RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Ernest O. Britton

MASTER'S OF MERCY by Kano Kazunobu is the NEWS OF WEEK (above). The exhibition of 100 paintings created between 1854-1863, depicts the miraculous works of the Buddha's five hundred disciples, and is on display at the Smithsonian Institution through July 2012.

In other Religious Art news from across the USA, and the world:

• BUDDHISM: California family counselor Danielle Hering shared how Buddhist meditation led her to create amazing mandala paintings. [More: Art News]
• CHRISTIANITY: Modernist sculptor Oliviero Rainaldi updated his “Conversa-tions,” a 16-foot-tall bronze statue of Blessed John Paul II to commemorate the pope’s May birthday. [More: Art News]
• HINDUISM: Venetian glass artists (and siblings) Laura de & Alessandro Diaz de Santillana explore Hindu cosmology at the Glass Museum in Washington (state) this summer. [More: Art News]
• ISLAM: A new exhibition by NYC photographer Lalla Essaydi's opened at the Smithsonian Institution which challenges stereotypes of women in Islamic cultures. [More: Art News]
• JUDAISM: NYC artists Tobi Kahn and Yona Verwer shared reminders of the Jewish biblical tradition: "Counting the Omer." [More: Art News]
• INTERFAITH: The Olympic Games committee in London banned religious symbols from a "faith" badge designed for chaplains at the 2012 Olympic Games because not all religious believers would feel "comfortable" wearing symbols of other faiths. [More: Art News]

WANT MORE interfaith religious art news? Get your daily dose of Alpha Omega Arts on Facebook and/or Twitter, or just come back each day. We also urge you to sign-up for the Religious Arts Society online at Meetup.com, and invite a friend to join too! It's "free" and it's another great way to keep up with gatherings of like-minded people who share your interest in interfaith Religious Art news. After all, who is Religious Art for? Yes, it's for Believers, and Skeptics too!