Disney-Britton

ISLAMIC ART MAGAZINE Dana Awartani / AbdulRaheem (Slave of The Merciful), 2012, Pencil on mount board, 100x100 cm (unframed), Unique / Courtesy of Athr Gallery and the Artist QATAR---Jeddah’s Athr Gallery comes to Doha, Qatar, this month to collaborate with the city’s Katara Cultural Village on ‘ Show Of Faith ' - a major, multi-media group exhibition featuring Saudi Arabian artists. In ‘ Show Of Faith ’, Athr Gallery and Katara Cultural Village question how the proximity of Mecca – has affected the worldview of the artists who have grown up in the area, including Ibrahim Abumsmar, Ayman Yossri Daydban, Nasser Alsalem, Musaed Al-Hulis, Noor Alissa, Dana Awartani, Noha Alsharif, Basmah Felemban and Dana Awartani . [ link ]

ARTDAILY By Kelly McNamara British art historian, Rupert Richard Arrowsmith recites the teachings of Buddha during an ordination ceremony. MYANMAR---Pre-dawn wake-up calls, days of silence and hunger may not be everyone's idea of a holiday, but for tourists seeking spiritual sustenance Myanmar's monasteries offer help on the path to Buddhist nirvana. The search for inner peace is unlikely to appeal to those who take a more hedonistic approach to vacations -- booze, beaches and bikinis are definitely out. "When you first start it is a bit like running into a brick wall, you know, you are having extreme problems settling down and for your mind to settle," said Rupert Arrowsmith , a British art historian. He spent 45 days of total silence in the "famously austere" Chanmyay Yeiktha monastery, a peaceful compound of rooms for meditation and sleeping in the countryside near Yangon. "The new environment, different way of dressing, different way of eating...

THE ART NEWSPAPER By Javier Pes Untitled from the series Relecturas de la Biblia (Rereadings of the Bible), 1986 ARGENTINA---The controversial conceptual artist León Ferrari , whose work famously upset the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, now Pope Francis , due to its anti-clerical message, worked in many media, including wood, wire, concrete and collage. Born in Buenos Aires in 1920, Ferrari began his career as an engineer. He became one of Argentina's best-known artists for work that often combined religious iconography with erotic and violent imagery that called attention to abuses of power, not least by the Catholic Church. A retrospective of his work in Buenos Aires in 2004, which attracted thousands of visitors, was temporarily closed by court order after protests about its anti-Catholic content. [ link ]

ARTFIXX DAILY "Death of Moses" by Alexandre Cabanel NEW YORK---"Sacred Visions: Nineteenth-Century Biblical Art from the Dahesh Museum Collection", a collaboration between the Dahesh Museum of Art and the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA), features approximately 30 religious paintings, drawings, and sculptures that survey the rich diversity of biblical subject matter produced by masters of the academic tradition. On view are works by well-known 19th-century artists including Bonnat , Cabanel , Doré , Delaroche , and Gérôme , as well as their lesser known, but equally gifted contemporaries. [ link ]

JAKARTA POST By Richard Horstman "Logic of Ritual" (July 2013) BALI--- For his July 5-10th exhibition at Sangkring Art Gallery in Yogyakarta Balinese artist Made Djirna was prepared to scrutinize his own religion. His paintings and installations in “ The Logic of Ritual ” protest the numerous Balinese Hindu rituals, which, according to the artist, are now driven by contemporary commercialism. Djirna criticizes the relationship of money (his works often feature Chinese coins) to Hindu religious rituals, which he deems to be increasingly more glamorous and luxurious. Djirna dedicated his exhibition to the plight of the impoverished in Bali, who suffer in silence while paying excessively for the staging of rituals that demand perfection. [ link ]

THE AUSTRALIAN By Michaela Boland A visitor this week to the Art Gallery of NSW gazes at the statue of Ardhanarishvara AUSTRALIA---A fortnight after a valuable statue owned by the Art Gallery of NSW was found to have been stolen from a temple in southern India, the case has been referred to police investigators there. The so-called Idol Wing of the police department in Tamil Nadu, southern India, has been furnished with a photograph taken in 1974 of the Ardhanarishvara , which remains on display in the Sydney art museum's upper Asian gallery. The 1000-year-old stone carving of Shiva, with the bull Nandi, was stolen from the Vriddhachalam temple about 200km south of Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai some time after 1974 when it was photographed at the temple. Subhash Kapoor was arrested in Germany on an Interpol warrant in 2011 and extradited to southern India a year ago. Kapoor operated from a Manhattan shop but is alleged to have worked with thieves in southern India and el...

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Peter Buffett, Op-Ed I’m really not calling for an end to capitalism; I’m calling for humanism. Early on in our philanthropic journey, my wife and I became aware of something I started to call Philanthropic Colonialism . I noticed that a donor had the urge to “save the day” in some fashion. People (including me) who had very little knowledge of a particular place would think that they could solve a local problem. Often the results of our decisions had unintended consequences; distributing condoms to stop the spread of AIDS in a brothel area ended up creating a higher price for unprotected sex. But now I think something even more damaging is going on. As more lives and communities are destroyed by the system that creates vast amounts of wealth for the few, the more heroic it sounds to “give back.” It’s what I would call “conscience laundering” — feeling better about accumulating more than any one person could possibly need to live on by sprinkling a little a...

ASHARQ ALAWSAT By Abeer Mishkhas Image of Muslim pilgrims during the Hajj. (Credit: British Museum) UNITED KINGDOM---It appears that the successful exhibition of Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam that took place at London’s British Museum in January 2012 has tempted other international museums and art institutions to host similar exhibitions. In the next few months there will be exhibitions on the Hajj , the main Muslim pilgrimage, at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doh a, the Arab World Institute (AWI) in Paris and the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, Netherlands. [link]

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR By Associated Press INDIANA--- Former Indiana and current Florida schools chief Tony Bennett built his national star by promising to hold “failing” schools accountable. But when it appeared an Indianapolis charter school run by a prominent Republican donor might receive a poor grade, Bennett’s education team frantically overhauled his signature “A-F” school grading system to improve the school’s marks. Emails obtained by The Associated Press show Bennett and his staff scrambled last fall to ensure influential donor Christel DeHaan’s school received an “A,” despite poor test scores in algebra that initially earned it a “C.” [E]mails clearly show Bennett’s staff was intensely focused on Christel House, whose founder has given more than $2.8 million to Republicans since 1998, including $130,000 to Bennett and thousands more to state legislative leaders. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton ILLINOIS---Bartering was once the norm for the exchange of valued goods, but Chicago religious artist Daniel Mitsui has resurrected this idea and made it integral to his sales strategy. "I specialize in meticulously detailed ink drawings done by hand on paper or parchment," wrote Daniel in his most recent newsletter. "I offer my patrons the option of purchasing artwork, prints or lessons by barter if they prefer this method of payment to cash. For suggestions, please see this list of items that I am seeking in barter." Barter is characterized in Adam Smith's " The Wealth of Nations " by a disparaging vocabulary: "higgling, haggling, swapping, dickering," but when exchanges are clearly defined as Mitsui has done...there is no "dickering." In its place is a dialogue, and a real relationship that is often lacking when using money.

NONPROFIT QUARTERLY By Rob Meiksins OHIO---For the past 69 years, Bridges for a Just Community has been promoting diversity and fairness in the Cincinnati. The website describes the organization as the Queen City’s “leading human relations organization since 1944 and…a founding member of the National Federation for Just Communities, a coalition of like-minded organizations working across America to bring the values of diversity, inclusion and social justice to our communities, schools, workplaces and institutions.” But in a recent news release, Bridges has announced that it would cease doing business in September. In a city that has a history of troubled race relations, but is very proud of its history helping slaves find freedom , why is a venerable organization like this one in trouble? With a strong mission, a desire to forge powerful collaborations, and designation as a Better Business Bureau accredited organization, why are donations slipping to the point of having to close the...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton "The Miracle of Christ Healing the Blind" by El Greco at Metropolitan Museum of Art They couldn't stop  Bartimaeus  from shouting, because the blind man saw a chance for his miracle. Sunday's sermon was artful and colorful; loud and impactful; and made the point that if you want that transformational change that's waiting, then boldy step forward. Bartimeaus was blind. I am 30-lbs over weight (205-lbs). Bartimaeus tossed-off the cloak of the familiar that weighed him down, and he walked toward what he wanted most. Because of  Sunday's sermon , I too am tossing aside my cloak; and in 15 weeks (Dec. 1), I too will see a new me --- just like Bartimaeus.

ARTCENTRON Virgin and Child enthroned, Pedro Berruguete. Oil on panel, 61 x 44 cm. ca. 1500. Depósito del Ayuntamiento de Madrid, 2013 SPAIN---In the presence of Miguel Zugaza, Director of the Museo del Prado , Concepción Dancausa, Deputy Mayoress and regional minister of Finance, and Pedro Corral, regional minister of Arts, Sport and Tourism, José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, President of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museo Nacional del Prado, and Ana Botella, Mayoress of Madrid, today signed agreement that will allow for the display at the Prado of Virgin and Child enthroned by Pedro Berruguete. The painting, which has been on display in the Museo de San Isidro, will be shown in Room 57B at the Prado, which is one of the world’s leading art museums, fully contextualised within its period and within the Prado’s museological discourse. This deposit will last for five years and can be extended, as established in the terms of the agreement signed by the two institutions.... [ link ]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Stacy Meichtry Pope Francis held a press conference on the flight back to Italy after departure from Rio de Janeiro Monday. BRAZIL---Pope Francis opened the door Sunday to greater acceptance of gay priests inside the ranks of Roman Catholicism as he returned to the Vatican from his maiden trip overseas. Fielding questions from reporters during the first news conference of his young papacy, the pontiff broached the delicate question of how he would respond to learning that a cleric in his ranks was gay, though not sexually active. For decades, the Vatican has regarded homosexuality as a "disorder," and Pope Francis' predecessor Pope Benedict XVI formally barred men with what the Vatican deemed "deep-seated" homosexuality from entering the priesthood. "Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill who seeks the Lord?" the pontiff said, speaking in Italian. [ link ]

FRANCE 24 Architect Shigeru Ban has designed a temporary cathedral in earthquake-devastated Christchurch, New Zealand. NEW ZEALAND---Sections of an innovative New Zealand cathedral being made from cardboard have gone soggy in the rain, but the project will still be completed next month, the Anglican Church said Friday. The structure, which has walls made from cardboard tubes, is a temporary replacement for Christchurch's Anglican cathedral , which was destroyed in a February 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people in New Zealand's second largest city. Anglican Church spokesman Jayso n Rhodes said recent rainstorms had left some sections of tubing wrinkly and sodden, meaning they would have to be cut out and replaced. The A-frame structure consists of 600-millimetre (24-inch) diameter cardboard tubes, coated with waterproof polyurethane and flame retardants, placed around a timber support structure and topped with a polycarbon roof. It is designed to hold 700 people and have...

CREATE EQUITY By Ian David Moss WASHINGTON, D.C.---The National Endowment for the Arts has shared a draft of its strategic plan for FY14-18 , and in what I believe may be a first, is inviting public comment on it via SurveyMonkey . Ah, these modern times we live in. Now let’s just hope House Republicans don’t succeed in slashing its budget by 49% . [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB After 69-years working to build a "utopian" community where the racial & religious divide no longer existed, The National Conference for Christians and Jews in Cincinnati called it quits this week. " Utopian communities " were mostly 19th century experiments led by lofty personalities with idealistic and impractical visions; but while the founders may fade from view, they still leave behind design markers to remind us of their intentions. In Cincinnati, the " National Underground Railroad Freedom Center " is the marker for the NCCJ; and in NYC the forgotten communities of the Shakers to the Separatists of Zoar live on in the exhibition " Utopian Benches " ( above ), featuring works by wood sculptor Francis Cape . Creating markers of Utopia is my NEWS OF WEEK .

SAINT PAUL REVIEW  By Joanne Madore " The Annunciation " (1540) by Girolamo da Santacroce (Italy, Europe) at Minneapolis Institute of Arts MINNESOTA---During the Middle Ages when most people were illiterate and superstitious, there needed to be a simple way to communicate spiritual ideals to them. So this article introduces you to horticultural symbols in religious art. Most of the symbolism started in the monasteries’ manuscripts and represented the cycle of life — birth, growth, reproduction and death — desirable human qualities and religious teachings. Thus, religious painting had consistent elements to represent individuals or attributes. Colors and plants in a painting or stained glass were often significant, not randomly chosen. [ link ]

CRACKED By Josh Wingo Regardless of how you feel about religion, you can't deny that it has given us some of the greatest art of all time. Think about the pressure it puts on an artist -- Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling knowing that he was trying to capture the most absolute expression of beauty, creation and perfection imaginable. It's really easy to get this kind of painting wrong. Terribly, hilariously wrong. [ link ]

THE ONION MASSACHUSETTS---Noting that its incoming class of high school freshmen is their most coddled to date, instructors at Chestnut Ridge Academy for the Arts told an education conference this week that its mission is to take bright, precocious boys and girls and transform them into insufferable young adults. Principal Madeleine Healey told conference attendees, that anyone skeptical about the merits of an arts education should examine the school’s track record, as their alumni have gone on to have completely bullshit careers in the arts all over the world. [ link ]

ARTDAILY GERMANY---July 26, 1893.- George Grosz (July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group during the Weimar Republic before he emigrated to the United States in 1933. apn Photo/Franka Bruns. [ link ]

PRESS TV INDIA---The Centre of Iran Culture House new Delhi and noor international microfilm center, have organized a five day-long exhibition on Holy Quran and Calligraphy at the jamia Millia islamia university to highlight how calligraphy developed in the Muslim world. The event is aimed at highlighting some aspects of Islamic art and craft related to the holy Quran so that people pay more attention to this holy book of life. Highlighting the significance of the Quran, the exhibit focuses how the Holy book is the guide for the entire humankind, sustainable peace, justice and love for all people. [ Watch Video ]

THE CHRONICLE FOR PHILANTHROPY British Muslims take part in afternoon prayers at the Tower of London. UNITED KINGDOM---A U.K. poll found that Muslims in that nation donate more on average to charity than other religious groups, NBC News reports . Adherents of Islam gave an average of $567 to charity in 2012, according to the survey of 4,036 U.K. residents by ICM Research. Jews gave $412, Protestants $308, Roman Catholics $272, and atheists $177. The U.K. findings follow a recent international survey by the Pew Research Center that found that 77 percent of Muslims give to charity, and data from philanthropy Web site JustGiving.com show nearly 70 percent growth in the last two years in Muslims’ use of online methods for Zakat, the Islamic practice of donating to charity. [ link ]

THE BUDDHAHARMA Tibetan Buddhst ceremonial scroll CALIFORNIA---Master Tibetan thangka painter Tashi Dargyal , about whose work we’ve reported here and here, has opened a new gallery and studio space at the Barlow, in Sebastopol, CA. Visitors to the Tibetan Gallery & Studio will have the unusual opportunity to watch the creation of the first thanbochi — a massive ceremonial scroll unfurled at special Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies — painted outside of Tibet. Currently, Tashi is working on the 20’ x 15’ thanbochi with Mingmar Tsering , the primary teacher at the Institute of Tibetan Thangka Art, in Dharamsala, India. Both artists are adhering to exacting traditional methods of design, employing hand-ground pigments to render the immense image of Shakyamuni Buddha, his two foremost disciples, and the founders of the four principle Tibetan Buddhist lineages. [ link ]

CHRONICLE FOR PHILANTHROPY By Nicole Wallace Donors who give via text message would like to make larger gifts using their mobile phones, according to a new survey of more than 20,000 text-message donors. Eighty-five percent of the donors said they would be willing to give $25 to $50 via text. Mobile contributions are currently limited to $10 each. The study was sponsored by the mGive Foundation , the charitable arm of a Denver company that provides text-message fundraising services. Saturday is the most popular day to make mobile contributions, accounting for 29 percent of all gifts made. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the least popular days to make a text-message gift, accounting for just 7 and 8 percent, respectively. [ link ]

GLOBAL TIMES CHINA---The Regong region, a "golden valley" nestled between the Tibetan and Loess plateaus, is the home of Regong art, one of the main forms of Tibetan Buddhist art. Regong art includes thangka and barbola paintings and butter sculptures. It is influenced by cultures of the Tibetan, Tu and Han ethnic groups. Locals in the region continue to keep the folk art alive. In the past, thangka art was the sole domain of men. However, now it thrives among both genders and is enjoyed by people around China. Thangka paintings, an elaborate painting style featuring Tibetan Buddhist patterns, has become popular among art collectors over the past decade, with unprecedented prices fetched at sales. [ link ]

JAKARATA GLOBE By Tunggul Wirajuda INDONESIA---Calligraphy is one of Islam’s most iconic art forms. Its bold, one-stroke approach goes hand in glove with the flowing lines of Arabic script, making it a venerated medium to convey the prayers contained within the Koran. Calligraphy has also worked its way into Indonesian art for hundreds of years with the introduction of Islam into the country, making it nearly as ubiquitous as wayang puppets or batik prints . Now this art form is as strong as ever, as Taman Ismail Marzuki holds its second annual “Calligraphy Islam” exhibition which runs through Saturday. [ link ]

ARTVOICE By J. Tim Raymond Jeannine Swallow's "Dot in Space" NEW YORK---Not a new brand of yogurt or probiotic snack food, Miksang has to do with photography. “Has to do” because it is called “contemplative photography,” an approach to seeing with perception unfettered by informed context, without bias, filters, or formulas. Based on the Shambhala and Dharma Art teachings of the late meditation master, artist, and scholar Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Miksang is a Tibetan word translated as “good eye,” meaning the mind is uncluttered by preoccupation, relaxed and open, clear, brilliant, precise. [ link ]

RUETERS By Nicholas Vinocur French police and gendarmes check identity cards of two women for wearing full-face veils, in Lille September 22, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Pascal Rossignol FRANCE---France's interior minister on Monday defended a ban on wearing full-face veils in public after a police check on a Muslim woman caused two nights of rioting near Paris, exposing tensions in immigrant-heavy suburbs. The 2010 law was brought in by conservative former president Nicolas Sarkozy and targets burqa and niqab garments that conceal the face, rather than the headscarf that is more common among French Muslim women. [ link ]

FARS NEWS AGENCY Supreme Leaser of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei IRAN--- Poets from Afghanistan, Tajikistan and India who write poems in the Persian language as well as Iranian veteran and young poets and men of literature met with Ayatollah Khamenei on Tuesday evening. During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei said that men of art and literature are shouldering heavy burdens regarding the Islamic Revolution and the basic issues of the country. The Supreme Leader also suggested the poets and artists to use Islamic teachings, lifestyle and thoughts in their works to make people familiar with the Islamic values. Referring to the values of the Islamic Revolution as a source of inspiration for other nations, particularly in resisting world bullying powers, the Ayatollah also urged men of literature to echo revolutionary values in their works. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Jennifer Schuessler The Rev. Billy Graham in 1957. PUBLISHING---For decades the dominant story of postwar American religious history has been the triumph of evangelical Christians. Beginning in the 1940s, the story goes, a rising tide of evangelicals began asserting their power and identity, ultimately routing their more liberal mainline Protestant counterparts in the pews, on the offering plate and at the ballot box. But now a growing cadre of historians of religion are reconsidering the legacy of those faded establishment Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, tracing their enduring influence on the movements for human rights and racial justice, the growing “spiritual but not religious” demographic and even the shaded moral realism of Barack Obama — a liberal Protestant par excellence, some of these academics say. [ link ]

ALIBI By Holly Von Winckel NEW MEXICO--- Secret Things opens next week, and it might hit close to home for some New Mexicans. A drama about a journalist sent back to her hometown to investigate the possible existence of Crypto-Jews—Mexican-Americans with a Jewish background so guarded that they may not themselves be aware of it— Secret Things will enjoy its world premiere on Thursday, July 25, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW). At some point, she stops chasing an assignment and begins exploring the roots of her personal identity. To historians, a Crypto-Jew is a descendent of the Sephardic Jews, expelled from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century, in whom fear of persecution pushed the practices of Judaism so far down that any given individual may be unaware of his own heritage. [ link ]

KENTUCKY POST By Lucy May OHIO---A nonprofit that has been working for nearly 70 years to make Greater Cincinnati a more welcoming place for people of all races and religious faiths will cease operations by early September. BRIDGES for a Just Community announced on Tuesday afternoon that it would be closing, saying the nonprofit never fully recovered financially from the economic downturn that began in 2008. Its two major fundraisers, an annual dinner in May and a walk in October, haven't been able to generate as much money as they did in the past . In 1994, BRIDGES, which was founded as the Cincinnati chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews , introduced and organized the campaign to build the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Penelope Green The wood sculptor Francis Cape, top, at the Murray Guy Gallery on West 17th Street, where he is showing his latest work, “Utopian Benches.” NEW YORK--- Francis Cape is a British-born master woodworker and sculptor, who for the past few years has been building and exhibiting benches inspired by examples from 19th-century intentional communities, both religious and secular. In his book, “ We Sit Together: Utopian Benches From the Shakers to the Separatists of Zoar ,” out this month from Princeton Architectural Press ($24.95), Mr. Cape writes enticingly of this vestigial Gothic point, “a small physical sign of the larger unseen life.” His book is an engaging tour of craft, technology and community. [ link ] Murray Guy Gallery : "FRANCES CAPE: Utopian Benches" in Manhattan through (Ends Aug. 2) 453 West 17th Street New York, NY, 212-463-7372, murrayguy.com

JEWISH DAILY FORWARD By Shulem Deen 'GER DRESS' bu Michael Levin NEW YORK---“The genius of the Satmar rebbe,” Williamsburg-based artist Michael Levin said of the late Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the post-Holocaust leader of Williamsburg’s Satmar Hasidic community, “was to say that if you wear a shtreimel and long peyes, everyone will be freaked out and hate you and stay away from you. But in the end, they’ll also respect you.' Whether or not the Satmars have gained the respect of the world is up for debate, but the Satmar Rebbe’s ideology of separatism has proven effective at preserving the Hasidic lifestyle. Hasidic garb, the subject of a new art exhibit by Levin called “Jews of Today: A Primer on Hasidic Dress,” as well as a book by the same name, has perhaps been the most important factor of that ideology. The exhibit, which opened July 20 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is at once an expression of the artist’s fascination with Hasidim as well as a recognition of his outsid...

DAILY NEWS By Joe Neumeier The claws come out more than once for Logan (Hugh Jackman) in "The Wolverine." HOLLYWOOD ---In a summer of seemingly ageless superheroes, Wolverine stands alone. Unlike Superman, the Lone Ranger, Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock, this eternally young mutant has been played by only one actor, Hugh Jackman . Good thing the Aussie star has the role down to a science, since the rest of “ The Wolverine ” is a howler. (A&O Rating: ★★★) [ link ]

ARTS COUNCIL OF INDIANAPOLIS By Maureen Saul INDIANA—The Arts Council of Indianapolis announced today that it has reached a significant milestone on its online arts funding initiative power2give ( IndyArts.org/power2give ). Total contributions to the site exceeded $100,000 today when a $90 gift came in to support Big Car’s project Bringing Art and Fun to 46235 . To date, power2give-Indianapolis has posted 108 projects for funding between 73 participating organizations, and received gifts from 1,106 donors. This milestone was made possible with the support of Founding Partner, Chase – providing matching support to many of the funded projects. [ link ]

MACLEAN'S By Katie Engelhart The Milan art collective Studio Azzurro's interactive video “creation”. ITALY---The Vatican was once the world’s most awesome patron of contemporary artists. But two centuries ago, the Church turned away from modernism, retreating to the safer grounds of Michelangelo and Botticelli . Now things look ripe for change. Last month, the Vatican unveiled its first-ever contemporary art pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale . Three modern artists were commissioned to design works around a spiritual theme; their designs were not approved by Church officials, and the artists did not have to be Christian. (One was raised Catholic.) Biennale president Paolo Baratta dubbed the exhibit (which cost some $1 million to mount) “an act of courage.” [ link ]

ASSOCIATED PRESS By Andrew Taylor Also targeted are National Endowment for Humanities Funds  which supported symposia such as "Sacred Spain" in Indianapolis WASHINGTON, DC--- House Republicans Monday proposed slashing cuts to environmental programs and funding for the Smithsonian Institution and the arts as they unveiled the latest legislation to implement the second year of budget cuts required under so-called sequestration. The $24 billion spending measure would gut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency with a one-third cut and cuts the National Endowments for the Arts by almost half. Overall, the measure funding the Interior Department, EPA, national parks and federal firefighting efforts is cut by 19 percent below funding approved in March. [ link ]

PACIFIC STANDARD MAGAZINE By Tom Jacobs (PHOTO: CLEO/ SHUTTERSTOCK ) CALIFORNIA---A new study finds repressed feelings can spur creativity—for some. It depends on your religious and cultural upbringing. It has long been theorized that repressed anger or forbidden sexual desire can be a creative catalyst. After all, one way to exorcise internal tensions is to channel them into art. Provocative new research supports that notion, while cautioning that it isn’t universally true. Three University of Illinois psychologists present evidence that this equation only applies to Protestants. According to researchers Emily Kim, Veronika Zeppenfeld, and Dov Cohen, Jews and Catholics have a less-productive way of responding to uncomfortable thoughts and feelings: guilt. [ link ]

CAFEMOM By Jeanne Sager Spanish artist Kaya Mar turned in this portrait days prior to the baby's birth UNITED KINGDOM---The royal baby and mama Kate Middleton have already been immortalized on canvas! Spanish artist Kaya Mar dropped off his rather bizarre masterpiece at St. Mary's Hospital's Lindo Wing, where the future prince or princess is expected to be born. Ah, but I know what you're thinking. How do you paint the portrait of a baby who isn't even here yet? [ link ]

MINIVAN NEWS By Donna Richardson "Forever" (2012) by Afu(Afzal Shaafiu Hasan)  MALDIVES ---Handfuls of sand are sprinkled are carefully onto glass, and a single finger pokes the grains to magically morph them into a moving painting as an animation unfolds telling important narratives about the survival of a nation, against the soundtrack of haunting music. All these scenes capture the moment that the Maldives was changed forever. They were created by an enigmatic artist called Afzal Shaafiu Hasan , also known as Afu . He has decided to use his unique talent of drawing with sand to describe what he calls Baton Day , the day after the coup which destabilised the country and toppled the first democratically elected president the Maldives had seen in 30 years. In the modern Maldives the art world is growing, but at the same time, due to religious restrictions, artists have gone in hiding and dare not express their opinions.All are facing challenges from the establ...

ARTS FWD By Angela Tillges Rendering of floating river platforms for Redmoon’s Great Chicago Fire Festival . Image: Lin Ye Last month, Redmoon brought together an innovation team with representatives from Chicago Park District , Cure Violence (formerly CeaseFire), Family Focus Lawndale , and the Harvard Graduate School’s of Design and Education for a week-long retreat. Together, this team developed a prototype called The Forge, which is the articulation of the collaborative process model by which Redmoon builds relationships with community partners and engage them as core collaborators. The “a-ha!” moments for the group came from the power of naming, both in our relationship building with partners and in Redmoon’s collaborative process. What I mean by naming is making explicit our assumptions, beliefs, and practices , and engaging partners in a mutual dialogue about them.  This is the second post from Angela Tillges about Redmoon’s experience in the Innovation Lab for the ...

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Matthew Gurewitsch Meeting of Shah 'Abbas and Vali Muhammad Khan in 1611 NEW YORK ---Born in 1912, [Doris] Duke died just shy of her 81st birthday in 1993. Obituaries ticked off the death of her self-made father when she was 12. Duke was a woman of many talents. She spoke fluent French, played the piano, baked fine whole-wheat bread, filed wire dispatches from postwar Rome, and surfed at the championship level. Yet her greatest talent may have lain in the art of cultivating personal oases. But the most remarkable of them all was the Xanadu that Duke built from the ground up at Kupikipikio, a remote spit of land on Maunalua Bay by the foot of the extinct volcano Diamond Head. Duke called it Shangri La . Its doors have been open to the public since 2002. [ link ]

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS By T. Muruganandham INDIA---All religions advocate charity and lending a helping hand to those in need. Almsgiving has its roots in religious doctrines, associated as it is with many after-life benefits and spiritual uplift of the giver. However, over a period of time, people seem to have forgotten the subtle difference between helping the underprivileged and almsgiving perhaps of the grey area in between. For, religions never profess offering alms to a person who is physically fit to work. [l ink ]

THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER By Janice Morse Multi-racial march of students in 2012 at Cincinnati's Freedom Center OHIO---A longtime Cincinnati nonprofit group, dedicated to diversity, is about to become defunct – partly because of the economic downturn, a news release said Tuesday. The group, founded as the Cincinnati chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews , “has been at the forefront in this region’s human relations crises and diversity developments since 1944,” the release said. Bridges promoted and fostered inclusion and diversity in the workplace, schools and community. “ Bridges for a Just Community will be closing its office and ceasing operations by early September,” the release said. [ link ]

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD By Andrew Taylor Controversey surrounds ownership of Shiva two statues AUSTRALIA---In the opaque world of art buying, one man's trash is another gallery's treasure. In this case, a 1000-year-old bronze statue of Shiva sold by the National Gallery of Australia to help purchase a larger Shiva from a disgraced antiquities dealer has turned up in the collection of one of the world's leading museums. The Dancing Shiva statue formerly owned by the Canberra gallery is now a prized item in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi , featuring in its recent Birth of a Museum exhibition. If the pieces have been removed from India illegally , the NGA will be required to return them without compensation. The gallery's decision to increase its Indian art collection has been questioned by the Herald's art critic John McDonald. ''I wouldn't have thought the Australian public was desperate to see a massive collection of Indian artefacts i...

THE HOUSTONIAN By Anthony Ormsbee " The Sacrament of the Last Supper" by Salvador Dali TEXAS---Several recent studies have been published showing that young Americans are losing faith in God. In her book “ Almost Christian ”, Kenda Creasy Dean, Ph.D., a Princeton theology professor and ordained United Methodist minister, said, “The faith most teenagers exhibit is a loveless version (of Christianity) that the NSYR calls Christianity’s misbegotten step cousin, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, (commonly called deism) which is supplanting Christianity as the dominant religion in American churches.” Many churches are arguing for a new type of church service removed from the ritual and christology of traditional church services, but the National Survey of Youth and Religion found that the majority of participants actually prefer a church environment that is rich in tradition, hymns, and ceremony. [ link ]

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS By Sivalakshmy Roshith INDIA--With the commencement of Karkkidakam , popularly known as the Ramayana masam, every devout Hindu household will be echoed with Ramayana recitals. The holy month is destined for undertaking pious vratham and the recitation of Adhyathma Ramayanam. Adhyatma Ramayanam Kilippattu written by Thunjathu Ezhuthachan is recited in homes and temples and it is recommended that the reading of the epic should be completed within the 31 days in Karkkidakam.  The ‘Naalambala Darshanam’ is an important pilgrimage observed during the Ramayana masam. During this pilgrimage, the believers worship Ram, Bharathan, Lakshmanan and Shathrugnan, the four brothers in the temples dedicated to each of them on a single day. [ link ]

GLOBAL TIMES By Zhang Wen Suzhou-style painting patterns. Photos: CFP, IC CHINA---During the last restoration of the Summer Palace's Long Corridor in 1979, Qin Shulin was among the youngest of 60 painters touching up some of the 18th century walkway's more than 14,000 paintings. Now, the 59-year-old is one of the few active artisans from his generation skilled at caihua , or Chinese color painting, in Beijing. Suzhou-style decorative paintings adorn the Long Corridor and other ancient wooden architecture structures in Beijing, such as the Prince Gong Mansion near Shichahai Lake and Fayuan Temple in Xicheng district. [ link ]

RED ORBIT By Brett Smith Ritualized behaviors and subsequent actions are probably most popular in the world of sports. From fans to coaches to players – game day rituals are popular at every level of every sport. In sumo wrestling, each match is preceded by a pregame ritual derived from Shinto religious practices , including a leg-stomping exercise to drive evil spirits from the ring and the tossing of salt to purify the ring. Although it might not seem like it, going out to any restaurant can be a ritualistic experience. A new study published in the journal Psychological Science has found these rituals before eating, like singing Happy Birthday before eating cake, can actually enhance the perception of the food being eaten. The researchers also found that if people are drawn into the ritual, it can fully account for the positive effects on eating experiences. [ link ]

T HE WASHINGTON POST By Mark Jenkins "Lightrope" (2013) WASHINGTON, DC---Clouds are ready-made metaphors for nature, ephemerality and the world we imagine above and beyond our daily lives. Jayme McLellan’s “ Jealousy of Clouds ,” a photo and video installation at Heiner Contemporary , conjures all those ideas but has a specific agenda. The artist, also an art teacher and the proprietor of Civilian Art Projects, has named the exhibition after “The River,” a parable by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. The story, which McLellan has handwritten on the wall, is about a stream that wants to be a cloud but comes to realize that “what she had been looking for was already in herself.” [ link ]

JEWNIVERSE By Matthue Roth "Pesachim 18" from Monday, 8 July 2013 UNITED KINGDOM---An artist and an observant Jew, Jacqueline Nicholls truly fulfills the biblical commandment to write your own Torah . She’s an avid student of Judaism, and her reactions frequently take the form of art projects. Each day for the next 7 years, Nicholls, along with tens of thousands of others, is studying the entire 2,700-plus-page Talmud at the relatively brisk rate of one page a day, an undertaking called Daf Yomi. And every day, she draws a representation of one teaching: Draw Yomi . Why just read the Talmud, when you can gaze at it? [ link ]

THE TIMES OF INDIA A Hindu devotee, whose body is pierced with skewers, takes part in the religious  festival of Panguni Uthiram in the southern Indian city of Chennai March 26, 2013 . INDIA---A study of extreme religious rituals has provided new evidence to support the longstanding theory that physically inflicting pain during communal ceremonies increases charitable behaviour. Researchers from Victoria University travelled to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean to observer a pair of contrasting religious rituals for the Hindu festival of Thaipusam . One of the rituals was "low ordeal" - involving only group singing and prayers - whilst the other was 'high ordeal' , with participants piercing their bodies with needles and skewers, dragging carts attached to the skin with hooks for four hours, and climbing a mountain barefoot. [ link ]

ARTDAILY Pietro Lorenzetti, Christ Between Saints Peter and Paul, c.1320 © Ferens Art Gallery, Hull Museums. Photo: The National Gallery, London. UNITED KINGDOM---"Christ Between Saint Paul and Saint Peter," a 14th-century painting by Pietro Lorenzetti , has been bought for Ferens Art Gallery with help from the Art Fund . Created around 1320, the work is the oldest piece in the gallery's collection, and is remarkably naturalistic for a 14th-century painting. Probably part of a larger altarpiece, the panel is painted in tempera on a gold background, and is Lorenzetti's only fully autographed work in UK collections. The total amount paid was £1,612,940, including a £200,000 Art Fund grant and £758,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. [ link ]

THE FRAMINGTON TAB By Chris Bergeron Nine leaves of a Qur'an 18th century Ink, color and gold on paper MASSACHUSETTS---Since leaving India in 1977, Shaheen Akhtar has always kept the Quran her mother gave her close by, finding comforting wisdom in passages devout Muslims regard as the revealed word of God. "For Muslims, the Quran is everything. It is the heart and soul of Islam,’’ she said. "Reading the Quran is like having a conversation with God.’’ Akhtar is among 25 area Muslims who have shared their feelings about the central religious text of their faith in " Sacred Pages: Conversations about the Qur’an ,’’ an innovative exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. [ link ] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: " Sacred Pages: Coinversations about the Qur'an ," (Ends Feb. 23rd), Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA; 617-267-9300 or mfa.org