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JEWISH JOURNAL By Jonathan Maseng Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. Photo by Uri Nevo CALIFORNIA---For the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, dance is more than just an art form, it’s family. The Israeli-based KCDC, founded more than 40 years ago by Holocaust survivor Yehudit Arnon and led today by choreographer Rami Be’er, is a rare entity in the dance world. Its dancers, who hail from around the globe, live and train together in the international dance village at Kibbutz Ga’aton in the Galilee, and on Feb. 22, they’ll perform at California State University, Los Angeles’ Luckman Fine Arts Complex, bringing their unique vision and style to Los Angeles. [ link ]

THE ART NEWSPAPER By Garry Shaw A visitor views a calligraphic work by Arwa Al-Neimy in Madinah SAUDIA ARABIA---To celebrate the end of Medina’s year as Islamic Capital of Culture in 2013, the British Museum has helped organise an exhibition in the Saudi Arabian city that opened earlier this month. Since non-Muslims are not allowed to visit Medina, the show is held at the Meridian Hotel Complex, outside the forbidden zone. “Words and Illuminations” (until 9 May), is divided broadly into two parts, one showing contemporary Arabic calligraphy and the other historic photography. Medina is Islam’s second holiest city after Mecca, the second most important pilgrimage destination, and the burial site of the Prophet Mohammed. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Carol Vogel “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” from (1887) by James Ensor CALIFORNIA--- James Ensor , the late-19th-century Belgian painter who helped shape Modernism, was an interpreter of a vast array of sources, from traditional masters like Bosch and Breughel to Courbet and Manet . Among his most prized works are the large-scale drawings made from pasted-together sheets of paper. One in particular, “The Temptation of Saint Anthony,” dating from the 1880s, is almost six feet tall and composed of 51 separate sheets of paper mounted on canvas. Starting this spring, it will be on view first at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, from June 10 through Sept. 7, and later at the Art Institute of Chicago, from Nov. 23 through Jan. 25, 2015. It will be its first public showing in more than 60 years.  [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEW YORK---"From India East" presents sculptures from the Asian art collection of the Brooklyn Museum. The works were chosen by the Rubin Museum’s curators to trace the development of Buddhist and Hindu sculpture back to its roots in the art of ancient India. The year-long exhibition includes art from Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, and Japan. The loan was made possible by the Brooklyn Museum’s temporary closing of its Asian art galleries. [ listen ] Rubin Museum of Art: " From India East: Sculpture of Devotion from the Brooklyn Museum " (May 31, 2013 - July 7, 2014); 150 W. 17 St., NYC; (212)620-5000; rubinmuseum.org

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB Head of Saint John the Baptist, c. 1470 - 1500. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum NEW YORK---During the later Middle Ages, England was home to a thriving art industry that produced colorful and delicate alabaster sculptures in large quantities and distributed them throughout Europe. This spring, the Museum of Biblical Art hosts an exhibition of the world’s greatest collection of medieval alabaster sculptures from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and offers a fascinating window into the role of art in private devotion at the time, as well as the role of the Bible as an inspiration for medieval sculptors. "Object of Devotion" is comprised of approximately 60 alabaster sculptures from the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Museum of Biblical Art: " Object of Devotion: Medieval English Alabaster Sculpture from the Victoria and Albert Museum " (March 7–June 8, 2014); 1865 Broadway at 61st Street, New...

THE ART NEWSPAPER By Hannah McGivern The caves were inhabited by Buddhist monks and used as temples between the third and the eighth centuries, and are lined with murals providing a rich picture of early Buddhist culture CHINA---Urgent conservation work is needed to save a series of caves in northwest China containing ancient murals by Buddhist monks, which are threatened with destruction from the forces of nature. The network of 236 sandstone caves extend over an area of two to three kilometres in the vast, sparsely-populated autonomous Xinjiang region of China, along the ancient Silk Road. The murals are particularly significant because of their stylistic similarity to Indian, rather than classical Chinese, art, which bears witness to the transmission of Buddhism to China from the south. [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton Last Saturday over dinner in Cincinnati, we debated who was the winner in February's Creationism debate. Well, the results are in and the clear winner was not Science Guy Bill Nye, but is instead Creationist Ken Ham who just  announced he is ready to build his 501-foot replica of Noah's Ark . Ham even credited the attention of the Bill Nye debate for bringing him to this moment. “Even in a difficult economy, tens of thousands of supporters have made donations, purchased bonds, or bought Ark boarding passes in the past three years,” Ham said in a press release . “With the funding in place to build the Ark, it is now our goal to raise an additional $15 million in donations to provide additional attractions like the special high-tech and interactive exhibits that guests have come to appreciate at our museum.”

THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER By Jim Hannah An illustration of Noah's Ark coming to rest on the mountains of Ararat at the Ark Encounter. KENTUCKY---The apologetics ministry behind the Creation Museum announced Thursday that it has raised enough money to begin construction of its long-delayed and controversial Noah’s Ark-themed amusement park in Northern Kentucky. [Ken] Ham said phase one would cost at estimated $73 million during the tightly scripted presentation that featured a miniature model of the park, to be named the Ark Encounter . Ham said his debate with Bill Nye over creationism versus evolution, watched by more than 7 million people online, helped raise money for the project. Ham blamed delays in getting the funding in place on non-believers and misinformation disseminated by the media and atheist blogs. [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB Hindu boy painted blue like Lord Shiva, by Glen Allison INDIA---According to Hindu mythology, Mahashivratri is Lord Shiva's favorite day. Maha Shivratri is celebrated to revere Lord Shiva who is also known as Padmarajarathri. Alternate common names/spellings for this day include Maha Sivaratri, Shivaratri, Sivarathri, and Shivaratri . It literally means the great night of Shiva or the night of Shiva and is celebrated on the 13th night/14th day of the Magh or Phalguna month of the Hindu calendar.

DETROIT NEWS By Michael Hodges This mosaic tile gateway is from the Shangri-La estate. (University of Michigan Museum of Art) MICHIGAN---Tobacco heiress Doris Duke, who died in 1993, built a fantasy compound in Honolulu to showcase an exquisite collection of Islamic art she’d acquired in her many travels. You can get an exhilarating peek into this elegant, rarefied life by visiting “Doris Duke’s Shangri-La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art” at the University of Michigan Museum of Art through May 4. Organized by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and curated by architectural historians Donald Albrecht and Tom Mellins, the show is a multifaceted affair touching on architecture, interior design, precious objects and contemporary Islamic art. [ link ] University of Michigan Museum of Art: ' Doris Duke's Shangri-La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art '(Ends May 4); 525 S. State, Ann Arbor, MI; (734) 764-0395; umma.umich.edu

LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Provided by Little Pencil LLC-The art from the "Jesus Tattoo" bulletin board TEXAS---A federal judge apparently foresees a quick conclusion to a lawsuit over Lubbock Independent School District’s rejection of a controversial ad a religious group sought to run on the giant video screen at Lowrey Field football games last fall. U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings ruled Monday, Feb. 24, that the dispute between LISD and Little Pencil is only about matters of law and could be resolved by exchanging motions for summary judgment. Cummings asked both sides to respond to his plan before 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 28. Summary judgment is a method of resolving lawsuits when there are no material fact issues that would be resolved at trial, and the applicable law favors one side over the other. His decision came hours after the school district filed its answer in federal court to Little Pencil’s lawsuit filed last month challenging LISD’s rejection last fall of...

HAARETZ By Eitan Buganim הגשמת פסוקי המקרא ISRAEL---What effect has the resurgent spirit of Judaism and Jewish studies being offered by pluralistic organizations in Israel had on the art scene in this country? That is the question at the heart of a new group exhibition, titled “Secular Judaism: The Impact of Jewish Renewal Organizations on Secular Israeli Culture,” at the Nahum Gutman Museum of Art in Tel Aviv. [ link ]

USA TODAY By Stephen Prothero Controversial book's cover and its author Wendy Doniger INDIA---After the egging, the pulping. In London in 2003, a protester threw an egg at University of Chicago Sanskrit scholar Wendy Doniger, who was lecturing on the popular Hindu epic the Ramayana. The egg missed its mark, but during the Q&A other protesters continued the assault, insisting that non-Hindus like Doniger had no right to tell them what Hinduism is all about. This month, Penguin Books India agreed to withdraw Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History from Indian bookstores and pulp any remaining copies. The settlement came in response to a complaint filed by Dinanath Batra, head of Shiksha Bachao Andolan, a Hindu fundamentalist group that opposes sex education in Indian schools and textbooks that deviate from its Hinduvta ("Hinduness") interpretation of Indian history. [ link ]

THE TIMES-STANDARD "Easter" by Marc Chagall  CALIFORNIA---Temple Beth El, located at Hodgson and T streets in Eureka, recently announced in a press release that it will display an original lithograph “by the great Jewish artist Marc Chagall” at 2 p.m. on March 2, a Sunday. The work is being presented to the congregation on extended loan by Humboldt State University Religious Studies Professor William Herbrechtsmeier. At the event, Herbrechtsmeier will give a short lecture on the early Biblical monarchy, a tale he describes as “the first great narrative in all of human literature.” The lecture will “highlight the Shakespearean-like drama of the lives of Samuel, Saul, David and Jonathan.” For more information, call 444-2846 or visit www.templebetheleureka.org . [ link ]

LOS ANGELES TIMES By Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times Theater Critic CALIFORNIA---The difficulty of staging " The Winter's Tale " is legendary. Characters are at the mercy of a crazy plot that wildly mixes genres and tones, there is a leap of 16 years between the third and fourth acts and one stage direction (perhaps the most famous in all of Shakespeare) reads "Exit pursued by a bear." In making his directing debut at the Old Globe with this late romance of Shakespeare's, artistic director Barry Edelstein clearly isn't playing it safe. But he knows the play intimately, having staged it off-Broadway at the Classic Stage Company, and in this new production he has enlisted a core group of actors who bring refreshing clarity to what is undeniably a tricky text. Best of all, the emotion of this play about a marriage mangled and restored, children rejected and embraced, and loved ones bitterly parted and reunited is powerfully delivered. [ link ]

THE NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT By Jean Ann Esselink Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released a new poll yesterday that finds support for marriage equality has jumped 21 percentage points over the last ten years, climbing from 32 percent in 2003 to 53 percent in 2013, and PRRI says, "transforming the American religious landscape in the process".  In 2003, all major religious groups opposed same-sex marriage, with the exception of the religiously unaffiliated. Today, there are major religious groups on both sides of the issue. Religiously unaffiliated Americans (73%), white mainline Protestants (62%), white Catholics (58%), and Hispanic Catholics (56%) all favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. [ link ]

DALLAS MORNING NEWS By Robert T. Garrett TEXAS---A federal judge in San Antonio ruled Wednesday that Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutionally deprives some citizens of due process and equal protection under the law by stigmatizing their relationships and treating them differently from opposite-sex couples. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia cited recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings as having trumped Texas’ moves to ban gay marriage. But Garcia’s ruling, while a major victory for groups seeking to make marriage legal for gay and lesbian couples nationwide, will not win them Texas marriage licenses anytime soon. Although Garcia issued a preliminary injunction against the state’s enforcing its 2003 law and 2005 constitutional amendment that limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, he stayed it from taking effect until his ruling can be reviewed on appeal. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB "A Sword Shall Pierce Your Soul" (2011) by Todd Dayton Fox KANSAS---Methodist Pastor Adam Hamilton  hosts the emotionally charged "Passion of Christ Collection" by Todd Dayton Fox this  March at Rez Downtown Gallery in downtown Kansas City. Fox's Surrealist technique removes the human figure from the image thus accentuating the humanity of Christ’s last hours. “I can’t think of a better location to make my Kansas City début than at the Resurrection Downtown," said Fox. "As an artist I am thrilled to have a chance to show my work to such a wide diversity of people.” Resurrection Downtown , once known as one Kansas City’s largest live music venue, the Crosstown Station, has become a model for churches all over the urban nation, making up a congregation of artists, musicians, intellectuals, and professionals, all with a vision of changing lives and transforming communities and renewing the face of the church. More abou...

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS The cosmic Buddha Ratnasambhava, approx. 1200–1300. Tibet, Sakya Monastery. Thangka; colors on cotton. CALIFORNIA---Beginning March 14, the Asian Art Museum will configure 15 artworks from the museum's collection to transform it Tateuchi Gallery into a three-dimensional mandala for the special exhibition "Enter the Mandala: Cosmic Centers and Mental Maps of Himalyayan Buddhism." Mandalas are geometric maps of Himalayan Buddhist visionary worlds, created by and for adherents of Vajrayana Buddhism ("Lighting Vehicle" Buddhism), a system of meditation that is dependent on art and artists. "Enter the Mandala" creates a mandala that can be entered physically, which is one goal of Lightning Vehicle meditation itself. Asian Art Museum: " Enter the Mandala: Cosmic Centers and Mental Maps of Himalyah Buddhism " (March 15-October 26);  200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA; (415)581-3500; asianart.org

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Detail of Jared, an Old Testament patriarch listed in the book of Genesis and represents the fifth generation after Adam. NEW YORK---Now on view at The Cloisters is "Radiant Light: Stained Glass from Canterbury Cathedral" a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The brilliantly colored panels come from one of the great surviving series of medieval stained glass, and the exhibition represents the first time they have left the cathedral precincts since their creation in 1178–80. An interactive panorama of the Canterbury Cathedral on a large touch-screen monitor will provide visitors with a 360-degree view of the building’s interior and will show the windows in their original location. A short video, Recreating a Medieval Window, will be shown in gallery. The Metropolitan Museum of Art | The Cloisters : " Radiant Light: Stained Glass from Canterbury Cathedral " (Ends May 18, 2014); 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park ; (212)923-3700; me...

TELEGRAPH & ARGUS By Rhys Thomas Sikh Fortress Turban UNITED KINGDOM---A special turban owned by the British Museum provided the focal-point as an exhibition celebrating Sikhism was officially opened in Bradford. The Earl of Harewood welcomed about 100 people to Cartwright Hall art gallery yesterday as the Sikh Fortress Turban exhibition got under way. The exhibition explains the importance of the turban to the Sikh faith and includes the conical Fortress Turban alongside items from Bradford Museums and Galleries’ collections and the city’s Sikh community. [ link ]

THE PICAYUNE TEXAS---When Joan Lawrence of the Smoking for Jesus school began putting together the campus’ upcoming Black History Month program, she hoped her students and attendees would take away more than just a history lesson. “I hope that they will be inspired,” she said. “Maybe even go into the arts.” The program is 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Smoking for Jesus church , 1804 FM 2342 about a mile north of the RR 1431 intersection. This year’s program features African-American artists — who are also Christian artists, Lawrence pointed out. Lawrence does a tremendous amount of research herself on the subject. It’s not always easy, she admitted, because she’s not only trying to gather information on African-American artists, but Christian ones. [ link ]

THE ADVOCATE By Frank Vigon "Carrying the Scrolls of the Law" by Simeon Solomon UNITED KINGDOM---Alternative memorial artist Joss Nankoo was commisioned to create a new memorial for the grave site of gay pre-Raphaelite artist Simeon Solomon , whose reputation had fallen into disrepute. Solomon was born into a family of artists in London in 1840. His father was the second Jew to be made freeman of London, and his mother was an artist, as were two of his siblings, his brother Abraham and his sister Rebecca. From an early age he showed clear artistic talent, sketching many images from Jewish culture and biblical themes. [ link ]

THE GULF TODAY UNITED ARAB EMIRATES---Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), inaugurated an exhibition entitled Tariqah (Pathway) hosted by the Barjeel Art Foundation at Maraya Art Centre. The exhibition presents a collection of modern and contemporary Arab artworks inspired by Islamic art traditions. The artworks have been selected from the private collection of Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation. [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB Image from Smithsonian display of Krisha is presented courtesy of India West CALIFORNIA---Breathe deeply, and get ready as the San Francisco's Asian Art Museum welcomes the world’s first major exhibition exploring yoga, revealing the practice’s 2,500-year history. "Yoga: The Art of Transformation" goes beyond postures and delves into how yoga has evolved into a global phenomenon through an exploration of its visual history. Borrowed from 25 museums and private collections in Europe, the U.S. and India, the artworks featured in the exhibition date from the 2nd to the 20th centuries. Images ranging from benevolent deities and gurus to Tantric goddesses and sinister yogis reveal how yoga practices—and perceptions of them—have transformed over time and across communities. Originally curated by the Smithsonian, this is the only U.S. West Coast venue for this exhibition. The Asian Art Museum: " Yoga: The Art of Transformation " (...

SPY GHANA A $1.5 million and 10,600 square feet Hindu temple has been planned for Tampa, which hopes to complete construction in 24 months. FLORIDA---Existing Sanatan Mandir in about 4,000 square feet, whose history goes back to 1989 and which has been a Jewish synagogue, will be reportedly remodeled into a Community Hall when the new temple starts functioning. According to reports, a permit has been obtained to build this new temple which will have five shikhars visible from Interstate 275 and a state-of-the-art audiovisual system, reports suggest. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Margalit Fox Terry Adkins in the Arctic preparing a piece on Matthew Henson, a black explorer who accompanied Peary there in 1909. NEW YORK--- Terry Adkins , a conceptual artist whose work married the quicksilver evanescence of music to the solid permanence of sculpture, died on Feb. 8 at his home in Brooklyn. He was 60. The cause was heart failure, his dealer Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn said. His work will be shown this year as part of the Whitney Biennial , which runs from March 7 to May 25 at the museum. Thelma Golden, the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, said in an interview on Friday. “He was so deeply inspired by aesthetics, philosophy, spirituality, music, history and culture, and he had such a fertile and generative mind, that he was always able to move between many different ideas and create a lot of space and meaning in a work.” [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB "The Presentation in the Temple" (1455) by Rogier van der Weyden GERMANY--- Rogier van der Weyden was an Early Flemish painter, and he was at the height of his artistic powers when, in around 1455, he painted this altarpiece for the church of St Columba in Cologne. His surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. The "Presentation at the Temple" (above) is the right panel in the Saint Columba Altarpiece triptych. The event depicted shows the Virgin Mary presenting her newborn child at the Jewish temple 40 days after his birth as part of the purification process after childbirth, and to make a sacrifice at the temple, as tradition dictated. It was also at this presentation at the temple that the prophets Anna and Simeon viewed the infant and declared that he would be the one to bring salvation.

CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY Treasure Hunt winner: a pair of male & female ancestor figures (ana deo) from Indonesia TEXAS---The Dallas Museum of Art’s switch to a membership plan that asks patrons to provide data about themselves and how they use the institution rather than paying a fee has a trove of customer data and generated interest among other museums, writes Bloomberg Businessweek . People join the museum’s “ Friends ” program by entering their name and contact information on an iPad at the entrance and can earn points toward perks such as free parking and gift-shop discounts by voluntarily scanning a card when they enter a gallery, identifying works they like, or bringing friends to the museum. [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB As major dailies disappear and journalism dedicated to the Arts declines, many of us are looking backward for the future of Arts journalism. Last week, I came across a 2008 piece by Eric Gibson of The Wall Street Journal entitled " The Lost Art of Writing About Art " where he argued "Once upon a time," art writing was accessible to all, but today much of it is "drivel." Another perspective came this week from my college professor Ken Stevens who shared his praise for E.B. Radcliffe , the Arts  editor for The Cincinnati Enquirer (1938-1969), who "emphasized the need to get something in every section of a paper, front page, city, sports, obits." I prefer Religious Arts writing that ignores both the philosophy and aesthetics approaches, and instead follows the lead of abstract painter Mark Rothko , who once said he painted to express "basic human emotions."

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS By TAHLIB Iconoclasm was back in the news this week, as breakers of sacred icons in the Ukraine , Tibet , and also Indiana and Florida smashed and painted-over sacred traditions all to produce new ideas. Such change is frustrating for religious people like me, who just like Art collectors prefer the preservation of rules and objects that inspire and protect tradition, but it teaches us an important spiritual lesson: " to let go ." Founders of religious movements were also Iconoclasts. Jesus, Muhammad, Moses, and Buddha all smashed old traditions and painted something new, and that's why a photograph of names painted onto a face in " Family Tree " (above) by Zhang Huan  is my NEWS OF WEEK .

CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY Andrea diVanni's “A Triptych: Agony in the Garden, The Crucifixion WASHINGTON, DC---The agreement to effectively dissolve Washington, D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery of Art points up an “emerging crisis in nonprofit governance” that is increasingly engulfing significant cultural institutions, a Wall Street Journal editor writes. After years of financial turmoil, Washington’s oldest private museum announced plans this week to turn over its $2-billion collection to the National Gallery of Art and its building and art college to George Washington University. Journal arts-and-leisure editor Eric Gibson lambastes the Corcoran’s board for “a string of policy lurches” he says left the museum floundering, culminating in trustees “washing their hands of their own institution.” [ link ]

TABLET MAGAZINE By Dara Bramson POLAND---“Everybody wants to be a Rothschild,” an older Polish woman joked as we gazed at the wooden figurine holding a gold coin. These figurines are recognizable to many people who have been to Poland: they depict stereotypically devout Jews holding objects such as prayer books, musical instruments, or, more notably in recent decades, coins or bags of money.  Those varied reactions were what we hoped for that day last August, as I led a discussion at the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, about a controversial exhibit, Souvenir, Talisman, Toy . The exhibit opened earlier that month during the city’s annual Jewish Culture Festival , and I had been involved with it for the past year. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Holland Cotter A 15th-century panel of goddesses is featured in an exhibition reconstructing elements of this destroyed site, at Asia Society. NEW YORK ---You have to hate or fear something a lot to do what China did to Tibetan Buddhism. In the early 20th century, Tibet had thousands of active monasteries; when the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, it had fewer than 10. The politics of blame are always tricky; some scholars argue that Tibetans themselves, for complicated reasons, contributed to the purge. But one reality is plain: By the time the mass demolition wound down, centuries’ worth of religious art was gone. Among the major losses was the Densatil Monastery. In the campaigns of destruction, Densatil was cruelly hit. It wasn’t just dismantled; it was pulverized. But some did survive, hidden away by devotees, or taken by Chinese military personnel. “ Golden Visions of Densatil: A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery ” is on view through May 18 at Asia Society...

DISHADIARY INDIA---India is home to a significant number of holy towns, cities and sites which draw pilgrims from all corners of the world. Over the past two decades India’s holy sites have seen a large increase in the number of pilgrims visiting them. In many instances this has led to significant environmental problems. In view of this huge gathering there is special important to protect nature & environment at Puri. On this occasion reputed international sand artist Mr. Manas Kumar Sahoo has prepared a sand sculpture at the golden sea beach near light house of puri at the distance of 65 K.M from capital of Odisha, Bhubaneswar. This sand sculpture depicts the king of nature is holding the nature messaging about the “protecting the environment”. By this art the artist Mr. Sahoo wants to be the message of “Protect the Environment”. The sand sculpture is the height of 13 feet, consisting of 20 tons of sand and a continuous labour of 8 hours. [ link ]

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE By Rabbi David Katz Temple Ohav Shalom, Allison Park Questions about the place of art in Jewish life swirled within me and only became clear when I read this week’s Torah portion, Vayakheil . Lo and behold, God actually commissions a work of art in this parshah. The artist is Bezalel, because he has been “endowed with a divine spirit of skill, ability and knowledge in every kind of craft.” His task is to design the Tabernacle — the place of worship that the children of Israel will use as they travel through the desert. Says Moses to the people, “Take from among you gifts to the Lord, everyone whose heart so moves him shall bring them –— gifts for the Lord: gold, silver and copper; blue, purple and crimson yarns, fine linen and goats’ hair.” We Jews are taught that rescuing a human soul takes precedence over rescuing a painting. God is invisible and God’s invisible image in every human being is to be cherished above all. But the value of art for the sake of be...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB NEW YORK ---The Densatil Monastery has long been considered one of the great treasures of Tibet, and the Asia Society of New York is currently exhibiting reliefs, sculptures and photographs from the monastery. There are many schools of Buddhism in Tibet but the followers of the charismatic Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (1110–1170) constructed the Densatil Monastery. The exhibited artifacts are displayed along with photographs taken by Pietro Francesco Mele, who accompanied the scholar and explorer Giuseppe Tucci to Tibet in 1948. Golden Visions of Densatil provides visitors with a compelling glimpse of truly innovative and masterly artistry. Asia Society | New York: " Golden Vision of Densatil " (Ends May 18, 2014); 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY; (212) 288-6400; asiasociety.org

RELIGION DISPATCHES By S. Brent Plate Ai Weiwei," Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn," 1995/2009; " FLORIDA---Tradition is itself a series of creative and destructive acts, stability and instability; the icons are the tradition as much as the images of iconoclasm. Nothing stays the same. Critical outsiders often sum up Ai's work as "iconoclastic," a very old term from deep inside the Christian tradition. Iconoclasts are the "breakers of icons," sacred images used for worship and devotion. This week, Ai's artwork is back in the news . On Sunday, Dominican-born artist named Maximo Caminero walked into the Pérez Art Museum in Miami and smashed one of the vases that was part of Ai Weiwei's Colored Vases display. [ link ]

NYTIMES | ARTSBEAT  By Jennifer Schuessler BOOKSHELF---Penguin India drew strong criticism from authors earlier this month after it decided to withdraw and pulp the scholar Wendy Doniger’s book “The Hindus: An Alternative History,” thus ending a four-year legal battle with Hindu nationalists who argued the book violated Indian laws against giving religious offense. Now, two Penguin authors angered by the decision have written to the publisher demanding that it withdraw and pulp their own books. Jyotirmaya Sharma , the author of two books about Hindu nationalism, and Siddharth Varadarajan , the author of “Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy,” in letters to Penguin cited in The Times of India , said the publisher’s decision to end its four-year defense of Ms. Doniger’s book had undermined their own faith in the publisher.  [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS  NEWS By TAHLIB "Family Tree" (2001) by Zhang Huan (Chinese, born Anyang, 1965) NEW YORK---In a remarkable exhibition, " Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China " at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one i conoclastic work stands out: "Family Tree" by Chinese born Artist Zhang Huan . Created in 2001, less than two years after his move to New York, Zhang uses his face as a surface on which words, names, and stories connected to his cultural heritage are, literally, written in ink. It's a performance piece documented in nine photographs that records the gradual obscuring of Zhang’s face with inked words and names until it is completely blackened. "Ink Art" is the first major exhibition of Chinese contemporary art ever mounted by the Metropolitan and is presented in the museum's permanent galleries for Chinese art, so that the artworks can be understood as part of a cultural continuum including the Buddhist phil...

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Buddhist nun and artist Monka Nakata is a stickler for historical details. Before she paints, she “fact checks like crazy.” (The Asahi Shimbun) JAPAN--- Monka Nakata loves Japanese temples and can't get enough of them. It is fitting then that the 46-year-old became a Japanese-style painter who depicts scenes that highlight traditional Japanese culture, including ceremonies and rituals at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Along the way she also became a Buddhist nun. Nakata is the self-proclaimed "chief priest" of her art studio "Atelier Bunchoji" (Java sparrow temple). Her pet "buncho" (Java sparrow) serves as the principal image that is enshrined inside her "temple." [ link ]

OMAN OBSERVER By Melanie Held OMAN---As guests, friends, family members and fellow artists, gathered on the grounds of Bait al Zubair, anticipation filled the air not only with inquires of what “Geometric Souls” means, but on what Tahira Fida’s interpretation of the term means. Entitled “Geometric Souls,” as a whole, the exhibition is divided into four unique sections — geometry, geometrics, soul and special work — yet all of which creatively connecting to one another, either through style, texture, colours or story. [ link ]

EXPRESS-MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN ---The opening reception for Art from the Ashes: Finding Light in the Shadow of the Shoah will be held in the Fourth Floor Exhibition Gallery of the Golda Meir Library on Wednesday, February 19, 2014, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The exhibit features the work of visual artist Helene Fischman, a noted Bay-area artist and educator, and currently an MFA candidate in the UWM Department of Art & Design, who established "artist residencies" for herself in former Nazi territory, making former concentration camps her studio. UWM Golda Meir Library: "Art from the Ashes: Finding Light in the Shadow of the Shoah" (Ends May 30); 2311 E. Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, WI; 414-229-4785; www4.uwm.edu [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB TEXAS ---Baptist Pastor Greg Matte   welcomes the 6th annual holy week art show "Bessed: Art Inspired by the Beatitudes," to  Houston’s First Baptist Church  on April 6. The Beatitudes consist of the verses in the Bible that begin with “Blessed are the. . .” and provide the inspiration for the artwork to be shared in this 2014 Holy Week Art Show. The exhibit is for amateur and professional artists and will represent a wide range of skill levels, mediums, & styles. Among those participating is John Robertson , a 2013 A&O INSPIRE ME! Artist of the Month , and co-founder of IMAGO Houston , the organizers for the exhibit.  First Baptist Church, The Loop Campus: "The Beaitutudes" (April 6-20, 2014);  7401 Katy Freeway, Houston, TX.

OP-ED NEWS Detail of painting by Courtesy of the OKCHF VIRGINIA ---Norfolk's Hermitage Museum & Gardens has just given a rare 18th century Buddhist painting on fabric from its collection to the National Museum of Korea. The Korean Sakyamuni Triad Painting's century-long, circuitous journey was finally completed when it was returned to Korea with the assistance of the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation (OKCHF). The focus of the OKCHF is to preserve and protect Korean art, and to reclaim some of the art which was plundered during the Japanese occupation. The 10-foot by 10-foot painting depicts Buddha delivering a sermon to his followers. [ link ]

THE GULF TODAY UAE: SHARJAH--- Barjeel Art Foundation will host an exhibition entitled Tar_qah (Pathway) at Maraya Art Centre on Feb.21. The exhibition will present a collection of modern and contemporary Arab artworks inspired by Islamic art traditions. The artworks have been selected from the private collection of Sultan Saud Al Qasimi, founder of Barjeel Art Foundation. The exhibition coincides with the celebration of Sharjah as Capital of Islamic culture 2014, with pieces on display referencing the “pathway” of translating ephemeral ideas into material forms through art-making. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By John Williams PUBLISHING---After Penguin Books India recently decided to recall and pulp all copies of “ The Hindus: An Alternative History ” in the face of legal action, the book’s author, Wendy Doniger, was not surprised. “I kept hoping we might win the lawsuit, but it was looking bad,” she said on Friday. Ms. Doniger, a professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, expected the book to meet trouble in India. For the edition published there in 2010, she said, she and her editors worked “to take out things we thought might be particularly offensive to Hindus, to not thumb our nose at them.” The changes to the book, which came out in the United States in 2009, weren’t substantive, she said in an interview, “but we changed some of the wording and softened some things that would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull.” [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Holland Cotter Van Eyck’s “Virgin and Child, With Saints and Donor,” part of the Frick Collection’s holdings, will be displayed at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. NEW YORK ---Life at the Frick Collection may be a bit quieter since its blockbuster exhibition “ Masterpieces of Dutch Painting From the Mauritshuis ” closed there last month, leaving its galleries devoid of two star paintings, Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring” (1665). Now, it turns out that, even in the museum world, you have to give in order to get. Call it a quid pro quo or simply a way of providing the Frick with some much-needed international attention, but for the first time, the Frick is lending a significant group of paintings, sculptures and decorative objects to a major show that will go on view at the Mauritshuis in The Hague next year. [ link ]

THE HINDU By Lakshmi Krupa Christ: Muse for many INDIA---Through the works of a variety of artists — from Da Vinci and Dali to Jamini Roy and Paniker, an exhibition in the city traces the eternal appeal of Christ as an artist’s subject. Indeed, the most recognisable and historically significant works of our times draw their inspiration from Christ. Taking a cue from Huffington Post’s 2011 Internet poll that sought to identify the 10 Best Paintings of Jesus Ever , Pradipta K. Mohapatra, member-Advisory Board, Art Chennai, has curated this new show, touted as the first attempt of its kind in India, featuring not just digital prints of the 10 best paintings but also paintings and sculptures of Indian artists who have worked with Christ as their inspiration. Christ Through The Millennium is on till February 15 at Vinnyasa Premier Art Galery , CIT Colony . [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB "Atsua Avatar of Vishnu: The Slaying of Sankh Asura" (1730-1740) INDIANA ---The  Panchatantra  is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. This Spring, the Indianapolis Museum of Art will introduce these famous life lessons in "Fabled Kings" an exhibition of 16 Hindu paintings from its Asian collection. The 17th century  Panchatanatra series painted at Udaipur , is based on an ancient Indian oral tradition featuring tales to teach life lessons often and is illustrated by anthropomorphized animals similar to Aesop's Fables . Composed in the 3rd century BCE, the five discourses produced for the three princes are titled "The Loss of Friends", "The winning of friends", "Of Crows and Owls", "Loss of Gains" and "Imprudence" — became the Panchatantra, meaning the five (pancha) treatises (tantra). Indianapolis Museum of A...

THE CAMBODIA DAILY By Michelle Vachon Buddhist monks from northeastern India design a sand mandala at Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh on Friday. (Siv Channa) CAMBODIA---As a new exhibition of Buddhist art opened Friday morning at Wat Ounalom, four Indian monks were already hard at work on an elaborate mandala—perhaps the art form that best reflects Buddhist teaching about the impermanence of life. By the time the exhibition closes Tuesday night, the monks will have created a multicolored 1.5-square-meter design out of sand. Then they will hold a ceremony to obliterate it. The Buddhist exhibition is part of the Festival of India organized by the Indian Embassy in cooperation with the Cambodian Ministry of Cults and Religion, and which also includes Indian classical dance performances featuring episodes from the epic tale Ramanaya. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS By TAHLIB Every year, Michael and Leslie invite friends over for the Passover Seder where their family reads the Haggadah , and share a meal of symbolic foods. The book is read on the first night of Passover and tells about Jewish slavery in Egypt and the miracles God did when he freed them. The word Haggadah means "telling" ( Exodus 13:8 ). This week, a museum gathered friends together in San Francisco for the opening of an exhibition celebrating one set of the 3,000 versions  of the Haggadah, and that is why "The Family at the Seder" (above) by Arthur Szyk is my NEWS OF WEEK .

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By TAHLIB INDIANA---Shakespeare's production of " The Winter’s Tale ” isn’t “Hamlet,” with the dithering of over-thinking youth. This is one of Shakespeare's later plays, aka the "Problem Plays" which are the stuff of Artists who have known great joy and deep pain. Rooted in the Christian themes of order , judgement, grace and renewal, it's about second chances for unforgivable wrongs. While Hollywood's offbeat romantic-fantasy film," Winter's Tale " also opens this Valentine's weekend, this play is a more authentic tale of great Love; great suffering; as well as a grand reconciliation. Integrating country-line dancing, modern costuming, elegance and buffoonery, IndyFringes's production is tragic, mysterious, romantic, hilarious and very well told. "The Winter's Tale has always been a siren song to me," wrote Amy Hayes , who plays the queen. "I am drawn to its mystery, its studied carelessne...

THE NEW YORK TIMES  By Ellen Berry Book cover. INDIA---In a fight with a major company, a frail 84-year-old retired headmaster would seem to be the David to India’s publishing Goliath, Penguin Books. But this week the headmaster, Dinanath Batra, achieved the crowning victory of his career as a right-wing campaigner, forcing Penguin to withdraw and destroy remaining copies of a scholarly work on Hinduism by an American professor that Mr. Batra has called “malicious,” “dirty” and “perverse.” Penguin Books India on Friday offered its first explanation for its decision to withdraw the book, “ The Hindus: An Alternative History ,” by Wendy Doniger, which was released five years ago in India and the United States. Publishers must respect laws, “however intolerant and restrictive those laws may be,” the statement said. “We also have a moral responsibility to protect our employees against threats and harassment where we can.” [ link ]