Disney-Britton

ARAB NEWS By Lisa Kaaki GERMANY - After 9/11, the world changed its attitude toward Muslims and Islam. Every Muslim was viewed as a possible terrorist. At that point, the founder of Styleislam , graphic designer Melih Kesmen, thought it was time to show Islam in a different light and come up with a positive statement. Before founding Styleislam, an online Islamic-themed clothing label, in Germany three years ago, Kesmen was the CEO of Manatwork, an advertising agency which he established in 1998. Kesmen wanted to challenge the stereotypes of Islam that were being circulated, so he designed hip street wear along with accessories adorned with Islamic messages. These slogans introduced people to the Muslim faith. Kesmen is especially committed to international projects involving young Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany. Although the majority of customers are Muslims, approximately a quarter of the customers are non-Muslim. [ link ]

By Greg Disney A&O MOVIES (it's in my blood) is an archive of movies seen, and posts made about the religious & spiritual in movies. In 2008, we began making movie dates each Saturday in two different cities, and blogging about them for friends the next day. DECEMBER 2011 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hardy Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Robert Downey, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Stephen Fry The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright\ We Bought a Zoo - Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Patrick Fugit, Thomas Haden Church NOVEMBER 2011 J. Edgar - Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Damon Herriman, Judi Dench Immortals - Henry Cavill, Reymundo Banderas, Mickey Rourke, Freida Pinto Hugo - Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Chloe More...

BBC NEWS Canada is considering a wider ban on veils in government offices, schools and hospitals CANADA - Canada's government has introduced a ban on the wearing of veils while swearing the oath of citizenship. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney told a news conference in Montreal anyone wanting to become a Canadian would have to show their face. He said citizenship judges and MPs had complained it could be hard to tell if veiled applicants were actually reciting the oath. Veils and face coverings are already banned in Quebec for people receiving some government services. Canada is considering a wider ban on veils in government offices, schools and hospitals.Some European countries are also debating the issue. France and Belgium have introduced a ban on wearing the full Islamic veil in public. [ link ]

THE HINDU By Anusha Parthasarathy "Stories of yore: by Raghavendra S.T. INDIA - The Art and Soul gallery is situated in a peaceful suburb on ECR and as if to enunciate its ambience, the ‘View 4' exhibition has serene Buddhas with kohl-lined eyes and stencil eyebrows, and multi-hued abstract flowers looking up to a deep-yellow sun. The exhibition, which showcases the works of four artists, seems to blend seamlessly the vast world of Indian history and mythology into contemporary canvases: Ashok B.S., Arunkumar S. Hadapad, Raghavendra S.T. (above), and Mahesh A. Umatar. [ link ].

KOREAN HERALD By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldm.com) Openwork Keko (Flower Basket) — 12th-13th century, Jinsyoji Temple, Japanese National Treasure (National Museum of Korea) KOREA - The National Museum of Korea’s current exhibition, “Japanese Buddhist Art from the Lake Biwa District ― Aspiring for Rebirth in the Buddhist Paradise,” features 94 Japanese Buddhist artworks from the region, including four national treasures of Japan. “Many Koreans may not be so familiar with the Lake Biwa district,” said Ryu Seung-jin, the Asian art curator of the museum. “But the region carries a lot of significance in Korea-Japan history, as it was the area where Buddhism was introduced by Baekje migrants....” The exhibition runs until Feb. 19. For more information, call (02) 2077-9000 or visit www.museum.go.kr. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Randy Kennedy Richard Prince's "Inquisition," which uses the Rastafarian pictures taken by the French photographer Patrick Cariou. NEW YORK - In March a federal district court judge in Manhattan ruled that Mr. Prince — whose career was built on appropriating imagery created by others — broke the law by taking photographs from a book about Rastafarians and using them without permission to create the collages and a series of paintings based on them, which quickly sold for serious money even by today’s gilded art-world standards: almost $2.5 million for one of the works. The decision, by Judge Deborah A. Batts, set off alarm bells throughout Chelsea and in museums across America that show contemporary art. At the heart of the case, which Mr. Prince is now appealing, is the principle called fair use, a kind of door in the bulwark of copyright protections. [ link ]

RUETERS

USA TODAY By Cathy Lynn Grossman Image courtesy of blog, Communio VATICAN CITY - The Vatican on Monday (12/19) announced a 17th-century Mohawk-Algonquin woman will be canonized as a Catholic saint, the first Native American from North America so proclaimed. It takes proof of two miracles to certify that a Catholic is clearly in heaven asking God to help people who pray in their name. Now, a second critical miracle has been credited to prayers in the name of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha , who died in 1680 at age 24. The Vatican scrupulously investigates miracle claims for proof that recovery was not a result of medical or surgical attention. Known as the Lily of the Mohawks, Tekakwitha was born in what is now Upstate New York, the daughter of a Mohawk chief and Algonquin Christian mother. She was just 4 or 5 when she was scarred in the smallpox epidemic that killed her parents and most of her family. Believers say her scars vanished at her death. The dates for the celebration of thei...

ST NICHOLAS AND CHRISTMAS | BLOG "Massacre of the Innocents (1656-1658), By Valerio Castellos Image Courtesy: The State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg, Russia

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AFP

GUARDIAN By Michael McNay Helen Frankenthaler in 1956. Her work never departed from the example of Mountains and Sea. Photograph: Gordon Parks/Getty Images NEW YORK -  At the age of 23 Helen Frankenthaler painted Mountains and Sea (1952), an abstraction that freed up the logjam in postwar American art following the first sensational burst of creative activity by the abstract expressionists. The method and the scale of it was, of course, borrowed from Jackson Pollock's procedure, but it was totally devoid of Pollock's angst-ridden search for the sublime. Frankenthaler said later that, fresh from the north Atlantic, she painted from the memories absorbed into not only her mind but her wrists as well. Painting became once again, as in many of its best periods, an instinctive coalition of hand and eye and controlling intelligence. Colour field painting is what was possible, the next big thing in American painting. Helen Frankenthaler, artist, born 12 December 1928; died ...

IUPUI HERRON SCHOOL OF ART By Ami Maidi INDIANA - Contributing to the 2011 trend of fascination with Islamic art, the Herron School of Art & Design in Indianapolis is offering a class on Islamic calligraphy this spring. Islamic calligraphy, colloquially known as Arabic calligraphy, is the artistic practice of handwriting, or calligraphy, and by extension, of bookmaking in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. It is a centuries old communication and art form that is both beautiful and useful. Herron is one of only a very small number of colleges offering this course in the United States. It is being taught by Abdalla Ali, Ph.D. , who has studied and taught in Saudi Arabia. This is a rare opportunity for students to learn this skill. Please contact Amy Maidi at amcwoods@iupui.edu if you have any questions. [ link ]

CANTERBURY COTTAGE BLOG Courtesy of Canterbury Cottage Blog | [ link ]

EURONEWS

FOX NEWS FRANCE -  A Muslim man has been jailed in France for punching a nurse who tried to remove his wife's burqa during an emergency C-section. Nassim Mimoune, 24, was earlier banned from the delivery room after calling a midwife a "rapist" when she tried to perform an intimate examination on his wife in a Marseille hospital on Monday, La Provence newspaper reported. The pregnant woman, who had been having contractions for two days when she was admitted, begged her husband to allow the examination, but he threatened her with divorce. He said seeing his wife's veil lifted in front of a male health worker was like seeing her "bare-chested" in front of another man. [ link ]

THE IMPERIAL REPUBLICAN | OPINION By Lori Pankonin NEBRASKA - I’ve never given much thought to the lyrics in the “Twelve Days of Christmas” song. Twelve drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 Lords a leaping. Does it have to make sense? I mean, look at nursery rhymes. Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater put his wife in a pumpkin shell in order to keep her. Why was Little Jack Horner a good boy for sticking his thumb into a pie and pulling out a plum? Never had I given any thought to the Christmas song having a religious connection. That is until I read a suggestion recently that it was originally a catechism song written to help Catholics learn their faith at a time when practicing Catholicism was criminalized in England. So here’s the interpretation: [ link ]

ABC NEWS By Dalia Nammari and Daniella Cheslow | Associated Press PALESTINE - Tens of thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims packed the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations Saturday, bringing warm holiday cheer to the traditional birthplace of Jesus on a raw, breezy and rainy night. With turnout at its highest in more than a decade, proud Palestinian officials said they were praying the celebrations would bring them closer to their dream of independence. As the fighting has subsided in recent years, the tourists have returned in large numbers. By late night, the Israeli military, which controls movement in and out of town, said some 100,000 visitors, including foreigners and Arab Christians from Israel, had reached Bethlehem, up from 70,000 the previous year. [ link ]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Pia Catton Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia' opened at the Met in November. NEW YORK - Late December is the time of year for lists, and there's more than enough material for a countdown of New York's 10 best artistic efforts in 2011. But I'm skipping it.This year, one development in the arts stood out so far beyond the rest that it deserves solo recognition: the Metropolitan Museum of Art's November opening, following an eight-year renovation, of the galleries now named "Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia." What makes the presentation so successful is that it is completely absorbing at both the micro and macro levels, from the details of individual objects to the sweeping arc of history they compose.  [ link ]

FLORIDA TIMES-UNION | JACKSONVILLE By Jackie Rooney FLORIDA - The most nerve-wracking song in the Christmas carol book tells the story of gifts delivered to a young woman by her “true love” each day between Christmas and the Epiphany. In addition to the partridge, she received a couple of turtledoves and various other fowl, golden rings — now we’re talking — milkmaids (but did they do windows?), dancing ladies, leaping lords, pipers and drummers. It’s theorized the song originated during the 300-year period from 1558 to 1829 when Catholicism wasn’t allowed to be practiced openly in England. It was a catechism rhyme with two levels of meaning to covertly teach young Roman Catholics about their religion. For example, the partridge in the pear tree represented Jesus Christ; two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments, and 10 lords a-leaping symbolized the 10 commandments. The chant was published in a children’s book in London in 1780 before it became a carol. [ link ]

THE WASHINGTON POST By Thomas Erdbrink Vahid Salemi/AP - Iranian women visit an exhibition depicting Islamic Dress Code during an exhibition in Tehran last August. IRAN - In the Islamic republic of Iran, the law requires women to cover their hair and bodies in public. But how to do so remains up to them, and the result is persistent confusion in the streets. Though leading Shiite Muslim clerics advise women to wear chadors — the traditional head-to-toe cloak, usually black — Iran’s urban fashionistas increasingly prefer tight-fitting coats and scant head scarves. Now, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is stepping into the dispute. He wants to settle it by promoting government-approved apparel for women, garments intended to introduce an array of clothes that are “Islamic and beautiful” at the same time. Hard-liners are not amused. But at a recent government-sponsored fashion show, young women and their mothers gazed approvingly at the plastic mannequins showcasing the new coa...

AOA NEWS By Ernest Britton Few contemporary artists create reverent scenes of the infant Jesus and his mother, and that is why "The Matriarch" by Niccolo Cosme (above) is featured here on Christmas Day 2011. Once upon a time images of Jesus and his mother were unavoidable anywhere that celebrated Christmas, but not so today. Old time favorites can certainly be found in museums such as  The Mystical Nativity by Sandro Botticelli, (1500-1501), The Adoration of the Magi by Pieter Aertsen (1560), and The Adoration of The Magi by Andrea Mantegna (1500). 

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton "EID GREETINGS" is a US Postal Service stamp by Muslim American calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya of Arlington, Virginia. It was first issued in the summer of 2001 to commemorate two major Islamic holidays, thus it is known as the "Eid Stamp." Eid is a generic Arabic term that means "holiday" or "festival." This week after finishing up the list: Top 6 Religious Art Shows of 2011 , I found this newest version of the Islamic designed stamp, shaped like a Christmas tree and I knew it was an ideal message for closing out 2011: Eid Greetings to you all! Listed below are the other religions art news stories of the past week from our interfaith world.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

THE WASHINGTON POST By John Mary Reynolds America should be proud of Santa Claus. He is an American myth and we don’t have that many. These teaching stories were what Plato would have called “myths.” Sadly, most of us get stuck on one meaning of the term “myth:” stories about ancient gods that are false. Plato knew better. He knew that a good story could prepare the soul for the deeper truth that it was not yet ready to grasp. Good fairy tales do this ethical training for us.  Frank L. Baum enfolded the myth of Santa Claus in his Oz world. Santa Claus is very American and so a very Christian myth. He rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior. He is old, but avuncular and he loves children. He is an American legend, our own Zeus, but like Zeus he is not real. Instead, as his creators understood, Santa prepares the heart for the deep reality of Christmas: Jesus is God come in flesh. Merry Christmas! [ link ]

AROUND INDY By Brittany Smith Christ Church Cathedral, Monument Circle, Downtown Indianapolis INDIANA - Downtown churches and places of worship are celebrating the holidays and you are invited! Many locations offer family services, special holiday performances and much more throughout December. Downtown places of worship offer something for people of all faiths. [ link ]

NYC RELIGION

THE EPOCH TIMES By Kara Lysandra Ross La Vierge Aux Anges, 1881. 83 7/8 x 59 7/8 inches. Oil on canvas. (Image courtesy of the Museum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, CA, USA) FRANCE - William Bouguereau (1825-1905), has also become one of the most beloved religious painters of all time. Bouguereau strived for perfection and would often use the hands of one model, the eyes of another, hair from yet a third, etc. In his religious works and his depictions of the holy, he took extra care in finding a compelling human image that could capture the divine, and once he found what he wanted, he did not stray. The recently published Catalogue Raisonné on the artist by Damien Bartoli and Fred Ross, clearly illustrates through over 760 examples of this artist’s work, the tremendous fortitude of Bouguereau’s prowess with the brush. [ link ]

THE GUARDIAN By Michael Cragg All you want for Christmas ... Napoleon IIIrd. Photograph: Sonny Malhotra UNITED KINGDOM - If your Christmas wishlist for this year included a frankly barmy re-imagining of Deck the Halls , complete with a "fa la la la la" chorus shouted with barely hidden delirium, then you're in luck. London-based Napoleon IIIrd , aka James Mabbett, first emerged in 2007 and has since released a string of EPs and two albums, with 2010's Christiania receiving universal praise for its experimentation and energy. Both of these things are in abundance on this Christmas curio, released for no reason other than to give people something to dance to on the special day. [ link ]

AOA NEWS By Ernest Britton The word commonly used term  holiday evolved from the religious term, " Holy Days " or special religious days, but while few today connect these days of relaxation and recreation with much in the way of religion. What can we learn about our differing faiths by returning to the original meaning?  Inspired by this months interest in Menorahs and Nativity scenes, I asked the AOA NEWS team to begin exploring the links of religious art to the holydays of the major faiths.  We've also added a Holy Days calendar page to help guide this particular journey. The first up will be on Thursday, January 5, 2012 when we explore the religious art of "Twelfth Night" a Christian holyday. We invite you explore Holy Days in a new way in 2012 as part of the religious arts journey. Happy New Year!

AOA NEWS By Tahlib "The Sacrifice of Isaac" (1590-1610) by Caravaggio; Oil on canvas, on display at Kimbell Art Museum America is caught up in Caravaggio fever this year. There is a major exhibition at the  Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio and also at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. For those who think those museums are too far to visit, you can still watch this summer's PBS series on artists produced by Thirteen/WNET , and now there is a new biography by Andrew Dixon-Graham which in novel-like style tells how this original "master of light" became a favorite of priests, patrons and prostitutes. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) died during an attempt to escape from pursuers at the age of 38 years of age.

AOA NEWS "Juliet’s Balcony, Verona" (2006) buy Jeffrey Vallance, courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York PENNSYLVANIA - The Andy Warhol Museum presents The Word of God: Jeffrey Vallance , an exploration of Christianity through February 5, 2012. Vallance is a California artist who creates objects, installations, performance and curatorial works. Vallance’s exhibition of  relics and religious artistry includes  The Vallance Bible , a series of writings based upon Vallance’s personal experiences, spiritual upbringing, studies and reading.

AOA NEWS By Tahlib A nation of creators, believers, and celebrators best describes the religious art moves made by American cultural institutions during 2011. Below, with one exhibit for each major religious tradition, are AOA NEWS’s most memorable 2011 picks, and dialogue starters.

BBC NEWS UNITED KINGDOM - A Devon vicar who produced a beatbox version of the Nativity has won a national competition. The Reverend Gavin Tyte's beatbox video has been watched more than 57,000 times on YouTube and was judged the winner of the Nativity Factor . Mr Tyte, 40, the vicar of Uplyme Church, said he was "over the moon" to have won. Mr Tyte, who has been vicar of Uplyme for the past two years, describes how he produced the YouTube video on the Uplyme church website. [ link ]

COMEDY CHANNEL

ART MEDIA AGENCY FRANCE - Islamic Arts are currently at the centre of media coverage in the art world. This disparate ensemble including art works from various origins, is problematic for two reasons: the sacred dimension intrinsic to the art and the Eastern-Western relationship reflected with the term “Islamic Art”. In fact, no one has ever used the term “Islamic” to refer to Mughal Art or to the architecture of monuments such as Taj Mahal in India: fusion of Persian and Indian cultures. However, Wesern museum visitors, galleries and other actors of the art market could be easily confused. A relevant example is the Islamic Arts section in Sotheby’s, as the society organises auctions dedicated to traditional Islamic Art, Modern Art and Contemporary Art of the Middle-East and other related areas. It seems the Islamic art concept was created from an ensemble of ideas dating from the colonisation era and echoes several practices of looting and desecration against the colonised civil...

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Via Associated Press NEW YORK - Police say vandals have sprayed black paint on several religious statues at homes and a church in Yonkers. The police report calls the vandalism a hate crime. Spokesman Lt. Patrick McCormack says there were five incidents. He says four statues of the Virgin Mary were painted black at shrines or Nativity scenes in homeowners' yards. [ link ]

PAKISTAN TODAY By Fizza Hassan PAKISTAN - In a country where it is easy to label an act as “blasphemy”, it would be impious, if not blasphemous, to not see the art collection. The opening of a two-person show – Komail Aijazuddin’s ‘Altars’ and Muhammad Ali’s ‘Condolence Theatre’ – was recently held at the Canvas Gallery. Out of 17 artworks that are on display, five are Ali’s paintings, whereas 12 are Aijazuddin’s altars. While the material worked on and the philosophy behind the art is entirely different, the two young artists have presented the similarities Christianity and Islam, especially Shi’ism, share. Aijazuddin’s altars celebrate weddings – a reference to the wedding of Qasim in Karbala – and pay homage to St Sebastian, a Christian saint.  Holding in high regard the great martyr of Islam, Imam Hussain, and St Sebastian, it was natural for Aijazuddin to objectify the two historical personalities. [ link ]

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER | GUEST COLUMN By Tony Norman Muslims really thought they were doing the world a favor by pulling Europe and its mostly illiterate Christians out of the Dark Ages. But just because they foisted algebra, trigonometry, optics, astronomical charts, the classics, Arabic numerals, advanced surgical techniques, perspective in art, the lute, and artichokes on the world - while the Christian kings of Europe were smothering free inquiry - we're not about to give them any credit a thousand years later. Americans are so used to thinking of Muslims as an exotic "other" that many fail to realize they're an inextricable part of who we are and have been since the nation's earliest days. But Islamophobia, like its twin brother, anti-Semitism, has a way of injecting itself into the cultural discourse. Contempt for Muslims remains an acceptable prejudice for millions who continue to equate the religion with terrorism. Crawling out of this depressing se...

Dear Believer: As you know, throughout human history, religion and art have been joined as part of the wider quest for meaning. That is why we need both. At the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts we view religious art as a powerful catalyst in promoting inter-religious dialogue and understanding. During the past year, with your support we've explored Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism and others by examining their religious art. The images, representing many faiths speak to our human desire for religious and creative freedom, and our quest for meaning. Thank you for being part of making that conversation possible during this past year. As we look ahead, we invite you to support the creation and celebration of religious art with a year-end gift. Please follow this link ( Support Art ), to review a short list of extraordinary groups who have explored religious art during 2011, and support one or all of us. Every gift matters, and none of ...

AOA NEWS By TAHLIB "MUSLIM ICON" (above) by Komail Aijazuddin shows a woman in traditional Muslim dress. Using Christian stylized imagery of a traditional American nature (such as  Whistler's Mother ), Aijazuddin shows this Islamic women in a new light. Trained in NYC, the artist's work which went on display this week in a Pakistani gallery helps us to frame the struggle of Islamaphobia in America today. Two weeks into the debacle where Lowes pulled its advertising from the innocuous cable show, All-American Muslim, decent Christians are rallying to the side of American Muslims (and Jewish comedian Jon Stewart is making Lowes look appropriately stupid), this Creator Spirit reminds us that artists have a gift that can help us to celebrate our religious similarities, and to press past our differences (Image courtesy of GLAAD ). Listed below are the other religions art news stories of the past week from our interfaith world. The stories are grouped by the...

DAWN NEWS By Salman Haqqi "The Ascension of Iman Hussien" by Komail Aijazuddin PAKISTAN - Few shows have really tackled the role of religion in our society, but an exhibition of artworks titled “Altars” by Komail Aijazuddin and “Condolence theatre” by Muhammad Ali which opened Tuesday does just that. Showing at the Canvas Art Gallery in Clifton, the exhibit takes a look at the Shia tradition of mourning from the perspectives of two different artists. Komail Aijazuddin , a graduate from NYU, described his set of 12 pieces as a manifestation of his search for faith. He said he wanted to take concepts from the history of Shia tradition and look at them, not from the lens of western religion, but from the depiction of religion in western art. “There are a lot of parallels between Christianity and the Shia tradition,” he said. “And I wanted to highlight them without being too in-your-face about it.” The exhibition is showing till December 22, daily from 11am to 8pm (except ...

LOS ANGELES TIMES | ENTERTAINMENT By Larry Stempel, Special to the Los Angeles Times "JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR": Paul Nolan in the rock-godish title role. (Stratford Shakespeare Festival) Before "Godspell" and "Jesus Christ Superstar" first hit off-Broadway and Broadway, respectively, 40 years ago — the first like an ember that caught fire, the other like an explosion — who but the most prescient or devout would have laid odds on any musical that ended with a crucifixion? What helped create a climate conducive for religion to come out of the musical theater closet was the convergence in the 1960s of two cultural trends: the liberalizing spirit within Christendom in the wake of Vatican II, and the anti-Establishment fervor of the youth counterculture in the U.S. Can any musical created in response to such a time still speak to us today when what was once so fresh, indeed subversive, has become the very thing it sought to subvert? In this light the revi...

PBS NEWS HOUR By Jeffrey Brown Watch Conversation: 'Caravaggio: a Life Sacred and Profane' on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

LOS ANGELES TIMES By Jamie Wetherbe, Special to the Los Angeles Times The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever! makes its West Coast debut at the Avery Schreiber Theatre in North Hollywood. Shown are Allyson Mendelbaum {Mary], Jen Mcclone [Angel], top, and Garrett Braddock [Joseph]. (Janice Allen) CALIFORNIA - After a successful off-Broadway run, Alternative Theatre Company founder and playwright Joe Marshall's gay-themed Christmas comedy, "The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever!" made its West Coast premiere Monday at North Hollywood's Avery Schreiber Theatre. And it features a veritable parade of stereotypes for the holidays. The show is egalitarian in its aim to offend all classes and creeds — think of it as staged episode of "South Park." "The underlying message is one of visibility, and those of us who are gay and lesbian struggle with that," says Jen McGlone, who butches up the Nativity as a lesbian angel in a bow tie and suspenders. "The hope is...

THE BANGKOK POST "Seeing Through Body [Mom]" by Uttaporn Nimmalaikaew (2006) Inkjet on one layer of canvas and oil painting on two layers of mosquito netting, with thread | Size (inches): 36 x 28 THAILAND - Uttaporn Nimmalaikaew, an award-winning young artist, captures the Buddhist idea of the inescapable truths of life: birth, ageing, sickness and death, in a series of oil paintings and mixed media works. Nimmalaikaew is one of Thailand’s most exciting and widely admired new-generation artists, "The Essence of Impermanence" runs through Jan 13, 2012 at Ardel Gallery of Modern Art, Bangkok, Thailand, ardelgallery.com . [ link ]

ABC NEWS “Where there are religious majorities — that is, in most of the world — atheists are among the least trusted people,” said the study’s lead author, Will M. Gervais, a doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, in a press release from the University of Oregon, where a co-author is an assistant professor. The research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In six separate studies, the researchers asked 770 people – American adults and Canadian college students – a number of questions. In one study, when presented with a description of an untrustworthy person, participants said they believed that description represented atheists and rapists to a similar degree and wasn’t as representative of gays, feminists, Christians, Jews or Muslims. Atheists also tend to trust religious people more than they trust other atheists. [ link ]

DAILY MAIL By Jessica Satherley "Cardinal Sin" by Banksy at Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool UNITED KINGDOM - A sculpture of a 'vandalised' priest by the underground artist Banksy has gone on display today alongside 17th-century Old Masters. The artist, known for his graffiti on the streets of cities across the world, has created Cardinal Sin, a replica of an 18th-century stone bust which has had the face sawn off and replaced with a mosaic of bathroom tiles. The effect is to replicate the pixellation techniques used in the media to prevent identification of victims of sex crimes. It is believed Cardinal Sin is a comment on the sexual abuse scandal which has engulfed the Catholic Church. [ link ]

THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL  Komail Aijazuddin's depiction of Imam Hassan. one of Shi'a Islam's most venerated figures, lying dead on a fabric as red as Caravaggios. Courtesy Studio 360 PAKISTAN -  Religious symbolism has always been a rich area of exploration for artists in all ages. In the history of Islamic art, the debate on the making of human images – the obscurity of its permissibility — has clogged, in various phases in the past, the creation of works that dare to symbolically represent the revered protagonists of the great events that acquired the stature of mythical epics. But thankfully, they kept cropping up, especially in the Shia dominant regions of the world. The “Condolence Theatre” — a two-person exhibition that opened at the Canvas Gallery on Tuesday [in Karachi] — explores the events of Karbala in all its dramatic description. The mourning rituals of Ashura are at the heart of Shia Islam . And Muhammed Ali , in his paintings captures the core ...

CALIFORNIA LITERARY REVIEW By Ed Voves Plate with David fighting a Bear, Yr 628 – 30 NEW YORK - An insightful art exhibition at the Onassis Cultural Center in New York City is providing answers to one of the central mysteries of Western civilization. How did Christianity evolve from a persecuted religious sect under the Roman Empire into a global faith and one of the world’s greatest patrons of the arts? Transition to Christianity presents 170 rare artifacts from the third to the seventh centuries AD, many never seen before in the United States. These paintings, mosaics, sculptures, coins and sacred objects are the evidence for a great cultural awakening during an era often dismissed as the “Dark Ages.” Scholars now prefer the term “Late Antiquity” to show the continuity, rather than the breakdown, of civilization in this era. During this period, the early Christians borrowed and absorbed artistic motifs from the “pagan” religions around them to create a visual language for expr...

THE HINDU Art enthusiasts having a look at the paintings on Lord Buddha put up by West Godavari Joint Director of Social Welfare R. Mallikarjuna Rao at Yiwu near Shanghai in China. CHINA - Exhibition of paintings on Lord Buddha by Social Welfare official Mallikarjuna Rao evokes good response in China. Promoting Buddhist sculptures of Amaravathi , Guntur district, is a passion that has taken West Godavari Joint Director of Social Welfare R. Mallikarjuna Rao to Yiwu near Shanghai in China with all his paintings on Lord Buddha. The exhibition was to promote the Dhyana Buddha and Amaravathi as a Buddhist destination. Though not a professional painter, Mr. Mallikarjuna Rao had come up with a series of 16 paintings of 3 feet x 2 feet along with an explanation on the importance of Buddhist sculpture, which got evolved into a specialised school of sculpting, now renowned the world over. The Greeko-Roman art forms were prominently visible on the sculptures, which were put in place bet...

DETROIT FREE PRESS By Rochelle Riley, Columnist Some Florida activists have hijacked Christianity and scared a major retailer from advertising on a reality TV show that is teaching Americans more about each other. Mind you, that show, "All-American Muslim" -- which airs, appropriately, on the Learning Channel -- was destined for controversy. But as far as Lowe's is concerned, well, I didn't really need to buy that new washer and dryer from a store that puts its politics on its sales receipts. And I'll be checking to see where else Lowe's advertises, now that I know what drives its decisions. [ link ]

VOICE OF AMERICA ByDavid Byrd WASHINGTON, DC - Washington D.C.’s Mall is the home of many of the city’s finest museums, housing works of the masters at the National Museum of Art, historic aircraft at the Air and Space Museum and America’s Native heritage at the American Indian Museum. But one man saw that something was missing: Amir Muhammad couldn’t find a museum that showed Islam’s history in America. So he started digging. His results - including photos, artifacts, and displays - have become America’s Islamic Heritage Museum and Cultural Center in Southeast Washington, DC. This year, the Exhibit found a home at the former Clara Muhammad School on Martin Luther King Avenue in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood. [ link ]

HINDUSTAN TIMES INDIA - Artist Preksha Lal, 27, has always been deeply influenced by the town of Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh, where the Buddha first taught the lesson of Dharma. Now, she will exhibit a series of 80 paintings on the life of Gautama Buddha, from December 13 to 19 at the Hirji gallery at the Jehangir art gallery, Kala Ghoda. Lal spent four of her childhood years in Sarnath when her father, a government employee, was posted in Varanasi. "We would go there every weekend. I have the images of Sarnath inscribed in my mind," says Lal. In her paintings, she portrays various stages of Buddha's life , such as his renunciation of worldly life to attain Nirvana, and his first sermon. Lal has also painted important Buddhist sites such as the Sanchi stupa in Madhya Pradesh, Sarnath and the Buddhist goddess Tara for the exhibition. [ link ]

AOA NEWS " Holy Ghost " (2000) INDIA - NY born conceptual artist, Ralph Brancaccio joined more than 70 painters and sculptors of international repute in the 25-day International Sculpture and Painting Symposium being held at the Sri Guru Vidya Peeta Education Institute complex at India's Kanadal village on the outskirts of the city. Six sculptors including Brancaccio, according to The HINDU  are donating their works to the peeta as a gesture to promote fine arts education among youth. Born in NY in 1960, Brancaccio is represented by Saatchi Gallery in NYC and his provocative conceptual works challenge social paradigms including faith and conscience. He is als noted for creating his works using unorthodox tools such as manhole covers. [ link ]

FACEBOOK By Julianna Thibodeaux "Birth Of Jesus" (2010) acrylic on wood, 34 x 24 x 18" By Tom Torluemke @tomtorluemke ILLINOIS - In a career spanning more than two decades, Chicago-area artist Tom Torluemke (January 8, 1959) continues to be a vital contributor to the arts and culture of his home turf and far beyond, exhibiting regularly both in Chicago and throughout Indiana. While Torluemke's work in many ways is anchored by a firm sense of place, including the rich cultural diversity of his life-long home, his aesthetic... transcends the concrete and allows for a fully developed voice within the context of his concern for truth and expressions of deep emotion, feeling and spirituality. At the heart of Torluemke's work is a yearning to understand and improve the human condition while coming to a greater understanding of humanity's true place in the universe.

AOA NEWS | OP-ED By Ernest Britton This weekend I discovered Advent Conspiracy , and it blew me away. It's not a religious group but it was founded by six US pastors. It's not an arts group, but they make amazingly creative use of video to tell their powerful story. They are simply a project to save lives during Christmas season, and year round. Their Twitter profile reads, "Advent Conspiracy is an international movement restoring the scandal of Christmas by substituting compassion for consumption," and they don't accept money. Instead they provide a bridge of inspiration for churches to sponsor humanitarian projects such a clean water. I shared this project with my church board last night, and I hope you will do the same with your own.

MUSIC INDUSTRY NEW NETWORK Image of Monk painting Mandala courtsey of CNN GEORGIA - The Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University will showcase the sacred art of Tibet in the special exhibition Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism from January 21 through April 15, 2012. For the first time in the Southeast more than 100 masterworks will bring to light the intricate, transcendental, and evocative manifestations and functions of the "perfect circle" or mandala used as an aid in meditation and as a tool to obtain enlightenment. The exhibition and accompanying educational programs will celebrate the rich religious and artistic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the spiritual significance of the mandala. [ link ]

WALL STREET JOURNAL By Sameer Reddy NEW YORK - Building an art collection often requires cultivating relationships with a global network of dealers, but now, a steadily growing genre of online ventures is seeking to streamline the process for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to fine art. [High End] With high-profile investors and advisers— Art.sy aims to become a Pandora for fine art;  The art-marketing site Paddle8 , provides guest-curated "virtual exhibitions" accompanied by dossiers on participating artists, detailing their work and influences; [Middle Market] Artspace offers a more populist approach to collecting. [Low End] If your bank balance is feeling the holiday pinch, the art site 20x200   might prove a better fit. The art "e-tailer" Artsicle attempts to alleviate the risk factor in buying works from your laptop. Would-be collectors can lease works, often from MFA graduates still cultivating reputations. P...

USA TODAY SWEDEN - Scientists hunting for an elusive sub-atomic particle say they've found "intriguing hints" that it exists, narrowing down the search for what is believed to be a basic building block of the universe. The Higgs boson — popularly referred to as the "God particle" — is more likely to be found in the lower mass or energy ranges of the massive atom smasher being used to track it down, physicists from two independent research teams said Tuesday. [ link ]

THE NEW YORKER NEW YORK - Sotheby’s mounts a sale of Judaica on Dec. 14, which includes such highly prized items as a lush Isidor Kaufmann painting of a young woman gazing mournfully at the viewer (“The Newlywed”) and a set of eighteenth-century German Torah finials. A sale of Israeli art the same day features a series of three oil paintings by Marc Chagall depicting synagogue interiors (an atypical subject for the artist) in Jerusalem, Vilna, and Safed. (York Ave. at 72nd St. 212-606-7000.) [ link ]

AC Amen from Advent Conspiracy on Vimeo .

THE GUARDIAN By Jonathon Jones "The Crowning of Thorns" Courtesy of owner  Kunsthistorisches Museum I've waited a long time for a decent book on Caravaggio to come along. Unable to translate the shock of his images into prose, authors either sensationalise his life story in ways so crass as to be irrelevant, or retreat into reconstructions of his networks of patronage that are so dull they make you wonder why you ever felt seduced by his art in the first place – until, once again, you see a Caravaggio in a gallery or a church that knocks you sideways and scars your soul.  In his biography Caravaggio, the critic Andrew Graham-Dixon has a very clever explanation for the unique effect of Caravaggio's paintings. The reason they obliterate other paintings in a gallery, even great paintings, is, he argues, to do with Caravaggio's special intensity of looking, which he believes was formed during the artist's youth in the religious visual culture of Counter-Ref...

[AC] Made to Work from Advent Conspiracy on Vimeo .

USA TODAY By Douglas Stanglin AFP/Getty Images by Kim Jae-Myung KOREA - Despite warnings from Pyongyang, South Korea says it will light three giant Christmas trees along the North Korean border. North Korea has warned South Korea of "unexpected consequences" if it goes thrugh with its plans, the BBC reports. Pyongyang has accused Seoul of using the trees to spread the Christian message to people inside Noth Korea. A government official said Seoul will light the steel Christmas structures on Dec. 23 and keep them on until Jan. 6, Chosun Ilbo reports. Seoul says it is acting on a request of Christian evangelical organizations. [ link ]

THE HINDU INDIA - More than 70 painters of international and national repute and several sculptors are participating in the 25-day International Sculpture and Painting Symposium being held at the Sri Guru Vidya Peeta Education Institute complex at Kanadal village on the outskirts of the city. Six painters and six sculptors from different countries such as France, Germany, Moldove, South Africa, Italy, Serbia, and Dubai were taking part in the symposium that aimed at promoting art and culture and generate interest among the youth about fine arts. All the artists would donate their works to the peeta as a gesture to promote fine arts among children studying in different classes in the educational institutes run by the institution. [ link ]

NEWS STRAITS TIMES By Luchien de Guise Illustrated manuscript from Anwar-i Suhayli,Iran, 1593 MALAYSIA - Links between Malaysia and Russia have always been limited, an exhibition starting next month in St Petersburg will be travelling to Malaysia next year. Architecture and its Representations in Islamic Art at the State Hermitage Museum ends February 2012. Architecture is one of the greatest accomplishments of the Islamic world. Architecture was one of the first expressions of the cultural identity of Islamic society, and remains so to this day. Testimonials to this art form exist not only in the buildings that have survived but also in the legacy that these traditions have left in the other arts. The most detailed evidence of this impact is through the medium of painting. Miniature painting had existed for centuries in the Islamic Middle East but underwent a dramatic and series of developments in the Iranian world between the 14th and 16th Centuries. The most striking feature of...