. The Story of India kicked off 2009 and was followed-up this past April with the two-hour series on the  Buddha which included an online art exhibit.

 ALPHA OMEGA ARTS  By TAHLIB The Dead Christ Supported by Angels , c.1580–1588. Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), Oil on canvas, 98.1 x 71.4 cm (38.6 x 28.1 in.) On view: Museum of Biblical Art , Feb. 11-June 12, 2011

Twenty years ago today in Cincinnati, we began an annual breakfast to honor Rev., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During much of that time, I've frequently chaired the event, and I am again today's co-chairperson .  Reflecting on Dr. King's life and dream of a beloved community has been an essential part of her MLK Challenge model. Putting young people first, her goal has been that students and the community will start their day with a better understand Dr. King's dream of equality and true social justice. She has shaped an event in Cincinnati that provides students with opportunities to reflect on Dr. King and service through their art, scholarship and leadership will allow them to connect their service to Dr. King's life of action.   Quotes serve as an easy reflection starting-point. Some communities include a sheet of quotes in the challenge packet and encourage student leaders to discuss them over breakfast with their family.  MLK quotes -- Everybody can be great, be...

Everyone is talking about exorcism right now. The Discovery Channel and the Vatican are arguing about involvement in a new reality show on exorcism.  The Baltimore Sun  reports that local Priests are taking  exorcism training . And on January 26, the newest major exorcist movie  The Rite premiers featuring Anthony Hopkins. Certainly the movie will benefit from all this extra word-of-mouth of exorcism but what struck us was the new poster. It features an upside down crucifix motif and individual image boxes with those evil Hannibal Lector eyes piercing through it. Some unearthly power will is pushing this international dialogue about exorcism so I guess we'll definitely see this movie. Bring the holy water, crucifixes, popcorn and nachos!

The last work of Indian contemporary master artist Tyeb Mehta, painted just before his death in 2009, is now on view in Delhi, India in a rare exposition of the artist`s unseen work at India Art Summit through Feb. 18. Mehta, one of India`s most expensive artists, created auction history in 2005, when his ‘Mahishasura,' an interpretation of the buffalo-demon of Hindu mythology was bought for $1.58 million dollars at Christie's auction in New York. Hinduism, is the third largest religion in the world, but have you ever met a Hindu artist, or even a Hindu? Do you know even a little about what Hinduism? According to Webster , it is the dominant religion of India that emphasizes dharma with its resulting ritual and social observances and often mystical contemplation and ascetic practices." A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend an 8-hour drive during a snow storm with a young Hindu attorney, Neha Matta who graciously gave me a much needed education. She began with say...

David Wojnarowicz's controversial religious-themed video  which was pulled from display at the Smithsonian in November went on display Thursday at Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art . In addition to New York City's MoMA, in Pittsburgh, The Mattress Factory Museum is also currently screening David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire in My Belly" in their lobby through February 13, 2011. The video which includes images of crawling ants on a crucifix was removed from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in response to pressure from religious extremists. On January 2nd, God's Art Museum "honored" (is that the right word?) the censors of the Smithsonian display with our first annual  Worst of the Year Awards . Also showing the video are the the Andy Warhol Museum and the Wood Street Galleries in Pittsubrgh; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Pacific Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, OR; The New Museum...

James Rosen,  S. Agata , 1986. Oil and wax/oil emulsion on canvas. Collection of MOCRA. St. Louis-based  Museum of Contemporary Religious Arts reopened on Tuesday, January 11 following the holiday break. The Museum also announced that the current exhibition James Rosen: The Artist and the Capable Observer has been extended through February 13, 2011. The exhibition is a survey of paintings, watercolors, and drawings from the artist's six-decade career creating  poetic images that are conducive to quiet contemplation. Established in 1991, the museum is located  at 3700 West Pine Mall Blvd (a pedestrian mall) on the campus of Saint Louis University in midtown St. Louis, Missouri.

Yesterday was World Religion Day , established by the Baha'i faith of the United States in 1950 to call attention to the essential oneness of the world's religions. As the Baha'i writings state, "the gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the fundamental oneness of religion." World Religion Day is now observed around the globe by many faith traditions with conferences, interfaith activities and prayer services.

AOA NEWS By Ernest Britton INDIANA - In Indianapolis yesterday, the public was invited (for "Free") to help make a large-scale pathway out of snow: a meditative labyrinth. The experience was organized for ages 6 and up, and facilitated by artists Heidi Fledderjohn and Tom Streit. All who attended were encouraged to dress warm and to bring their own shovel. Afterward, the Indianapolis Museum of Art invited everyone inside for lunch and hot chocolate.

Wednesday nights memorial service in Tucson, AZ took on the form of a national catharsis, including a presidential reading from the Book of Psalms. Thousands of students and others in the crowd cheered at several points during Mr. Obama’s 32-minute address, which sometimes had the feel of a rally dedicated to the Arizona victims.   The entire memorial service is included below:  

It's awards season, and on this first Sabbath Day of the new year we're not honoring the heroes of religious artistic expression but the worst villains of 2010 with the new Religious Arts Censorship Awards (RACA). This lowly award recognizes the year's worst censors of religious artistic expression. Why create such an award category? Because we want to bring a much needed light of faith to stories that would otherwise be forgotten as purely culture wars between good religious people vs. bad non-religious artists. The five RACA's will be presented this afternoon in Cincinnati, Ohio, a city well-known for censorship  and the home of a leading nominee, House Speaker to-be John Boehner. The 2010 set of winners of the lowly RACA are: Pontius Pilot Award : Congressmen  John Boehner  and Eric Cantor   for reigniting the culture wars by calling for the closing of a Smithsonian exhibit based on their religious views without even seeing the exhibit. Judas...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS  By TAHLIB Mother Teresa's 100th Birthday Thomas Blackshear II (b. America) U.S. Postal Stamp Release date: August 26, 2010

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS INDIANA - For a full-day on Saturday, January 29th, the city of Indianapolis will become the focal point for contemporary religious art tour & dialogue. Alpha and Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts  will host its first  AOA Meetup | Indianapolis, a "Journey" program highlighting five interfaith centers of artistry and craft in the Indianapolis area.

As Islamic civil rights activists in America like Haroon Moghul  were challenging Oklahoma's new anti- Sharia Law  as unconstitutional,  Islamic artists in the UK  were mounting an art exhibit to illustrate that Sharia is a real threat to artistic freedom. Their exhibit was entitled,  Passion for Freedom of Art . On November 20, amid speeches against the censorship of Sharia Laws, the shows winners were announced by Agnieszka Kolek, artist and curator who said, "There are regimes that are afraid of art, but artists are not afraid of regimes."  

by James Hipps If you’ve ever attended a Methodist church, you’ll probably agree the name is fitting as they definitely have a ‘method’ to how a service is run.  It’s almost like clockwork and many times, if you’ll look around, there will be parishioners watching the clock, knowing that exactly 11:57 a.m. the benediction will commence.  Ah, yes…the beginning of the end.  You’ve done your weekly duty and put in your hour and now it’s time to head out for lunch. Growing up in the Midwest, I had the opportunity to visit a Methodist church on many occasions.  My father was Catholic, yet my mother was from a Lutheran upbringing and so somehow, the Methodist church became the compromise. With the exception of Christmas Eve, every service was status quo.  I could literally walk you through a service at the First United Methodist Church in Eaton Rapids, Michigan (the only Eaton Rapids on earth, yet I’m sure not the “first” UMC) as easily as I could predict what tim...

“Art…is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings,and is indispensible for the life and progress towards the well being of individualsand of humanity.” – LEO TOLSTOY, What is Art?

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest @DisneyBritton Make 2011 the year that make the A&O Prize, a cash prize for religious artistic expression.   [ Resolutions! ]

 By Tahlib The first historical  CWG  of 2011 features Michelangelo of the "The David" and Sistine Chapel fame. His Italian style and interest in male fitness add a unique flavor to this interview that I find really intriguing. If you haven’t done a tour of his work in Rome, I’d really recommend checking him out. His display at the Sistine Chapel is well worth the dime to fly to Rome, and we Americans are lucky because a replica of his Pieta  on permanent display  in Minnesota at St. Paul's Cathedral. As for Michelangelo’s inspirations, I’m pondering how I can implement my own version of his inspirations (below) into my life as well. Enjoy!