Bob Jones University Museum Announces Purchase of Ivory Dyptch

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Tahlib

SOUTH CAROLINA---The Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery (M&G) has purchased a 14th century French Carved Ivory diptych panel called, The Trinity. According to museum officials, it is the first significant art purchase since 1997. The purchase was made in 2011, well before the recent reports by National Geographic Magazine that religious groups are responsible for the unsustainable poaching of elephants for the creation of ivory religious relics, such as this dyptych. Already recognized for having one of the largest collections of religious art in the Western Hemisphere, this ivory artifact marks the fruition of M&G’s strategic goal to reenter the arts market and address areas of development within the collection.

Holy-day Art Preview for Candlemas | Art by Chris Koelle

AOA NEWS
By Tahlib

"Call His Name Immanuel" - 9x12 Print by Chris Koelle

SOUTH CAROLINA - In five days on February 2nd, Christians world-wide will celebrate the holyday known as the "Presentation of Christ at the Temple" (Candlemas) which is celebrated 40-days after Christmas, the birthday of Jesus Christ. To help illustrate the story ahead, today AOA NEWS features the work of Chris Koelle, an artist and illustrator in Greenville, SC. He has created thousands of illustrations for books, graphic novels, animation, including most recently completing all the art revisions for a series of illustrations based on the book of "Revelations" for his publisher. This piece, "Call His Name Immanuel" (above) is based on Isaiah 7:14 and appears along with almost 50 other illustrations in the book "The History of Redemption" published by Austin Stone (2010). For more on Chris Koelle, visit his site at http://www.chriskoelle.com/.

Bob Jones University Questions 'Fundamentalist' Label

THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY
by David Gibson

SOUTH CAROLINA -  [Bob Jones University] leaders are weighing alternatives to the "fundamentalist" label that has proudly defined the school (and a wide swath of the Bible Belt) since the 1920s. The Fine Arts program remains a distinctive feature. Music and drama are the lifeblood of the curriculum as students perform Shakespeare and other theatrical productions, and the university puts on a major opera every year. An art museum on campus features Renaissance and Baroque religious paintings in a collection that is one of the best in the country. School officials insist that BJU's beliefs and mission have not changed; it's just the focus is more than ever on a "biblically-based liberal arts education" for students, as Weier pus it, be they aspiring housewives or pastors. It started in 2005, when the mantle of university president passed to Stephen Jones, Bob Jones III's son and the first person not named Bob Jones to lead school since its founding in 1927. The youngest Jones quickly distanced himself from the political legacy of his predecessors. "There were things said back then that I wouldn't say today," Stephen Jones said in 2005. [link]

Want Catholic Art in USA? Head to Bob Jones University

WASHINGTON POST | BLOG
By John Gibson

Bob Jones University Art Museum Gallery lll

SOUTH CAROLINA - Walking across the tidy campus of Bob Jones University, there’s no obvious sign this bastion of Christian fundamentalism is also home to one of the nation’s largest collections of Renaissance and Baroque religious art from the heart of Catholic Europe [BJU Museum]. It’s all the more surprising since the school’s old-time Protestant leaders have for years taught that Catholicism is a “cult” and even the “Mother of Harlots.”  Just as surprising as the collection itself, however, is that the man who started it 60 years ago was Bob Jones Jr., the school’s second president and the son of the university’s namesake. “He really thought that paintings can reach people and talk to people in ways that that reading books cannot,” said David Steel, curator of European art at the North Carolina Museum of Art and a longtime fan of the BJU collection. [link]

'Art of High Holidays' Video Casts New Light on Jewish Culture

THE EXAMINER - CHARLESTON
By Lori Henshey

SOUTH CAROLINA - With the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement approaching here in Charleston, Jewish Art Education (JAE), a nonprofit focused on connecting the visual arts to Jewish civilization, has posted its first free online video, The Art of the High Holidays. The eight-minute professional production ties the holiest days of the Jewish calendar (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) to 1,500 years of visual arts. With experts Rabbi Jack Moline, of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, VA, and Myrna Teck, PhD, guiding the viewer, the video relates mosaics, etchings and paintings to specific seasonal activities. Through this art, both the artist and religious activities come to life in new ways. "More Jews go to the synagogue on the High Holidays than at any other time of the year," Rabbi Moline comments during the video. [link]

Bob Jones University Museum Celebrates 60 years of Art

THE GREENVILLE NEWS
BY Paula Hyde

"Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh" by Benjamin West from BJM collection

SOUTH CAROLINA - Whenever Bob Jones Jr. couldn't be found in his office, his staff always knew where to locate the university president. He was nearby in his beloved museum. "If they couldn't find him, they'd always call over here to the Museum & Gallery," says Erin Jones. [link]

Mandala Ornament by Shepard Fairey Donated to Art For Life

AOA NEWS

"Mandala Ornament I" (Cream Version) by Shepard Fairey

NEW YORK - South Carolina artist, Shepard Fairey created and donated a Buddhist inspired Mandala Ornament to help raise funds for the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation. Available online at charitybuzz.com, the Mandala (valued at $12,000) will be sold tomorrow, August 10.  In 1995, the brothers Russell, Danny and Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons established Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation to provide disadvantaged urban youth with significant exposure and access to the arts. Russell Simons, is a well known adherent of the Buddhist faith.

Vatican Eucharistic Miracles Exhibition in South Carolina

AOA NEWS

Exhibit Panels

SOUTH CAROLINA - The Vatican-sponsored "Eucharistic Miracles of the World" photographic exhibit will be held June 24-26 at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Simpsonville. The Exhibit takes viewers around the globe, across the centuries, recounting the wonderful miracles performed by God that we might believe in God's actual presence in the Eucharist. The exhibit consists of 142 plasticized panels, with an extensive assortment of photographs and historical descriptions of the principal Eucharistic Miracles. [link]

Bishop Gadsden commissions painting of Simeon's story

THE POST & COURIER
March 6, 2011

"The Blessing of St Simeon" by Karen Turner

SOUTH CAROLINA--The art enterprise harked back to the days of church commissions, when painters were asked to create a picture to decorate the sanctuary and parishioners could contemplate the visual representation of a good biblical story and perhaps relate it to their lives. In October 2009, about three years after the Bishop Gadsden retirement community on James Island completed work on its new chapel, it decided to fill a white wall in the chapel's apse, behind the altar, with a work of art. Karen Larson Turner, a 41-year-old artist living in Mount Pleasant, answered the call. Turner created "The Presentation of Christ in the Temple" from the story of Simeon recounted in Luke 2:22-40. The Rev. Frank Russ, Bishop Gadsden's chaplain, said residents visit the chapel frequently to look at the painting, which made its debut in November. And it has altered the experience of church services, he added. Bill Trawick, the retiremen community's President & CEO said congregants see their community reflected in the work, they see the force of faith, they see themselves and the intangible reward of devotion and love. It's the right message in the right place at the right time, Trawick said. "It puts the finishing touch to the chapel." [link]

A Skater whose artwork is Bible Inspired

THE DAILY GAMECOCK
February 23, 2011


"The Exorcist" by Jason Smith

SOUTH CAROLINA -- The Columbia Museum of Art debuted its new "Skate and Create" exhibit in the David Wallace Robinson Jr. Community Gallery Tuesday night. On display now through April 24, the exhibit features several collections from various artists including the works of Jason Smith, a skateboarder long before he ever picked up a paintbrush. Smith paints what is real; the haunting eyes of the "Death Angel" on display in the exhibit practically leap off the canvas and bore into your soul, in an acute contrast to the darkness of the missing eyeballs in "The Exorcist" painting. Smith said his greatest inspiration comes from his Bible. "All of my paintings are somehow biblically related," said Smith. "I read a Bible verse, and I instantly know what needs to be painted. And my pieces always turn out to be exactly like what I see in my head. After that, 10 people may walk by and see my painting, and if only one person is affected by it, that's who the Lord wanted me to paint for." [link]