NOMA Presents “Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon: Masterworks from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society”

NEW ORLEANS.COM

NEW ORLEANS (press release) – The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) presents Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon: Masterworks from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society, on view March 13 through June 7. Presenting nearly seventy of the finest examples of Asian art in the United States, Buddha and Shiva, Lotus and Dragon showcases the broad range of bronzes, ceramics, and metalwork assembled by John D. Rockefeller 3rd (1906–1978) and his wife Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909–1992) between the 1940s and the 1970s. With highlights including Chinese vases, Indian Chola bronzes, and Southeast Asian sculptures, the collection reveals great achievements in Asian art spanning more than two millennia. [More]

Reenacting the Largest Slave Revolt in US History

CNN REPORTS
By Edmund D. Fountain

Artist Dread Scott, second from left, marches through New Orleans. Scott spent six years planning the march in conjunction with other artists, historians and community members.Edmund D. Fountain for CNN

Hundreds of people marched along the Mississippi River this weekend in a reenactment of the 1811 German Coast slave uprising, the largest revolt of enslaved people in the history of the United States. The performance, the brainchild of artist Dread Scott, was six years in the making and sought to reclaim the history of the uprising. In the river parishes outside New Orleans, the reenactors retraced much of the route of the revolt and concluded with a public celebration at Congo Square inside Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans. The reenactment was the first time the revolt has been reenacted at this scale. [More]

Dread Scott's Slave Rebellion Rises Again

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Rick Rojas

Performers in a reenactment of an 1811 slave rebellion marched through LaPlace, La., on Friday. William Widmer for The New York Times

LaPLACE, La. — The rebels and slave owner were performers — actors, students, engineers and teachers who had been enlisted in the ambitious undertaking on Friday to recreate a rebellion in 1811 in which some 500 enslaved people of African descent marched from the sugar plantations along River Road to New Orleans. The 26-mile march, a re-enactment of the 1811 German Coast Uprising in southeast Louisiana, began Friday morning and will conclude Saturday. It was timed to the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in Virginia, a moment that has ignited considerable reflection about the specter of slavery still hanging over the United States and the depths of its influence. [More]

With a Slave Rebellion Re-Enactment, An Artist Revives Forgotten History

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Richard Fausset

Sammi Ross, rehearsing in costume for the 1811 Slave Rebellion Re-enactment, a 26-mile march along former antebellum plantations in Louisiana. Her great-great-grandmother was part of the original slave rebellion. “My family has been taught how to survive through everything,” she said.

LaPLACE, La. — The New York artist Dread Scott was standing in a tiny traffic island in this working-class suburb west of New Orleans on a recent afternoon near the EZ Stop convenience store. He had come to point out a single sentence on a historical marker, one unheeded by the truck drivers barreling down Airline Highway: “Major 1811 slave uprising organized here.” “That’s the only marker anywhere in the United States, as far as I know,” Mr. Scott said, that mentions the largest slave rebellion in United States history. The remedy Mr. Scott is planning, for Nov. 8 and 9, is likely to be the most ambitious artwork thus far in his long career as a radical multidisciplinary artist: A large-scale re-enactment of the 1811 German Coast Uprising, in which as many as 500 enslaved people of African descent marched toward New Orleans from the surrounding sugar plantations in an inspiring, but eventually doomed, effort to win their freedom. [More]

A Conversation With Alec Soth About Art and Doubt

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Hanya Yanagihara

Alec Soth, “Dan-Georg. Dusseldorf,” 2018.

I had never met Alec Soth, and yet — in the artificial way that we feel we know something of the person who has created a work of art we’ve consumed and, in my case, returned to again and again — I felt I had. I first encountered Alec’s debut project, “Sleeping by the Mississippi,” several months before it was shown in New York City, in 2004. That work, a series of 47 images of people and places taken as Alec followed the sweep of the country’s second greatest waterway, which meanders and swells from northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, remains the visual equivalent of an American songbook. [More]

Photographer Joel-Peter Witkin treats the macabre and the angelic with equal grace

ARTNET NEWS
By Sarah Cascone

"Woman Christ" (2014) by Joel-Peter Witkin. Courtesy of A Gallery for Fine Photography.

LOUSIANA---To get a sense of Joel-Peter Witkin as an artist, it’s essential to look at one of his most enduring images: In The Kiss, taken in New Mexico in 1982, Witkin photographed two people locked in a kiss. But a closer look reveals that the two have one and the same face. While startling and gruesome, the image simultaneously takes on an otherworldly, almost graceful quality. That tension between death and life, beastliness and beauty is a trademark of Witkin’s work. Examples of a wide cross-section of his work are currently on view in “Joel-Peter Witkin: The World Is Not Enough,” an exhibition at A Gallery for Fine Photography in New Orleans. [link]

Can You Party During Carnival (Mardi Gras) And Still Be a Christian?

PATHEOS
By Rev. Morgon Guton

“Mardi Gras Bourbon Street 2015″ by Nick Solari, Wikimedia Commons C.C.

LOUISIANA---It’s Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, which can be an awkward time for a campus minister. Many of the students I know will be drinking a lot during the next week. Some Christian students I know see it as necessary to their Christian discipleship to give up alcohol. I deeply respect that, but I’m not going to declare that a hard and fast rule because I’ve been told that other students have stopped going to church because they felt guilty about drinking. So instead, I thought I would offer some reflective questions to ponder as you think about the choices you make during Mardi Gras season or any other party. [link]

Why Bobby Jindal pushes religious freedom over same-sex marriage

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
By Meredith Hamilton, Staff writer

In this May 9, 2015, file photo, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks at the Freedom Summit in Greenville, S.C.

LOUISIANA---Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal signed an executive order Tuesday putting part of his “Marriage and Conscience Act” into law after the Louisiana House voted against his original proposal. By siding with conservative Christians, Governor Jindal appears to be bucking public opinion trends supporting same-sex marriage. But he also may be positioning himself for a 2016 presidential run. Several similar religious freedom laws have been passed in recent months, most notably Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in March. Arkansas tried to pass a bill in 2014, but it was vetoed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. [link]

Louisiana's governor promises to resurrect failed 'religious freedom' bill

THE ADVOCATE
By Trudy Ring

LOUISIANA---Louisiana’s antigay “religious freedom” bill has died in a state House committee, but Gov. Bobby Jindal says he’ll issue an executive order to accomplish the bill’s goals. The bill would have prevented the state from penalizing a business because the operator expressed religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage — for instance, in refusing to provide goods or services for a same-sex wedding. Shortly after the vote, Jindal issued a statement saying he’ll make the bill’s provisions law via executive order, the paper reports. [link]

$20 million gift to expand National World War II Museum

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Robin Pogrebin

LOUISIANA---The National World War II Museum is to announce on Tuesday a $20 million gift that will be used to add a “Canopy of Peace” to the New Orleans campus as part of the museum’s expansion. The donation was made by Donald T. Bollinger Jr., known as Boysie, a longtime supporter of the museum who served as its board chairman and made his fortune in shipbuilding. Dedicated in 2000 as the National D-Day Museum and designated by Congress as the country’s National World War II museum in 2004, the institution is in the midst of a $325 million capital campaign that will quadruple the museum’s size, to be completed in 2017.  [link]

Louisiana Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Gay Marriage Case

THE ADVOCATE
By Associated Press

The Supreme Court can be seen from the view from near the top of the Capitol
Dome on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

LOUISIANA---The state of Louisiana agrees with gay rights activists about one thing: asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the rare step of hearing an appeal of Louisiana's ban on same-sex marriages before a federal appeals court rules. The request filed this week by Washington attorney Kyle Duncan asks the justices to hear appeals of Louisiana's case and the only other federal court decision to uphold gay marriage bans. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is to hear Louisiana's appeal and one from Texas on Jan. 9. [link]

New Buddhist Temple in Terrytown Will be One of the Biggest on the Gulf Coast

THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
By Celeste Norris, Terrytown Columnist

New Buddhist temple in Terrytown will be one of the biggest on the Gulf Coast

LOUISIANA---The temple under construction at 1731 Stumpf Blvd. is to be called Lien Hoa Van Phat. The translation of "Van Phat" is "10,000 Buddhas." Those behind the project say the 54-foot-high, 7,200-square-foot structure will be the largest Buddhist temple between Houston and Florida, and will be completed in one year. After 242 45-foot pilings were driven into the ground, a 6-foot deep cement foundation was poured, and the steel framework has begun. [link]

Artists Reurbish Damaged Religious Artwork Outside of New Orleans

THE TIMES PICAYUNE
By Kim Chatelain

Sharon Infinger, one of the art conservators, puts finishing touches on a mural painted six
decades ago by Dutch monk Gregory De Wit at St. Joseph Abbey Church Tuesday, September 23, 2014.

LOUISIANA---Perched on a massive scaffold 75-feet above the altar of the St. Joseph Abbey Church near Covington, several artists have worked for weeks to bring images of Catholicism's most extolled and denounced figures back to life. Though Hurricane Katrina did not cause significant structural damage to the vaunted church, the 2005 storm is to blame for damaging some of Dutch monk Gregory De Wit's elaborate artwork that has adorned its walls and ceilings for six decades. Since late August, the two artists and their associates have bushed up some of the most famous religious artwork in the area, adding new light to the saints and sinners that line the walls and ceilings of the church. [link]

Federal Judge, Bucking Trend, Affirms Ban on Same-Sex Marriages in Louisiana

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Campell Robertson

LOUISIANA---A federal judge here upheld the state’s ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, going against what had been a unanimous trend of federal court decisions striking down such bans since the Supreme Court ruled on the matter last year. In his ruling, Judge Martin L. C. Feldman of Federal District Court said that the regulation of marriage was left up to the states and the democratic process; that no fundamental right was being violated by the ban; and that Louisiana had a “legitimate interest ... whether obsolete in the opinion of some, or not, in the opinion of others ... in linking children to an intact family formed by their two biological parents.” [link]

'Tradition' Judaica and Art Exhibition Opens at OFFStage Gallery in New Orleans

THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
By Kara Martinez Bachman

Menorahs at the Northshore Jewish Congregation's Hanukkah celebration, 2009. 

LOUISIANA---The Olde Towne Arts Center will present "Tradition," an exhibit of Judaica and art, to be on display in the OFFStage Gallery of Slidell Little Theatre from Aug. 22 through Sept. 1. The exhibit of items from the Jewish culture coincides with the theater's "tradition" theme for the 2014-15 season, and with the production of the beloved musical "Fiddler on the Roof," which explores the question of tradition through the eyes of a Jewish family.  [link]

New LOVE Signs Appear in New Orleans, With a Religious Theme

THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
By Doug MacCash

A new set of LOVE signs appear on New Orleans streets (Photo by Doug MacCash / NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

LOUISIANA---Earlier this year an anonymous street art duo nailed hundreds of plastic LOVE signs in public places around town. The signs inspired, perplexed and irritated onlookers, depending on their points of view. Now, a new set of LOVE signs have begun appearing in Mid-City. The design, which imitates the famous 1960s LOVE logo by pop art master Robert Indiana, includes a cross in the center of the O, leading some onlookers to infer a Christian theme. The more colorful new signs provoke a few questions: Is it surprising or ironic to deliver a religious message (if that's what it is) via illegal means? [link]

Religious Art Treasures Uncovered at Church in Louisiana

BAYOU BONE BUZZ

Exterior view of Saint John Berchmans Catholic Church in Cankton, founded 1925

LOUISIANA---Parishioners at St. John Berchmans Catholic Church are just now becoming aware of the nearly century’s old religious art treasures which were hidden from their view for nearly 50 years. Exposed for the first time since the small village church underwent a remodeling project during the 1960s are 25 circular paintings. Monsignor Russell Harrington, pastor of St. John Berchmans since 2012, said until he began his own investigation, few of the current churchgoers recalled the paintings, which feature prominent scenes, psalms and passages found in the Bible and New Testament. [link]

Buddhist Artist Sadako Lewis' "Honninmyo" Shares Path to Enlightenment Through Art Making

SUN-HERALD
By Cecily Cummings

Add caption

LOUISIANA--- When Long Beach artist Sadako Lewis stands before a canvas, she said she takes inspiration from Buddhist scripture by drawing on the artistic experiences of her past but also challenges herself to experiment with something new. She refers to that practice as "Honninmyo," a Buddhist term meaning "true cause," and her journey in art-making is now on display at the fine art gallery at the Jefferson Davis campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, 2226 Switzer Rd., Gulfport. [link]

Christ is Being Crucified in Glass in Louisiana

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

"The Hidden Face of God," 10' 6" tall, 3D cut glass, aluminum, stainless steel, ash hardwood, iron

LOUISIANA---This week, we received an email from Jed Malitz of Covington, Louisiana as he readies for Good Friday. "I thought you might be interested in this, the first large scale depiction of The Crucifixion in 3D cut glass." This is an astounding, one of a kind glass artwork which he expects to finish in mid-February.  The Crucifixion, with the Christ form in glass, air and light, floating off a physical hardwood cross. His face will be fully visible only by searching for Him: by viewing the ambient light redirected to the outer edges of the glass. Rusted iron nails protruding from the cross will pass through His hands and feet without touching Him.

Artist, Jed Malitz to Capture Christ's Crucifixion in Glass Sculpture

THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
By Sarah Bonnette

When completed, viewers will see a ribbon-like, abstract form when
the face artist Jed Malitz's unprecedented glass sculpture of Jesus Christ's Crucifixion.

LOUISIANA---On Christmas Day, Christians worldwide will celebrate the moment of Jesus Christ’s birth in a manger. But it is the moment of his death on a cross that occupies the daily thoughts of metal and glass artist Jed Malitz. For the past year he has focused on capturing Christ’s Crucifixion in an unprecedented sculpture that combines glass panels, slices of wood, and metal. With working titles of “The Alpha and The Omega” or “The Hidden Face of God,” it will be the fifth glass sculpture the Covington artist has created in the past two years. [link]