Disney-Britton

THE WASHINGTON POST By Daniela Deane Syria is home to many ancient ruins, including the Temple of Bel on the site of ancient Palmyra. Many archaeological sites have suffered damage amid civil war as well as looting by the Islamic State. (AP) UNITED KINGDOM---Almost 100 Syrian artifacts looted by the Islamic State have been smuggled into Britain and sold to raise money for the extremist group’s activities, art crime experts and archaeologists have warned, according to British news organizations. The items, allegedly being sold in London, include gold and silver Byzantine coins as well as Roman pottery and glass worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Times newspaper reported Wednesday. [ link ]

THE RECORD By Marco Ceccarelli Paul Kaptein’s hand-carved piece, Untitled, was the winner of last year’s Mandorla Art Award. The Scripture theme was Elijah Meets God. PHOTO: Supplied AUSTRALIA---Within our own secularised society, less and less attention is drawn to religious art and, as a result, religious works of art are rarely given the merit they deserve. The Mandorla Art Award, Australia’s only thematic Christian art award, is seeking to reverse this trend by inviting artists to create works of art linked to a theme defined by verses from the Bible. The theme chosen for the forthcoming 2016 Mandorla Art Award, The Resurrection, draws on passages from the Bible, including Ezekiel 37:1-4, Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 29:13-35, John 20:11-29 and Romans 6:1-11.[ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By J. Hoberman “In the Land of the Head Hunters,” out on Blu-ray and DVD from Milestone , is the reconstruction of a reconstruction. It preserves an artifact that used a once advanced technology to document a no longer extent way of life, and was itself all but lost to history. Around 1911, Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952), the celebrated photographer of Native Americans, began preparations for a six-reel feature about the Kwakwaka’wakw (formerly Kwakiutl) Indians of British Columbia. [ link ]

THE PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER By Stephan Salisbury, Inquirer Staff Writer The Pillared Temple Hall exhibit will be retooled to focus on its religious roots. (Philadelphia Museum of Art) PENNSYLVANIA---The South Asian galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art - the eight second-floor rooms containing such dramatic works as the mammoth Pillared Temple Hall built in the 16th century in southern India - will be closed for more than a year after Sunday. Museum officials said Wednesday that the closure, long in the planning, will allow a complete rethinking of how the South Asian collection is presented to the public. New video and digital technology will be deployed as well, allowing for a richer and, officials hope, more personal experience for museumgoers. The galleries will reopen in fall 2016. [ link ]

WTOP | TV By Mike Murillo | @MikeMurilloWTOP WASHINGTON D.C. — Tape and plastic have again been added to a broken window at a mosque in Northeast D.C. after vandals struck for the second time in a week. On Monday, the Ivy City Majid & Islamic Education Center, on Gallaudet Street, was found in disarray; shelves with holy books was in pieces and glass littered the ground. Then on Thursday, Mobaidin said, he arrived to find the mosque has been damaged again. Fencing used inside the mosque was broken; a podium was in shambles and a very large piece of religious artwork was stolen. [ link ]

RUETERS By Isabel Coles and Saif Hameed In this image made from video posted on a social media account affiliated with the Islamic State group on Feb. 26, 2015, militants attack ancient artifacts with sledgehammers in the Ninevah Museum in Mosul, Iraq. (Photo: AP) IRAQ---Ultra-radical Islamist militants in northern Iraq have destroyed a priceless collection of statues and sculptures from the ancient Assyrian era, inflicting what an archaeologist described as incalculable damage to a piece of shared human history. A video published by Islamic State on Thursday showed men attacking the artifacts, some of them identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC, with sledgehammers and drills, saying they were symbols of idolatry. "The Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him," an unidentified man said in the video. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Anita Gates You know what would make Baba Brinkman happy this weekend? If just one winner would get up at the Oscars and make an acceptance speech that began not with an expression of gratitude to God but with “I want to thank Charles Darwin.” Seeing “Rap Guide to Religion,” Mr. Brinkman’s very funny, very educational solo show, directed by Darren Lee Cole at the SoHo Playhouse , is like attending the best TED talk ever, but with musical breaks. [ link ]

THE SUBURBAN TIMES WASHINGTON– "Process Drawings: Recent Works by Makoto Fujimura" showcases recent works by the abstract expressionist painter that provide insight into his creative process and the evolution of an important group of his large-scale paintings created since 2007. Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and orator. He has exhibited his work exploring spiritual and metaphysical themes at galleries and museums around the world, including the Dillon Gallery in New York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, and Vienna’s Belvedere Museum. Kittredge Gallery , University of Puget Sound, 1500 N Warner St (CMB 1072), Tacoma, Washington [ link ]

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART Speaking with great sadness on behalf of the Metropolitan, a museum whose collection proudly protects and displays the arts of ancient and Islamic Mesopotamia, we strongly condemn this act of catastrophic destruction to one of the most important museums in the Middle East. The Mosul Museum’s collection covers the entire range of civilization in the region, with outstanding sculptures from royal cities such as Nimrud, Nineveh, and Hatra in northern Iraq. This mindless attack on great art, on history, and on human understanding constitutes a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding. Such wanton brutality must stop, before all vestiges of the ancient world are obliterated. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Erik Piepenburg Jerry Marsini NEW YORK---The artist Jerry Marsini didn’t need to travel far to research his poster design for “ The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey .” Written by and starring James Lecesne, a co-founder of the L.G.B.T. youth organization the Trevor Project, the show is about the murder of a gay artistically-minded 14-year-old in a small town. "I was inspired by the Fillmore in San Francisco. I love the vibrancy, the color, the typography of that movement of art that was inspired by the Fillmore , which itself was inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec and the art from the turn of the century." [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Charles Isherwood NEW YORK---The presence, or absence, of a presiding deity may be a question we all ponder from time to time, but it’s a matter of daily significance in “ Little Children Dream of God ,” a warm and fanciful drama by Jeff Augustin about a Haitian immigrant trying to forge a new life on the rough streets of Miami. Deirdre O’Connell, an Off Broadway stalwart recently seen on TV’s “The Affair,” plays the supernaturally maternal Carolyn, mother to 11 children. Their father? None other than God himself, according to Carolyn, who casually tells as much to anyone who asks. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Ken Johnson A scene from the Polish artist Katarzyna Kozyra’s video about people with Jerusalem syndrome, who believe they are Jesus. Credit Courtesy of Katarzyna Kozyra Foundation, Warsaw and Postmasters Gallery, New York NEW YORK---In “ Looking for Jesus ,” an entertaining, philosophically intriguing, 70-minute video by the Polish artist Katarzyna Kozyra , the camera follows Ms. Kozyra in Jerusalem, where she finds and interviews men who believe they are Jesus. She’s looking for people with a condition known as Jerusalem syndrome , characterized in part by delusional over-identification with characters from the Bible. ‘Looking for Jesus’ Postmasters 54 Franklin Street, TriBeCa Through Feb. 28.  [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES Paul Jesson, who plays Cardinal Wosley in the stage adaptation of Wolf Hall, with the Angels in the V&A Photo: PAUL GROVE R UNITED KINGDOM---The Victoria and Albert Museum surpassed its goal on Sunday of raising 2.5 million pounds ($3.8 million) to purchase four statues created by the Italian sculptor Benedetto da Rovezzano for the tomb of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, an adviser to Henry VIII and once one of England’s most powerful men. The statues, known as the Wolsey Angels, were commissioned in 1524, just before the cardinal lost his power after failing to convince the pope to annul the king’s marriage. [ link ]

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR By Tony Cook INDIANA---The Indiana Senate approved “religious freedom” legislation Tuesday on a 40-10 party line vote. The legislation is intended to protect people with strong religious beliefs, but has raised questions about the dividing line between religious freedom and discrimination. The bill has become a rallying point for conservatives disappointed with last year’s defeat of a proposed constitutional same-sex marriage ban and subsequent federal court decisions that effectively legalized gay marriage in Indiana. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton Greg's 50th birthday work of art by Romero Britto purchased onboard the Oasis of the Seas Art collecting can be a job, a hobby, or a passion. For the past eight years, Greg and I have channeled our passion for Christianity into acquiring art inspired by the religious imagination. We started off collecting locally, but we also collect works linked to our travels, like this month's cruise in the western Caribbean. The uplifting Neo-pop religious work of Romero Britto is one of our latest. Titled "Divine Blue," by the Miami resident who grew up in Brazil, Britto combines cubism, pop art and graffiti painting into his style, citing influences like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse .

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Ken Johnson “Untitled #7” (2015), by Saya Woolfalk. Credit Courtesy of the artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York Saya Woolfalk’s engagingly imaginative exhibition evokes the lobby for a New Age boutique. It includes paintings of psychedelic kimonos, digital animations of archetypal iconography and exotic avatars and colorful mannequin heads decorated with bones and jewelry. Like the young video artist Jacolby Satterwhite among others, Ms. Woolfalk extends the genre known as Afro-futurism, which includes the music of Sun Ra and George Clinton and science-fiction novels by Samuel R. Delany and Octavia Butler.  Leslie Tonkonow 535 West 22nd Street, Chelsea Through March 7 [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Julie Turkewitz NEW MEXICO---Tradition reigns here on the Navajo reservation, where the words of elders are treated as gospel and many people still live or pray in circular dwellings called hogans. The national debate over gay marriage, however, is prompting some Navajos to re-examine a 2005 tribal law called the Dine Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex unions on the reservation. Among the tribal politicians who have said they are amenable to repealing the law is Ben Shelly, president of the Navajo Nation, who has said he will go along with a repeal if the Navajo Nation Council votes in favor of it. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Andy Newman At her chocolate shop in Manhattan's East Village, Lynda Stern sells an edible Ganesh, foreground. Credit James Estrin/The New York Times NEW YORK---As religious questions go, it is a relatively small one. But, inevitably, it must be asked: Is it O.K. to eat a chocolate statuette of your favorite holy figure? The matter arose recently at Bond Street Chocolate, a bite-size East Village boutique that traffics in intricately detailed figurines of Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh. Last week, an organization called Universal Society of Hinduism issued a demand: “Upset Hindus urge withdrawal of Lord Ganesh-shaped edible chocolate,” read the society’s Feb. 1 news release. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton Henry Ossawa Tanner's "Flight Into Egypt" (1923) "Flight into Egypt" by African American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner is in the permanent  collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. According the to Met's website, the scene "depicts the Holy Family's clandestine evasion of King Herod's assassins (Matthew 2:12–14), Tanner's favorite biblical story. It expresses his sensitivity to issues of personal freedom, escape from persecution, and migrations of African-Americans from the South to the North. The painting, which reveals a concern for human emotions and an awareness of the mystical meanings of biblical narratives, also manifests Tanner's affliliation with contemporary Symbolism and the religious revival that occurred in response to challenges of the modern era."  Thought for Today: What your favorite biblical story?

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Mark Oppenheimer MASSACHUSETTS---When Julia Spiegelman and Erina Donnelly, two teachers who met as undergraduates at Bryn Mawr, became engaged, they were looking forward to planning a wedding that included elements from both of their religions. The two women attend Jewish and Catholic services together, and they had hoped to find marriage officiants from both religions, which they did not think would be difficult. But the rabbi told them that she could not perform the wedding. The problem was not that Ms. Spiegelman wanted to marry a woman — it was that she wanted to marry a non-Jewish woman. [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Disney-Britton Evelyne Alcide, Séisme (Earthquake), 2010. Beads, thread, polyester; 41 x 50 inches. Fowler Museum at UCLA, x2010.17.4, museum purchase, the Jerome L. Joss endowment fund. We are taking a break for our own creative and spiritual renewal. For the next 10 days, we'll be traveling the seas of the Western Carribean, and also seeking out local religious art. We'll be in Haiti (above), Jamaica (below), and Mexico (below), and we'll give you a full report (more or less) upon our renewed return. We'll see you soon!

THE TELEGRAPH By Rueters The high priest of the Asatru Association Hilmarsson leads a procession of Asatru Association at Pingblot Photo: Reuters ICELAND---Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on the island's first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age. Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland. Membership in Asatruarfelagid has tripled in Iceland in the last decade to 2,400 members last year, out of a total population of 330,000, data from Statistics Iceland showed. [ link ]

LIVE SCIENCE By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor An image of the gospel's 25th oracle. This oracle translates as "Go, make your vows. And what you promised, fulfill it immediately. Do not be of two minds, because God is merciful. It is he who will bring about your request for you and do away with the affliction in your heart." Credit: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. Beatrice Kelekian in memory of her husband, Charles Dikran Kelekian, 1984.669 MASSACHUSETTS---A 1,500-year-old book that contains a previously unknown gospel has been deciphered. Written in Coptic, an Egyptian language, the opening reads (in translation): "The Gospel of the lots of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, she to whom Gabriel the Archangel brought the good news. He who will go forward with his whole heart will obtain what he seeks. Only do not be of two minds." In the ancient world, a special type of book, sometimes called a "lot book,...

THE WASHINGTON POST By Mark Berman, Sarah Kaplan and Kevin Sullivan NORTH CAROLINA---A Chapel Hill man has been charged with shooting and killing three people near the campus of the University of North Carolina on Tuesday night. This rare spasm of violence for the region sparked alarm and drew international attention due to the fact that all three victims were Muslim, though police said that initial indications suggested the shooting stemmed from an altercation involving parking. The three victims were identified by police and school officials in the early hours of Wednesday morning. They were all young adults with ties to universities in the region. [ link ]

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD By Dylan Rainforth One of the portraits Richard Lewer created in Parnngurr. P hoto: Bhakthi Puvanenthiran AUSTRALIA---The animation that won Richard Lewer the Blake Prize was also his introduction to the world of the Martu artists of the Pilbara. Lewer's work, which addresses euthanasia, was first shown at the Adelaide Biennial before it went on to win the $25,000 prize for religious art. That's how Lewer came to be invited to spend a month in Parnngurr, a community eight hours drive from the nearest airport in Newman, WA.The portraits Lewer created in Parnngurr are headed to Sydney for an exhibition at Sullivan and Strumpf but this weekend only there is a Melbourne preview being held at 51–53 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy.... [ link ]

THE WASHINGTON TIMES INDIANA---Indiana business differed with Gov. Mike Pence and some clergy Monday on a proposed law that supporters say would protect people and businesses from having to take part in same-sex weddings and other activities they find objectionable because of religious belief. Prominent conservative lobbying groups are pushing for the proposal, focusing on worries that the government could force bakers or photographers to provide services for gay weddings or require churches to host such ceremonies. [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton Detail of "From Slavery Through Reconstruction" by Aaron Douglas (1934) Imagine a look of complete contentment. What did it look like in your head? I have a group of friends who love to discuss religious art, and weeks ago I asked them to name their favorite painting(s) as inspired by Philippians 4:10-20 . In these verses Paul writes: “…I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.” The question prompted a hot little debate.

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE By Sheryl De Vore ILLINOIS---Beginning in the 6th century, Buddhist artists in Kashmir, called a paradise on earth, created fine works including ivory carvings to adorn their temples. Called “ Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies ,” the exhibition unveils layers of spirituality, art and the complicated culture of collecting. “When we look at these objects in a museum, we don’t think about how they got here. It’s not always pretty, but just because it isn’t pretty, should we ignore it? This exhibition is part of a larger movement to understand how collecting has taken place in the West and at what cost to us, and at what cost to the people who produced it.” Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Gregory Disney-Britton A Texas museum is going to build Ellsworth Kelly's 1986 design for a spiritual chapel. The Blanton Museum of Art will name it the "Austin." Kelly's designs emphasize simplicity of form, and are most often associated with Color Field painting and the minimalist school. The simple stone building will have colored glass windows, marble panels, and a totemic rosewood sculpture as a symbolic altar. Because we need sacred spaces, Ellsworth Kelly's " Austin " (above)   is my NEWS OF WEEK .

THE ART NEWSPAPER By Robert Jenrick Syrian citizens ride their bicycles in Palmyra in March. Authorities in Lebanon say they have seized many looted items from Syria, including 24 statues from Palmyr © Joseph Eid We live in a time of the most tragic and outrageous assault on our shared heritage that any of us have seen since the end of the Second World War. Ancient treasures in Iraq and Syria have become the casualties of continuing warfare and looting. And no one group has done more to put our heritage at risk than Islamic State (IS) who are not only taking lives, but tearing at the fabric of civilisation, looting and purposefully destroying the culture and collective memory of millions. And unlike some previous assaults, IS are not concealing their destruction of mosques and churches and crusader castles, they are doing so brazenly with bulldozers and bombs, available for all to see in heart-breaking “before” and “after” satellite images and shared with pride on Twitter. [ lin...

THE NEW YORK TIMES Renderings for a chapel-like stone building, first conceived by the artist Ellsworth Kelly in 1986, to be built at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin. Credit 2015 Ellsworth Kelly, Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin TEXAS---In 1986, the painter and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly conceived his first free-standing building for a private collector, but it was never realized. Now, as Mr. Kelly prepares to turn 92 in May, the Blanton Museum of Art will acquire and construct his design for a 2,715-square-foot stone building, which will rise on the museum’s grounds at the University of Texas, Austin. And Mr. Kelly said the building’s 14 black-and-white marble panels were inspired in part by religious themes. The structure also features colored glass windows and a totemic rosewood sculpture as a symbolic altar. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Ken Jaworowski Mel Johnson Jr., left, and Rufus Collins in "The Road to Damascus." Credit Carol Rosegg NEW YORK---The “not so distant future” looks a lot like the recent past in “The Road to Damascus,” a serious and mostly satisfying new political thriller at 59E59 Theaters . In the play, terrorist attacks have set the government scrambling to find the culprit. “The president can’t afford to look like a wimp,” says Dexter Hobhouse, an American diplomat. To prevent an American invasion of Syria, Pope Augustine — a black cardinal newly elected from Africa — has resolved to travel to Damascus as a human shield. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Russell Shorto Jasir Robert Ryan-Lee, a descendant of Venture Smith, looks out to the shore from the roof of the fort in Anomabo, Ghana, where his ancestor was held as a slave, then taken to a ship through its Door of No Return. GHANA--- Mandred Henry was a health care sales rep from Hartford whom people often stopped on the street, saying he was a dead ringer for Morgan Freeman. As a child he heard stories from his father of a distant ancestor who grew up among a cattle-herding tribe in West Africa in the 1700s. That ancestor, Venture Smith , was a colossus of a man, physically and otherwise, who defied slavery at its very height, becoming a landowner and businessman in the early days of the American republic. Mandred Henry, who died in 2007, never made it, but last September three of his children, along with a granddaughter and a great-grandson, did, in a remarkable trip that took them to the slave fort where their ancestor was held and that culminated in...

THE ART NEWSPAPER By Helen Stoilas In January, an Iraqi man looks at books on al-Mutanabi Street, home to the city's book market in central Baghdad. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) IRAQ---In a further attack on cultural heritage, Islamic State has begun burning books and manuscripts in Iraq. In January, militants broke into the Central Library of Mosul, and took away more than 2,000 books to be destroyed, including children’s stories, poetry, philosophy and scientific volumes, some dating from the Ottoman Empire, the Associated Press reports. Residents near the Central Library of Mosul were told by an Islamic State official that “these books promote infidelity and call for disobeying Allah. So they will be burned,” a local man told AP on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from IS. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS GEORGIA--- Jewish Arts Month , an annual educational initiative sponsored by the American Guild of Judaic Art, takes place March 2015. Activities aim to promote a greater appreciation and understanding of the special significance of contemporary Judaica, Jewish art, and the meaning behind the Torah commandment, Hiddur Mitzvah, to beautify ritual objects or art for one's home, the synagogue, a Jewish Community Center or similar institutions. [ link ]

ARTSHUB By Tara Watson 2014 winning work 'Untitled' by Paul Kaptein, image courtesy of Mandorla Art Award AUSTRALIA---Art that responds to Biblical text is an old and venerable tradition. The Mandorla Art Award (MAA) brings the opportunity to Australian artists with a biannual prize, evoking the Mandorla, the almond-shaped halo used in medieval images around of Jesus or Mary. The next prize, to be awarded in 2016, will provide a $42,000 prize pool for artists who produces work on the theme of The Resurrection. [ link ]

VANCOUVER DESI Part of the City Dwellers: Contemporary Art from India exhibit on display at the Seattle Art Museum. The exhibition closes Feb. 16. Submitted photo. WASHINGTON---There’s just about two weeks left to experience the Seattle Art Museum’s " City Dwellers: Contemporary Art from India " exhibit. The exhibition, which closes Feb. 16, offers an “insider’s perspective” to contemporary life in India from Hindu mythology, to Bollywood movies and Indian and Western art. [ link ]

HELENA INDEPENDENT RECORD This wooden Buddha from Nepal is one of works featured in 'Deities -- the Sacred of the Hindu and Buddhist.' MONTANA---The exhibit "Deities -- the Sacred of the Hindu and Buddhist" features sacred artworks from Tibet and India. Included are a collection of Tibetan Thangkas plus sculptures of gods and goddesses from India. The Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation and their project manager’s private collection have generously loaned art for this show. The exhibit will run Jan. 23 through March 6. The gallery is open from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. weekdays and is closed weekends and college holidays. For more information, visit the Carroll College Visual Arts current gallery webpage or call 447-4302. [ link ]

USA TODAY By Chris Kenning and Tom Loftus, The Courier-Journal KENTUCKY---The group seeking to build a Noah's Ark theme park in Kentucky said Tuesday it will file a federal discrimination lawsuit against the state for rejecting its application for tax incentives to help finance the park. Tourism officials in December denied tax incentives worth roughly $18 million for the Ark Encounter — a biblical theme park to include a 510-foot-long wooden ship — over concerns that it had evolved from a tourist attraction to an effort to advance a religion and that developers planned to discriminate in hiring based on religion.[ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Vivian Yee Ronalde Marie on Sunday at Our Lady of Peace on the Upper East Side, which is scheduled to merge with another parish. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times NEW YORK---The priest looked out Sunday afternoon on a rare sight: Every pew in his church was packed, the crowd so thick that some had to stand. They had come to show support for his church, Our Lady of Peace on the Upper East Side, one of 112 parishes the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York plans to close or merge as church attendance wanes and finances weaken. The sizable attendance was a moment that called for thanks, and perhaps, the priest said, for acceptance. [ link ]

MISSOULIAN By Lucy Beighle Artist Unknown (Russian, 18th century) "Akhtyrskaya Icon," ca. 1750-1790 Egg tempera, silver repoussé 9½ x 12 inches Donated by Stella Duncan MONTANA---"Akhtyrskaya Icon" is part of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture’s permanent collection and can be viewed, along with 119 equally inspirational pieces, at the Paxson and Meloy galleries on the University of Montana Campus in the PAR/TV Center. MMAC’s exhibit “Art of the State: Celebrating 120 Years of the MMAC Permanent Collection” runs through May 23. A religious icon is defined as an object of veneration intended to aid in contemplative prayer. This particular one is of Russian origin, although the artist is unknown, and dates back to the 18th century. The 18th century. Imagine the emotions, inspirations and connections it has created in the past 250 plus years. Come and see what it inspires in you. [ link ]

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS By Tobias Salinger , Barry Paddock The man destroyed $100,000 worth of artifacts. Photo: Church of the Immaculate Conception  NEW YORK---An emotionally disturbed man went berzerk in an East Village church, smashing statues, crucifixes and other sacred artifacts worth more than $100,000, police said Saturday. “I was praying,” Michael Torres told cops when he was caught red-handed inside the Church of the Immaculate Conception on E. 14th St. near First Ave. about 10 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. Police found Torres surrounded by 14 smashed statues, hand-carved out of wood about 75 years ago, representing the stations of the cross. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Dan Shaw At Home With the Director of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology NEW YORK---Valerie Steele approaches fashion as if it were rocket science. At home in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York, Ms. Steele reveals another intellectual and aesthetic obsession, with Asian art and design. The front half of her midblock loft resembles a fastidious opium den. It has two canopied Chinese marriage beds festooned with dragons and interior cabinets “for rhino horns and other aphrodisiacs.” There are statues of Ganesha, “the elephant-headed Hindu god that removes obstacles in your way,” she said, and Shiva Nataraja, a depiction of another Hindu god, whom she described as “dancing the world into existence,” as well as an extensive collection of Indonesian textiles and folk art. [ link ]

THE MIAMI HERALD By Christine Benavente and Amanda Rabines The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace will be on display through Feb. 8. AMANDA RABINES SOUTH FLORIDA NEWS SERVICE FLORIDA---As six Tibetan monks meditated at Ichimura Miami-Japanese Garden, silence filled the air. The monks recited mantras about love and compassion at the opening ceremony of the Bodhi Festival, a world peace, art and spiritual-healing exhibition, hosted by the ChakraSamvara Center, a Buddhist healing center in Miami Beach that promotes personal health and well-being. Along with the other monks, Phuntso was there for the coming of The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace, a five-ton Buddha statue carved out of a block of polar jade. [ link ]

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON NEWS OHIO---The University of Dayton's Marian Library will feature an exhibit that uses precious 22-karat gold leaf for art featuring Mary, the mother of Jesus. "Past into Present: Gilded Treasures," will be on display Feb. 9 to April 24 in the Marian Library Gallery, Roesch Library. The exhibit is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday and Sunday by appointment by calling 937-229-4214. It's free and open to the public. Twenty pieces by Christian artist Sandra Bowden are featured in the exhibit. Using 22-karat gold leaf, Bowden interprets historical, religious works as delicate line drawings, illuminated by gilding. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Serge F. Kovaleski NEW YORK---After almost 200 years in New York City, American Bible Society is moving its national headquarters to Philadelphia. The ministry, which will mark its bicentennial next year, has sold its building on Broadway, at 61st Street, in Manhattan and hopes to open its new offices on Market Street in Philadelphia this summer, but its longtime tenant in New York, the Museum of Biblical Art (or Mobia) , will stay in the city and is looking for new space. [ link ]

THE UNIVERSITY NEWS By Samantha Sudduth / Contributor "Three Statues, Painting School, Thimphu, Bhutan 2010platinum/palladium photograph8 x 10 inimage courtesy of the artist MISSOURI---Saturday, Jan. 24, marked the opening reception for a new show at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) . Entitled “Vast Bhutan: Images from the Phenomenal World”, the exhibit features the stunning photography of Regina DeLuise, captured during her seven-week stay in Bhutan, a small country located in southern Asia. DeLuise’s art will be displayed at MOCRA through May 10. The photos themselves give the viewer a glimpse into the culture and spirit of the country. Bhutan’s population is predominantly Buddhist, and the faith is woven throughout everyday life in the small nation. DeLuise’s photography manages to capture this serene spirituality through simple and breath-taking images. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Bruce Weber “American Horizon” (2000) is emblematic of Ms. Wilson’s later focus on natural settings. Credit DC Moore Gallery NEW YORK--- Jane Wilson , a painter whose best-known works were landscapes that occupied a niche nestled between representation and abstraction, died on Jan. 13 in Manhattan. She was 90. The cause was heart failure, Bridget Moore, the president of the DC Moore Gallery in Manhattan, where Ms. Wilson’s work has been shown since 1999, said in an email. The paintings seek to capture the ethereal, moments in a landscape or a seascape that are defined by the time of day, the time of year, the weather conditions, the clarity of the air. Horizons are often present but sometimes difficult to locate. Clouds often proliferate luxuriantly. Light is rendered with delicate specificity. [ link ]

DESERET NEWS By Jason Swensen Hiram Power's sculpture "Ideal Christ" is located near the entrance of the BYU-MOA exhibition "In Word and Deed." UTAH---A recently opened exhibition at BYU’s Museum of Art entitled “In Word and Deed” introduces patrons to five centuries of religious images. The paintings and sculptures included in the exhibition are drawn from a variety of Western artistic traditions and periods. “Art is part of our spiritual heritage as Christians,” said Ashlee Whitaker, the museum’s curator of religious art. Many of the depictions of Christ and His prophets that are found “In Word and Deed” look a bit different than what Latter-day Saints are likely accustomed to viewing. But each work is rooted in faith and testimony. [ link ]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Naftali Bendavid and Harriet Torry Rainer Höss' grandfather was the camp commandant at Auschwitz; he's spent his life trying to atone for his forebear's sins. POLAND---When Auschwitz commemorates the 70th anniversary of its liberation on Jan. 27, the ceremonies will include an unlikely attendee: the grandson of the camp commandant who was held responsible for 1.1 million deaths there. Rainer Hoess , 49 years old, has grappled with the curse of his bloodline since his teens. He has tattoos of a Star of David and of the Auschwitz numbers of several survivors he has met. He has walked the grounds of his grandfather’s villa, whose sumptuous gardens and pools were within sight of a crematorium chimney. [ link ]

THE CULTURE TRIP By C. A. Xuan Mai Ardia Anila Quayyum Agha, ‘Intersections’, completed in 2013, laser-cut wood, single light bulb, 6.5 inches square cube. Installation view at Grand Rapids Art Museum, 2014 | Courtesy the artist When thinking about the most important and influential non-Western artists, activist artist Ai Weiwei , the founder of Kaikai Kiki, Takashi Murakami and the ‘Queen of Polka Dots’ Yayoi Kusama , come to mind. But we tend to forget that there are others that deserve attention. Here’s our top 10 list of talented artists that have recently been awarded or shortlisted for some of the world’s most prestigious art prizes. Pakistani-born artist Anila Quayyum Agha is the winner of ArtPrize Award 2014 at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan. Her winning work, titled Intersections, will be on view at GRAM until the end of January 2015. [ link ]

BIZPAC REVIEW By Michael Dorstewitz “Silence” / Source: www.cucaguixeras.com FRANCE---A French-Algerian artist was forced to remove her exhibit from a north Paris suburban gallery after a local Muslim group warned it could kindle “uncontrollable, irresponsible incidents.” No, it wasn’t a cartoon figure of Muhammad engaged in pedophilia, nor a photograph of an infidel defiling the Quran. It was, instead, a simple exhibit of high-heeled shoes sitting atop Muslim prayer rugs, which the artist, Zoulikha Bouabdellah , called “Silence.” Very fitting, given the Islamist mindset that women are second-class citizens. But the Muslim community felt otherwise. It’s considered disrespectful to step on a Muslim prayer rug while wearing shoes, The Telegraph reported. [ link ]

CNN  By Emanuella Grinberg To some, the hijab is a symbol of female oppression and Islamic fundamentalism. But to Nazma Khan , a Muslim who moved from Bangladesh to New York at age 11, the headscarf is a symbol of her religious belief in beauty through modesty. "Modesty is part of our Islamic faith," Khan wrote in an email. "No one should be discriminated (against) for following their faith." So Khan started World Hijab Day to build empathy for this perspective and to encourage non-Muslims, and Muslims who don't normally wear a hijab, to try it out. The Arabic word hijab refers not just to a headscarf but to modest dress and behavior in general. [ Photos ]

TABLET MAGAZINE By The Editors It’s the holiday that marks the new year for trees—a kind of Jewish arbor day. In Israel, it traditionally signals the beginning of spring. The holiday’s name refers to its date on the Hebrew calendar, the 15th of the month of Shevat. On the English calendar, Tu B’Shevat 2015 begins at sundown on Tuesday, February 3 and ends at sundown on Wednesday, February 4. Though a minor light in the holiday constellation, Tu B’Shevat nonetheless was of great importance when the people of Israel made a living working the land. [ link ]

LILLITH MAGAZINE The article refers to her mixed media sculpture F-Ezra: Made a Woman. Courtesy of Jewish Art Salon Artist Camille Eskel’s newest work explores the Baghdadi-Jewish experience in India that formed her family history and psychological legacy. Both grandfathers manufactured or traded fez caps, and the artist’s hats carry information about identity, cultural influence, gender relationships, and intergenerational beliefs, practices and attitudes. The Hebrew words on this fez quote from the archaic morning prayer recited by men giving thanks that “I was not created a woman.” The backdrop is a section of the Bombay synagogue Eskel’s mother’s family attended, and the women portrayed are from her family. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Rachel Donadio Joachim Roncin's “Je Suis Charlie” sign. Credit Dominique Faget/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images FRANCE---Almost immediately after jihadists killed 12 in an attack on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7, the image went viral: “Je Suis Charlie” or “I Am Charlie,” white and light gray letters against a black background. The words are now a shorthand for support of freedom of expression. The sign is the creation of Joachim Roncin , 39, the art director of Stylist, a free Paris weekly magazine. Now, with the aid of pro bono lawyers and the good will of France’s patent office, he’s trying to prevent people from capitalizing on it. [ link ]

ARTNET | NEWS By Coline Milliard Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Silence (2008-2014) Courtesy: the artist © Zoulikha Bouabdellah FRANCE---Days after the world stood up in support of freedom of speech following the Charlie Hebdo massacre, artist Zoulikha Bouabdellah was coerced into self-censorship for a piece featuring prayer rugs and high heels. Bouabdellah, who was born in Moscow and grew up in Algeria, was due to exhibit her installation "Silence" (2008) at a recently-opened show "Femina ou la Réappropriation des modèles" at the Pavillon Vendôme in Clichy, a suburb north of Paris. But the day before the opening on January 24, she was told by one of the show's co-curators, Christine Ollier, that the town hall had been in touch saying that a group “representing Muslims in Clichy had alerted the authorities to the possibility of a violent reaction provoked by the presence of the piece in the show." [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton "Thank God" (2011) by Gerald Ivey Gerald Ivey is a native of Florida who studied art in Atlanta, Georgia. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the first Monday of Black History Month than his "Thank God." According to Ivey's website: "At an early age, he exhibited exceptional artistic abilities. Throughout elementary school and high school, his teachers and schoolmates relied upon him to create bulletin boards, banners, and logos. Their approval and appreciation of his artistic acumen encouraged him to spend hundreds of hours practicing various art forms and techniques." Thought for Today: What are you thankful for this year?

THE GUARDIAN By Sean O'Hagan Children of Eden. Maplewood, Minnesota. © Alec Soth 2015, courtesy of Mack " Songbook ," even with its mischievous undertow, would seem to confirm Ionesco’s assertion and reassert Alec Soth’s position as the foremost visual chronicler of contemporary America’s nostalgias and fears. " Bowling Alone " is one of two starting points for Alec Soth’s " Songbook ." It opens with a single portrait of a man dancing in an empty room, followed by a verse from Cole Porter’s classic song " Night and Day ." On the opposite page is a group portrait of girls and one older woman linking hands, their eyes closed in prayer. They are performers in a production of the Christian musical "Children of Eden," from Soth’s homestate of Minnesota. [ link ]

THE ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Program Partners are recognized at the Art & Soul Kickoff Event. Robert Scheer/The Sta r   INDIANA---To the rhythms of African drumming and dancing, a packed audience gathered for the  Art & Soul kickoff event at the Indianapolis Artsgarden on Saturday, January 31. The energetic event launched a month-long arts celebration of the "African Diaspora" and a month-long fundraising campaign to raise $22,000 for African and African American cultural programs in central Indiana. Donate at indyarts.org/Give2ArtSoul . This unique celebration demanded a unique partnership, and those organizers were also recognized during the kickoff: (left to right) Keesha Dixon, Asante Children's Theatre ; Claudia Montes-Salinas, Latino Youth Collective ; Representative for Freetown Village ; Shannon Linker, Arts Council of Indianapolis ; and Kathleen Spears, The Walker .

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Mark Oppenheimer MASSACHUSETTS---Ms. Spiegelman grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Andover, Mass., and Ms. Donnelly was raised a Roman Catholic. The two women attend Jewish and Catholic services together, and they had hoped to find marriage officiants from both religions, which they did not think would be difficult. Most non-Orthodox rabbis officiate same-sex weddings, and while they could not expect to find a Catholic priest to officiate, they planned to ask a layperson from Dignity/Boston, a community of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics, to take part. But the rabbi told them that she could not perform the wedding. The problem was not that Ms. Spiegelman wanted to marry a woman — it was that she wanted to marry a non-Jewish woman. [ link ]