Disney-Britton

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Rany Kennedy An undated portrait of the artist Norman Lewis, who died in 1979. After decades of spotty acquisitions, undernourished scholarship and token exhibitions, American museums are rewriting the history of 20th-century art to include black artists in a more visible and meaningful way than ever before, playing historical catch-up at full tilt, followed by collectors who are rushing to find the most significant works before they are out of reach. The shift is part of a broader revolution underway in museums and academia to move the canon past a narrow, Eurocentric, predominantly male version of Modernism, bringing in work from around the world and more work by women. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Martha Schwendener Loie Hollowell’s “Linked Lingams in Red and Blue” (2015), oil on linen and panel. Credit Courtesy of the artist and 106 Green NEW YORK---The next time you see Loie Hollowell’s paintings it will probably not be in a small, artist-run gallery in someone’s apartment that is open only on Sundays or by appointment, which is the case with this show . Hollowell’s paintings play with archetypal images of the body and graphic abstract painting languages. They cleverly allude to sexual energies and painterly ecstasies, that are at once visual, physical, and spiritual. Ms. Hollowell is a gifted painter, and her work could easily reach larger audiences soon. Loie Hollowell ‘AHHA,' 106 Green, 104 Green Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn (Through Dec. 12)   [ link ]

INDIANAPOLIS STAR By Wei-Huan Chen and Jorge Dorantes, Star reporters A blanketed figure on a park bench, the Homeless Jesus statue, is observed during the unveiling of the statue at Roberts Park United Methodist Church, Friday, November 13, 2015. The statue, which is a permanent reminder of homelessness in Indianapolis, was created by Canadian artist Timothy P. Schmalz. It is located at the intersection of Alabama St., Vermont St. and Massachusetts Ave. INDIANA---The Son of God lies huddled on a bench near one of the city’s busiest intersections. His body is minute, almost child-sized, and hidden inside a robe or rag. He appears to be shivering. He could be anyone, though the exposed feet, punctured like they were on the cross, are a dead giveaway — this is Jesus Christ beaten down and clinging on for life. In other cities, “ Homeless Jesus ,” a bronze sculpture by Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz , has been called insulting, demeaning and creepy. Some say its $40,000 price tag i...

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS WASHINGTON, DC---This month, the  U.S. Holocaust Museum  published a  report  calling the attacks by ISIS as genocide. Specifically, the report details how the Islamic State militants invaded northern Iraq in 2014 with the goal of wiping out the minority Yazidi population that lived there. They killed more than 1,500 Yazidis, mainly men, were killed, and thousands of women and children were kidnapped and enslaved. Like the Abrahmic religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, t he Yazidis believe in one God as the creator of the world.  They also believe he has place this world under the care of seven holy beings or angels, the chief of whom is Melek Taus , the Peacock Angel.

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Luke frontispiece: The Birth of Christ (Luke 2:1-20) Donald Jackson’s  representation of parables from the Gospel of Luke in "The Saint John's Bible" is extremely timely during Advent, the season when we wait for the birth of Christ. Donald Jackson uses gold throughout The Saint John's Bible to indicate the divine and here a shaft of light rises from the child's crib, making the Christ Child the focal point of this scene. Christ is not pictured here but his presence is known. His mother, Mary, gazes tenderly on the infant. Between the viewer and the unseen infant, the animals form a protective barrier. The upper text is the angels' song. [ View ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton "The Annunciation" (1946) by Romare Bearden. Oil on canvas "Advent" begins today with four weeks of being " pregnant " with anticipation, but as Santa dominates, we tend to focus more on finishing than waiting. In response, this year we're rebelling by spending the next 26-days before Christmas, known as " Advent ," both fasting and praying to prepare for the next liturgical year to begin. Each religion has its reasons for " fasting ," whether Buddhist , Christian , Hindu , Muslim , or Jewish . Ours is about waiting for Christ's birth, and that makes the soon to be auctioned " Annunciation " (above) by Romare Bearden  our NEWS OF WEEK .

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Manohla DargisS HOLLYWOOD---You cannot keep a good monster down, especially when there’s franchise money to be made. This doubtless explains “Victor Frankenstein,” a pop romp that exhumes Mary Shelley’s famous monster-maker for a jaunty bromance with his bestie, Igor. Thin as a halfpenny, “Victor Frankenstein” has nothing to offer on science and the mysteries of creation, but it does reaffirm the grip that Shelley’s story retains on the imagination, no matter how far afield it’s taken. It’s vaguely cute, even if, despite the floating eyes and other attractions, the detective who tries to ruin Victor’s party can’t help turning your thoughts from Shelley to Doyle. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By A.O. Scott Eddie Redmayne, left, and Alicia Vikander in “The Danish Girl.” Credit Agatha A. Nitecka/Focus Features HOLLYWOOD---“ The Danish Girl ,” Tom Hooper’s new film, is a story of individual struggle that is also a portrait of a marriage. When we first encounter Gerda and Einar Wegener, played by Alicia Vikander and Eddie Redmayne , they seem perfectly matched. Both are painters, living amid the soft colors and sea air of Copenhagen in 1926. What begins as an experiment and a bit of a game — dressing as a woman for the Copenhagen artist’s ball, wearing one of Gerda’s camisoles under his clothes — becomes an existential transformation. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Amy Qin "Lu Yang Delusional Mandala," Ms. Lu's recent solo exhibition at Beijing Commune, included a video (pictured), crystal sculptures and an installation to simulate a "delusion" in which Ms. Lu destroys her own body and work. Credit Beijing Commune HOLLYWOOD---While the new media artist Lu Yang was studying at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou in the 2000s, she drew up a series of works dealing with mind control. Many were deemed too sensitive, even borderline unethical, and remain unrealized. But with the help of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, Ms. Lu was able to obtain dead frogs that had been used in a medical dissection to produce one of the works. Since graduating in 2010, the Shanghai-born Ms. Lu, 30, has produced a series of boundary-pushing multimedia works that explore neuroscience, mortality and religion. [ link ]

THE DENVER POST By Joe Vaccarelli Thomas Evans works on a painting of Peyton Manning in his studio space at Temple Art Space in Denver on Nov. 11, 2015. (Seth McConnell, Your Hub) COLORADO---All Adam Gordon had about 18 months ago was ownership of an old Jewish temple in disrepair and a big idea for a social venture. Now, he is running a renovated building called the Temple, equipped with art-making spaces and a home for several small businesses that promote either artists or creative fields. The building will be full next month when the Temple Bakery opens up on the ground floor of the nearly 130-year-old building in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. [ link ]

ARTFIX DAILY Silver Shakyamuni Buddha, Ming Dynasty-- Lot 37 in Gianguan Auctions December 19th sale. NEW YORK---Buddhist art and Buddhist statues will make a strong showing at Gianguan Auctions' holiday auction on Saturday, December 19. The sale takes place in the gallery's new Manhattan headquarters at 39 W. 56th Street. Properties also include fine Chinese paintings, ancient to modern, and Chinese porcelains. The Buddhist statues and art coming to the podium are rendered in silver, gilt bronze, polychrome porcelain, jade, stone, crystal and gouache. They carry values from $400 to $40,000. Lot 37, for instance, is a silver figure of a Shakyamuni Buddha seated in dhyanasana. [ link ]

CHRISTIANITY TODAY By Alissa Wilkinson HOLLYWOOD ---Abusive religious extremism is not entertaining. It’s painful. It’s ugly. It makes us angry. So why is it everywhere in film and TV this year? From ISIS-driven atrocities to sex abuse scandals and the never-ending stories about the Duggar family, the news has been full of examples of seemingly normal people getting suckered into cults and extremist religion. Why are we watching? Maybe the answer to that question — and the fear that it will happen to us — keeps us watching. Religion is creeping back into our collective consciousness after a few decades of hiatus. [ link ]

CHRISTIANITY TODAY By Thomas S. Kidd Image: Susan Walsh / AP Catholics and Protestants Together?: Capt. Gabriel Archer’s reliquary with replicas of its contents. VIRGINIA---When the English settlers of Jamestown, Virginia, sailed into Chesapeake Bay in 1607, the first thing they did was plant a cross on the shore . As typical English people, the Virginia colonists were stridently Protestant. They were products of the warring worlds of the Reformation. Roman Catholics were the great imperial and religious enemy to most English Protestants. But the recent discovery of a Catholic reliquary (devotional box) in the grave of an early Virginia leader suggests that the colony’s religious story may have been more complicated than we knew. [ link ]

THE GUARDIAN By Mark Brown The Kiss of Judas. Infrared photography revealed that the painting must have been turned around in the 16th century. (Please scroll down for full image.) Photograph: HKI Institute/The Fitzwilliam Museum, Image Library UNITED KINGDOM---A rare medieval panel showing Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Christ survived the Reformation due to a remarkable instance of 16th-century recycling, researchers in Cambridge have discovered. The brightly painted wooden panel of The Kiss of Judas escaped the systematic destruction of thousands of church paintings because someone turned it around and used the back for another purpose – most likely to display the Ten Commandments. Estimates say up to 97% of English religious art was destroyed during and after the Reformation. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Jewish newspapers across American are struggling to find a business model that works for today, and more and more within the American Jewish Press Association are seeing mergers and nonprofit status as their future. “Our older readers are dying off and our younger readers aren’t replacing them,” said Marshall Weiss, AJPA’s immediate past president. “We’re also not making money from the ads on our websites.” With these readership changes also comes the challenge of keeping their "editorial independence" as they must rely instead on increased funding from their local Jewish federations linked to Israel. [ More @RNS ]

INDIANAPOLIS STAR By Wei-Huan Chen Karl Unnasch's installation, "Playtime Indianapolis" adds a new twist on the Christmas holiday tradition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Photo: Eric Lubrick/Indianapolis Museum Art) INDIANA---In a move many arts leaders are calling "historic" and "game-changing," Lilly Endowment announced Tuesday $100 million in grants that will be used to support 14 arts and cultural organizations throughout Indiana. The grants range from $5 million to $10 million to support museums, performing arts organizations and cultural institutions. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Zoological Society each will receive $10 million. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton As religious people , we are also more generous , but how much of a difference has our giving made this year? Pope Francis lamented last year that, "Truly there are so many tears this Christmas." I suspect we will hear much of the same this year. That's why we are partnering with bloggers from around the world to support the #GivingTuesday movement. Now in its fourth year, #GivingTuesday is a global day of giving. Observed this year on December 1st, it coincides this year with World AIDS Day and follows the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. We're making gifts that matter this year to the arts via power2give, a crowdfunding platform just for the arts, and we ask you to join us. [ power2give ]

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST By Sam Cochran Photograph of the restored Saint Patrick's Cathedral designed by James Renwick Jr. in the mid-19th century NEW YORK---All eyes were on Pope Francis when he visited the U.S. earlier this fall. But sharing the spotlight with the pontiff during his stop in New York City was St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which officially unveiled its spectacular three-year restoration for the occasion. The $177 million project reversed decades of decay and removed layers of soot darkening the Gothic Revival masterpiece, designed by James Renwick Jr. in the mid-19th century. The results are, quite simply, heavenly. [ link ]

THE GUARDIAN By Jonathan Jones Powerfully claustrophobic and electrically nasty … Gilbert and George. Photograph: Yu Yigang UNITED KINGDOM---For their eight-millionth exhibition, Gilbert and George have chosen to exhibit their shopping lists. Or not even that: their small but perfectly publicised installation in one room at the White Cube gallery is a collection of hangover rants, raw remarks delivered over a bacon butty in their local greasy spoon. What naughty boys they still are, after all these years. Then I take another look at the Gilbert and George show. It has suddenly become powerfully claustrophobic, electrically nasty. The art of Gilbert and George is not explicable by tired textbook explanations of conceptual art. It is prophecy. They live in the “fire” of art, as the Victorian aesthete Walter Pater urged his acolytes to do. They burn in the conflagration of their times. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS "Ten Commandments - Exodus 20:1-26" by Thomas Ingmire DELAWARE--- The Biggs Museum of American Art is proud to be selected as a rare American host of "Illuminating the Word: The Saint John's Bible, " opening to the public on Friday, December 4 from 5-8 p.m. The Saint John's Bible is a one-of-a-kind modern masterpiece of old-world calligraphy and contemporary art, created over fifteen years by the world's finest craftspeople. Art lovers, admirers of fine crafts and religious devotees alike will be captivated by this exhibit of 70 original pages from the Bible, which is written on calfskin and decorated by hand, making it the first illuminated Bible commissioned since the invention of the printing press.

THE CATHOLIC REGISTER By Alan Hustak Kathleen Morris’ Nuns With Children is one of works on display at the Colours of Jazz exhibit at Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibit of works by The Beaver Hall Group runs through January. CANADA---Two paintings of Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Basilica bathed in the amber glow of a late winter afternoon serve as something of a muted introduction to the Colours of Jazz, a dynamic exhibition of artwork turning heads in Montreal. Most reviews of the Colours of Jazz ignore the religious themes in the exhibition and dwell instead on how the paintings tell the story of Montreal in the Roaring Twenties. And beneath the visually stunning modernist panoramas and chromatic portraits this exhibition quietly reminds us that vibrant sophistication and the sacred are not mutually exclusive.  [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Ross Douthat I went to a matinee of “ The Book of Mormon ” over the weekend, and — As it happens, I’ve visited the Mormon missionary center where the musical opens, as part of a larger excursion to Salt Lake City and Provo a few years ago. Seen through Catholic eyes, not secular ones, it’s a place and a culture that’s at once extraordinarily impressive and somewhat strange and stifling; you can understand why so many Mormons commit to it absolutely and also why a certain percentage flee it with relief. Where the brighter joy of Mormons is invisible, in other words, the dark joy of ISIS will be entirely incomprehensible. That lack of comprehension isn’t Islamic radicalism’s only weapon. But it’s a useful one for the caliphate to have ready to its hand. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Greg & Ernest Disney-Britton Norman Rockwell’s "Golden Rule" On Thanksgiving, many picture Norman Rockwell's " Freedom from Want " (1943) from his series The Four Freedoms, and that's a very solid choice. Our choice however is Rockwell’s “ Golden Rule ” (1961), where the artist shows a group of people of different religions, races and ethnicity as the backdrop for the inscription “Do Unto Other as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.” Rockwell said , "The thing is that all major religions have the Golden Rule in Common. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' Not always the same words but the same meaning." In that same spirit, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving reflecting on the Golden Rule.

INDIANAPOLIS STAR By Kristine Guerra The display is sponsored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation INDIANA---Questions of whether a Nativity scene or any other religious symbol should be placed on public property has been a controversial topic. Following a tradition of the past five decades , a Nativity scene featuring life-size figurines of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the three wise men will be on display outside the Franklin County courthouse this coming holiday. But new this year? People walking by the courthouse on Main Street in downtown Brookville also will see the Statue of Liberty, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson huddled around a manger on the courthouse lawn. The display will be erected on Saturday. [ link ]

E-FLUX Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Props for Eréndira, 2014. Sculptural installation commissioned by the 10th Gwangju Biennale. Courtesy of the artist. UNITED KINGDOM--- Gasworks presents "God's Reptilian Finger," the first UK solo exhibition by Guatemalan artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa . God's Reptilian Finger comprises two new sculptural installations focusing on the amateur archaeology practiced by both Mormon missionaries in Guatemala since 1947 and current followers of contemporary British conspiracy theorist David Icke.  In combining Mayan motifs with unsanctioned Mormon mythology , Ramírez-Figueroa re-appropriates the second-rate archaeology of Mormon missionaries in Guatemala, who sought to conjure up evidence of Western influence upon pre-Columbian civilisations. [ link ]

WVXU By Ann Thompson Hannukkah Lamp OHIO---It's something new everyday for employees of the Skirball Museum on the campus of Hebrew Union College as they unbox 1,500 to 3,000 ancient and modern art pieces donated by the now closed B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. The collection acquired in May, 2015 is more than quadrupling the size of the museum's holdings, making it one of the largest and most important Jewish museums in the Midwest. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Ernest Disney-Britton Everybody’s talking about equity but no one is focused on creating equity. That’s a big problem. In June 2015, Tom Finkelpearl Commissioner, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and Jane Chu , Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts, talked onstage during Americans for the Arts about empowering equity and innovation through the arts. What is the endgame for these conversations? First of all, attracting minority audiences to non-minority arts programs cannot be the goal. Rather, the aim is to create equitable access to the arts for all audiences must be the goal. Theaster Gates added, "There are gems that just need to be polished," as he continued the Finkelpearl-Chu theme in talking about the resources in underserved communities. Equity then is not about destroying the classical  Western canon ; it’s about building a new  American canon that includes the assets in our own communities too.

THE CREATOR PROJECT By Sami Emory — May 21 2015 Tony Matelli, Figure 1, 2015, silicone, steel, urethane, hair, ed. 1/1 +1AP. 67 x 18 x 8 in. NEW YORK---Inside the unadorned walls of the Marlborough Chelsea and its Broome Street offshoot, Tony Matelli’s Garden exhibition makes it seem as though the world itself has been flipped on its axis. The show encompasses an imposing spectrum of Matelli's new works, from hyperrealistic, inverted "Adam" and "Eve"-style figures, to a set of the artist’s iconic mirror works, to a collection of garden sculpture "readymades." [ link ]

TIMES OF INDIA 'Hanging' cow art triggers protest at Jaipur exhibit INDIA---Pro-cow activists on Saturday forced organizers of Jaipur Art Summit to remove an installation art work, a dummy cow hooked to a balloon, which was, ironically, put up to depict the message to save cow from the menace of plastic waste. Supported by a balloon, the art work was floated at a height of nearly 100 feet just before the official inauguration of the summit, held at Jawahar Kala Kendra, by Baroda-based artist Siddharth Karwal. [ link ]

SOUTH COAST TODAY By Auditi Guha Jewish Indian artist Siona Benjamin's art reflects her multi-cultural upbringing  MASSACHUSETTS---Blue skinned women, Hebrew or Hindi letters, and elaborate motifs from Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Christian cultures make up Siona Benjamin’s vibrant canvas, with a purpose that is all too relevant in today’s world. “You might have different faces and you might have different religions but in the end we are all human beings,” said the visiting artist after a talk titled “Blue Like Me” at UMass Dartmouth’s Claire T. Carney library earlier this week. Her work shows that “jewish culture is alive and well” said Rabbi Jacqueline Romm Satlow, director of the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. [ link ]

CHINA CHRISTIAN DAILY By Yi Yang Over 60 works created by over 40 domestic famous artists were exhibited CHINA---In the afternoon of Nov. 5th, with the theme of "situation and carem" the 5th Amity Foundation Christian Art Exhibition opened at the Gallery of Nanjing University of the Arts. It was the first exhibition about Christian culture since the foundation of the gallery. Mr. Hao Qingsong, the designer of this exhibition said the exhibited works indicated that Chinese Christian art has progressed to a new stage, where it has been equipped with a firm religious base, clear themes, and high contemporarity and professionalism. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Stephen Castle UNITED KINDGOM---Showing Christians in public and private prayer, an advertisement produced for Britain’s main church was designed to promote a moment of contemplation among moviegoers as they settled down to watch a pre-Christmas blockbuster. Instead, it has provoked a ferocious debate over the role of religion in an increasingly secular Britain. Based on the Lord’s Prayer, the 60-second commercial , which was to be shown before “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which opens next month, has been refused screen time in most of Britain’s movie theaters. [ link ]

ARTNET NEWS By Cait Munro Paul Laffoley. Photo: Andrew Fladeboe. Visionary artist and architect Paul Laffoley died on November 16 at age 80 following a battle with congestive heart failure, his gallery Kent Fine Art told Artforum. Laffoley, a Boston native, is best known for his large-scale, mandala-inspired canvases that combine words and imagery to address themes within philosophy, mysticism, science, architecture, and spirituality. As an undergraduate, Laffoley attended Brown University and later went to the Harvard Graduate School of Design. [ link ]

ATLAS OBSCURA By Brianna Nofil and Jake Purcell Saint-Michel-de-Cuixa, late 1800s, prior to parts of it being dismantled and shipped to New York, where is makes up part of The Cloisters. (Photo: Bibliothèque de Toulouse/flickr) There are two Americans to thank for the strange fact of a 12th century Spanish monastery’s existence only a few miles from Miami Beach: notorious plutocrat William Randolph Hearst, and his art dealer, Arthur Byne —one of several dozen centuries-old buildings imported to the U.S. in the early 20th century. They lie scattered around the country, a hidden patchwork of mostly-illegal monasteries and mansions whose history has been largely forgotten. [ Map ]

THE HINDU By Sunil Kothari Pichvai for Sharad Purnima, Late 19th century. Kishangarh, Rajasthan, India. TAPI Collection. Photo courtesy of TAPI Collection. ILLINOIS---A unique exhibition in Chicago showcases the private devotions of the Pushtimarg sect of Hinduism. Showing now (and on till January 3, 2016) at the Art Institute of Chicago in Regenstein Hall is an exhibition that is possibly the first of its kind. It has more than 100 objects including pichvais (intricately painted cloth hangings) that celebrate Shrinathji, a form of the Hindu god Krishna in a large-scale exploration of the art and aesthetics of the Pushtimarg sect of Hinduism. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Holland Cotter Derek Fordjour, ‘Upper Room’(Ends Nov. 28), Robert Blumenthal Gallery, 1045 Madison Avenue, near 80th Street, Manhattan NEW YORK---Entering Derek Fordjour’s “Upper Room” from Madison Avenue is like changing planets. This installation is partly autobiographical. Mr. Fordjour grew up in Memphis, a child of Ghanaian immigrants. “Upper Room” refers to places of worship: a prayer room in his family home and church revival meetings in forest clearings. If he had overstated his basic image, or editorialized on it, the piece would have landed with a thud. He has trusted in the truth of materials to tell a story, and they do. [ link ]

THE FORWARD By Joshua Furst NEW YORK---(T)he curators of the Jewish Museum , have a difficult job. They can’t help but recognize the limitations of revisiting the same narrow band of Jewish tropes with each and every show they present. There are only so many fresh ways to revisit the Holocaust, the Jewish immigrant experience, the biblical stories, the Diaspora, etc., etc., etc. But still, they must respect the mission of the institution to look at art through a Jewish lens. “Unorthodox,” the group exhibition that currently sprawls across the entire main floor of the museum, could be read as a their bid to square this circle. Most of the 55 artists represented in the show aren’t even Jewish. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Valley of the Dry Bones (Ezekiel 36:15 – 37:25), Donald Jackson (artist) and Susie Leiper (scribe), Copyright 2005, The Saint John's Bible. Donald Jackson’s  "The Saint John's Bible" is not just a Bible but a work of art. Written and drawn entirely by hand using quills and pigments hand-ground from precious minerals and stones such as lapis lazuli, malachite, silver and 24-karat gold, and it celebrates a great tradition of medieval illuminated manuscripts. More than 1,150 pages of text and 160 illuminations from all 73 books of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the illuminations include scenes of modern-day genocide to reflect the world today: the Armenian Genocide during World War I, a pile of discarded spectacles references the Holocaust; the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge; and Heaps of bones to recall the Rwandan Genocide.

FINE BOOKS & COLLECTIONS Lot 33: Romare Bearden, The Annunciation, oil on canvas, 1946. Estimate $120,000 to $180,000. NEW YORK---On Tuesday, December 15, Swann Galleries’ will offer African-American Fine Art, featuring a newly re-discovered Norman Lewis painting, an important early-career modernist painting by Romare Bearden , and what is believed to be the first painting by Elizabeth Catlett to come to auction. Two scarce paintings included in the sale are Romare Bearden’s "The Annunciation, "oil on canvas, 1946; and Elizabeth Catlett’s Friends, tempera on paper, mounted to masonite board, 1944. Bearden’s piece comes from early in his career, a period in which he was working primary on paper and produced few large canvases like this one. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By Disney-Britton Archie Rand's "The 613" was released this month Can you list ten driving rules ? How about ten football rules ? Can you list all  Ten Commandments ? If not, what does It mean when we know more about driving and football than about our religion? What if there were more than ten? According to Judaism, there are 613 Commandments in the Old Testament, and now artist Archie Rand has illustrated them all. This month, Rand's paintings were published in a new book, and that makes " The 613 " (above) by Archie Rand our NEWS OF WEEK .

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Joe Morgenstern Jennifer Lawrence, left, Mahershala Ali, center, and Liam Hemsworth, right, in a scene from ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay--Part 2’ Photo: LIONSGATE Somewhere in the middle of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 2,” the sporadically stirring culmination of the series, I felt an unexpected pang of sympathy for the heroine, Katniss Everdeen. Instead of slow and thoughtful, however, the tone becomes hurtling and grim, and not so human, with long chases through sewers, rising tides of digital sludge and slippery, slithery lizard mutts that look for all the world like standard-brand zombies. Julianne Moore is seen once again to powerful effect, as the rebel president, Alma Coin. Resolution comes to the tortured relationship between Katniss and her friend from childhood Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson. [ link ]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Joe Morgenstern Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in a scene from ‘Carol’ Photo: Weinstein Co. HOLLYWOOD---There’s a moment in “Carol” when unspoken feelings are finally spoken, and passionately. The setting is a motel in Iowa—in Waterloo, of all fatefully named towns—during the early 1950s. Two lovers who have stopped there for the night, Cate Blanchett’s regal Carol and Rooney Mara’s younger, unworldly Therese, are together in bed. This exquisitely crafted film, directed by Todd Haynes and adapted by Phyllis Nagy from a novel by Patricia Highsmith , is often about what can’t be said in an era of emotional mutedness. That’s not a recipe for dramatic vitality, which is in short supply. But loneliness and longing are at the center of these two women’s lives, at least for a while, and they’re expressed by nuance and implication in a pair of superb performances, and by a lovely evocation of the period. [ link ]

SAINT LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO By Kelly Moffitt Salma Arastu's "God is One." MISSOURI---Artist Salma Arastu knows a thing or two about intercultural communication. She was born in India and raised in Hinduism before embracing Islam through her marriage. Now, she uses that melded faith background to build religious bridges through her artwork: Arabic calligraphy melded with abstract expressionist paintings. On Friday’s “Cityscape,” Arastu joined host Steve Potter to discuss her artwork, which is now on display at Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA). The name of the exhibition is “Painted Prayers: The Calligraphic Art of Salma Arastu.” Terry Dempsey, the director of the museum, also joined the show to discuss the genesis of the exhibit. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Maggie Haberman and Richard Perez-Pena Under assault from Democrats and Republicans alike, Donald J. Trump on Friday drew back from his call for a mandatory registry of Muslims in the United States, trying to quell one of the ugliest controversies yet in a presidential campaign like few others. Mr. Trump’s talk of a national database of Muslims, first in an interview published on Thursday by Yahoo News and later in an exchange with an NBC News reporter , seemed the culmination of months of heated debate about illegal immigration as an urgent danger to Americans’ personal safety. [ link ]

THE JEWISH WEEK 12th century reliquary shaped like  church is part of a collection of Christian devotional masterpieces GERMANY---The case of the Guelph Treasure , in which heirs of the Jewish art dealers are seeking its return, may throw a light on this complicated legal question. The treasure is a collection, primarily of precious gem-encrusted Christian devotional masterpieces, such as reliquaries and crosses, that is valued at about $250 million. The most valuable piece is a 12th-century domed reliquary shaped like a church and made of gold, copper and silver. Biblical figures carved from walrus tusk encircle the work. [ link ]

AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS OHIO---The citizens of Cuyahoga County, OH, a perennial bellwether in presidential campaigns and home to the city of Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, overwhelmingly voted on November 3 to extend its robust public arts funding program for another 10 years. The Arts and Culture Levy is a penny-and-a-half per cigarette tax that was established in 2006 to provide a dedicated funding stream for Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, the local arts agency. The Arts and Culture Levy, along with its $15 million in annual arts funding, was due to expire unless voters re-affirmed their support for it on the ballot--which they did, with an incredible 75 percent of the vote! The Arts Action Fund was proud to work with its local advocacy partners to help get out the vote during a traditional low-turnout election year. Bravo, Cuyahoga County! [ link ]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Daniel Akst Lots of people try to live by the Ten Commandments. Only the Jews have to cope with 613. Archie Rand has said (as quoted by the Religion News Service): “I don’t want to make paintings that were about Jewishness, but that are Jewish.”Perhaps his most ambitious effort in this direction is a series of paintings he calls “The 613.” Working from a list drawn up by the 12th-century philosopher Maimonides, Mr. Rand spent five years creating a visual analogue for each and every mitzvah. All the paintings are 20 inches by 16 inches, framed by a painted gold border, designated with a Hebrew number indicating the mitzvot to which they correspond, and executed in a colorful, dynamic style heavily influenced by classic American comics. Mr. Rand has now published these vivid works in a hefty book titled “ The 613 .” [ link ]

ARTS BEAT By Jada F. Smith A video display, titled "Commemorate & Celebrate Freedom," was projected on the facade of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington on Monday. The video projection was organized by the filmmaker Stanley Nelson and co-produced by Marcia Smith, his wife WASHINGTON, DC---A new Smithsonian museum dedicated to telling the history of African-Americans lit up the National Mall on Monday night as historical images related to the Civil War, the abolition of slavery and the passage of the Voting Rights Act were projected onto the facade of the five-story building. Called the National Museum of African American History and Culture , it is slated to open next fall. [ link ]

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Neil MacFarquhar Muslim men at a mosque this month in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. Officials estimate that there are at least 2,000 fighters from the Caucasus among up to 7,000 recruits from Russia and the former Soviet Union now in Syria and Iraq. Credit James Hill for The New York Times RUSSIA---Much like the disaffected Muslim communities in Europe, the Caucasus region and the swath of former Soviet republics across Central Asia have become a vital recruiting ground for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Law enforcement officials estimate that there are at least 2,000 fighters from the Caucasus among up to 7,000 recruits from Russia and the former Soviet Union now in Syria and Iraq. At the same time, the Islamic State is steadily establishing a foothold in the Caucasus. It is tapping into the rage and resentment over Russia’s constant, brutal and arbitrary security presence in order to foster a new crop of homegrown, fanatical opponen...

HOUSE BEAUTIFUL MAGAZINE  By Orli Bendor Outstanding art is cropping up in the most unexpected places. Furniture makers, design firms, and even frabric hours had added the finishing touches---prints and paintings---to their offering. And its never been easier to get a piece frames: A bevy of new sites make it a snap. Here, a guide to the new art landscape for every style and budget.

THE NEW YORK TIMES By Serge Dnaiel, Dionne Searcey and Adam Nossiter Security forces evacuated residents from an area surrounding the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, on Friday. Credit Habibou Kouyate/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images MALI ---At least two gunmen stormed a Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali, on Friday morning, and seized 140 guests and 30 staff members as hostages, killing at least three people. An operation to rescue the remaining hostages was underway amid indications that the hostage takers had been releasing Muslims and continuing to hold non-Muslims. [ link ]

THE GAZETTE By Anne Marie Hankins, RNS HOLLYWOOD---Pixar, the computer animation studio beloved for its kid-friendly fare such as “Finding Nemo” and “Inside Out,” is not known for taking on religious themes. But its newest short film tells a personal story about a boy who learns to appreciate his religious heritage by envisioning the Hindu gods as superheroes. “ Sanjay’s Super Team ,” directed by artist Sanjay Patel, is based on Patel’s relationship with his father and his experience growing up in California as the son of Indian-American immigrants. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS By  Ernest Disney-Britton Donald Jackson works on The Saint John's Bible On November 1 , AOA readers voted Donald Jackson as the 2015 Artist of the Year for the Alpha & Omega Prize for Contemporary Religious Arts . He is one of the world’s finest calligraphers. At the age of 26, he became the youngest artist calligrapher chosen to take part in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s first International Calligraphy Show after the war and appointed a scribe to the Crown Office at the House of Lords. His dream however was to create a hand-written, illuminated Bible. The result of that creativity, ego, and perserveance is "The Saint John's Bible," a work of art and a work of theology. I've met several of the staff who worked with Jackson, but this interview best describes the inspiration which is Donald Jackson .

WKYT | CBS By Associated Press Hand-drawn portrait of Jesus by Connie J. Combs KENTUCKY---Faced with a complaint over a hand-drawn portrait of Jesus that has hung on a county courthouse wall for decades, a judge executive has gotten other artists to fill the wall with original art depicting everyone from Snow White to MSNBC television host Rachel Maddow. Breathitt County Judge-Executive John Lester "J.L." Smith tells the Lexington Herald-Leader (http://bit.ly/1YeKai0) that he solicited other pictures to hang in order to reinforce that there is no religious intent behind keeping the picture of Jesus. The 1981 portrait by artist Connie J. Combs shows a man kneeling before Jesus. [ link ]

THE PROVINCE By Stuart Derdeyn Walis Labai’s Whispering with Spirits is a 2014 video work CANADA---The island nation of Taiwan hosts one of Asia’s most dynamic multicultural societies. Besides the 16 officially recognized aboriginal tribal groups, ethnic Han, Hakka and Koklo and other mainland Chinese colonists, there is also a legacy from the Japanese rule (1895 — 1945) as well as earlier Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch occupations. It all adds up to a fascinating mix in the country’s contemporary art which forms the focus of the new Museum of Anthropology exhibition titled (In) visible: "The Spiritual World of Taiwan Through Contemporary Art. "[ link ]

THE GUARDIAN By Gwen Jones Nigel’s pictures present us with doorways – domestic openings in a hectic cityscape inscribed with lingering evidence of human habitation. There are no people. BUDAPEST---In his daily walks around Budapest, the Irish photographer Nigel Swann, who has lived in the city for over 10 years, has photographed the entrances to hundreds of apartment blocks – their doors, letterboxes, graffiti, vitrines and facades in various states of disrepair. Unbeknown to him, many of them 70 years ago were “yellow-star houses”. Upon discovering a list of said houses, he revisited and rephotographed all of them. From 21 June until late November 1944, all Jewish Budapest citizens were obliged to wear the yellow star and live under curfew in a designated house with the same marking, usually made out of cardboard. [ link ]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By Dorothy Rabinowitz ‘India’s Daughter’ airs on PBS on Monday. Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images “India’s Daughter” is no ranting diatribe. It’s a relentlessly penetrating excavation of facts and attitudes in a single case, though one, clearly, that speaks for a multitude of others. The film’s great strength is the product of that potent combination—ambition and persistence. The filmmaker pursued and won near miraculous access to every side of this history, including one of the rapists, also driver of the bus, who speaks in his prison cell—a man of still unshaken confidence in his views of women. “A girl is far more responsible for a rape than the boy,” he tells his interviewer. [ link ]

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS Genesis 3: "Adam and Eve" by Donald Jackson with contribution by Chris Tomlin God's first couple: Adam and Eve are presented by Donald Jackson   as an African man and woman surrounded by patterned fabrics from various ancient cultures. Photographs of Ethiopian tribes-people influenced Jackson's design. He wanted to link the notion of the Bible's first man and woman with scientific evidence that humankind originated in Africa. The poisonous coral snake also appears between Adam and Eve. [ Purchase ]