Mother Cabrini Shrine: The Religious Art of Mummification

NY ARTS MAGAZINE
By Stephen Boyer

Mother Cabrini Shrine, NY, NY. Image courtesy of Stephen Boyer.

NEW YORK---The Cloisters opened in 1934, 17 years after Mother Cabrini’s death, which was the same year John D. Rockefeller, Jr. started the project. The more I look at this seemingly quiet corner of Manhattan, I believe both the Cloisters and the Mother Cabrini Shrine have significant allegiances to old European religious power—a coded, out-in-the-open symbol of allegiance to pre-democratic ideals—while also standing as symbols of American possibility. Once inside the Mother Cabrini sanctuary I found myself transfixed by her mummified corpse. Then I noticed the late afternoon light pouring through the stain glass representation of her on the back wall of the sanctuary. [link]

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Nevada's Rajan Zed Says Hindus Upset About Kim Kardashian Artwork

EURASIA REVIEW

Nevada man is outraged by the depiction of Kim Kardashian as a Hindu diety.

NEVADA---Hindus are upset at the artwork depicting TV star Kim Kardashian, 33, as a Hindu deity, which they say hurt the feelings of devotees and is irreverence and trivialization of the sacred. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was highly inappropriate that Kardashian was shown as Hindu deity in an exhibition in New York recently. Hindu deities were highly revered in Hinduism and were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be substituted with faces of Hollywood stars for dramatic effects. [link]

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Sir Elton John: Jesus would have supported gay marriage

THE GUARDIAN

By Press Association

UNITED KINGDOM---Jesus would have been a supporter of gay marriage, Sir Elton John has claimed. The musician, who plans to marry his civil partner David Furnish next year in a "very quiet" ceremony, said that rules preventing gay clergy from marrying and requiring Catholic priests to be celibate were "old and stupid things". [link]

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Federal judge in Kentucky Strikes Down Marriage Ban for #23 in 1 Year

FREEDOM TO MARRY
By Adam Polaski

KENTUCKY---Today, July 1, 2014, U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled in favor of the freedom to marry, striking down a constitutional amendment in the state that restricts marriage to different-sex couples. The Kentucky cases were filed last summer (with the intervening couples granted permission in February) by private lawyers from Clay Daniel Walton & Adams and Fauver Law Office in Louisville, KY. Bourke v. Beshear will be considered by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit this summer, with oral arguments scheduled for August 6, 2014, the same day that oral arguments will be heard in marriage cases from Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. For more information about the 6th Circuit marriage cases, click here. [link]

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Monday's Madonna & Child is by Hannah Kunkle

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Kim as Mary, and baby North as Jesus

Graphic designer Hannah Kunkle shocked NYC, and much of the Christian world with her depictions of the celebrity-hunting Kim Kardashian as May of the Virgin mother of Jesus. Outside of the celebrity factor however, the image isn't half-bad and so it's Monday's Madonna & Child.

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Despite Legal Challenges, Sale of Hopi Religious Artifacts Continues in France

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ton Mashberg

A view of three Hopi masks from Arizona during a Paris auction in December 2013. 

FRANCE---Prompted by another large sale on Friday of American Indian religious items — the fourth such auction in the past 18 months — embassy officials invited an American judge, who is herself a member of the Hopi tribe, to explain to government officials, art dealers, academics and lawyers why treating spiritual objects as commodities is insulting and sacrilegious. The embassy’s efforts did not pay off last week despite two legal challenges to the auction, which included 29 vibrant Hopi spiritual headdresses and masklike items, known as Katsinam, that are treated as living entities by the tribe. [link]

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Art Review: Marsden Hartley Gets His Due in Berlin

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Roberta Smith

"The Warriors" (1913) by Marden Hartley

GERMANY---Before Jasper Johns or Jackson Pollock, there was Marsden Hartley, America’s first great modern painter of the 20th century. He achieved this distinction in Paris and most of all in Berlin between early 1912 and late 1915. These canvases are memorials to Karl von Freyburg, the young German officer — possibly the great love of Hartley’s life — who was killed in the first weeks of World War I. Hartley’s world-class status is confirmed by “Marsden Hartley: The German Paintings, 1913-1915,” an exhibition at the Neue Nationalgalerie here that should thrill and surprise even the most devoted Hartley fan. [link]

The exhibition in Berlin ended on June 29, but will travel only to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in August. It should however be traveling to every state where same-sex marriage is in debate including Indiana where his reinterpretation of the Three Kings hangs as "The Friends."

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‘The Leftovers’ Recap: Trying to Explain What Cannot Be Explained

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Emily Yahr

Lucy Warburton, the mayor, and Kevin Garvey, the police chief, on the series premiere of “The Leftovers.”

HBO’s new series “The Leftovers,” as you may have heard, is quite the bleak drama. The premiere picks up three years after 2 percent of the world’s population — 140 million people — evaporated into thin air for no rhyme or reason. The show begins to deftly illustrate the many ways the horrifying event affects the citizens of Mapleton, a small town in New York. In short, no one is doing very well. The characters don’t talk a lot about about the confusion surrounding the Sudden Departure, so the audience has to fill in the blanks. After years of research, they have absolutely no idea what happened. Congress is not pleased. Every talking head feels differently about the reasons behind Oct. 14.  It’s all a very weird, sad world, and we know it gets only more twisted from there. [link]

[Related: 'The Leftovers' review: A biblical event leaves a sorrowful mystery]

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Opera Review: Where Passion Rules, Morality Stands Little Chance

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

L’Incoronazione di Poppea In a new Robert Wilson production of this Monteverdi opera, singers recreate the tale of a mistress who wants to be empress. After a run in Paris, the work will continue in Milan early next year.

FRANCE---Nero and Poppea never touch in Robert Wilson’s new production of Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” for the Paris Opera, which ends its run at the Palais Garnier on Monday. Their love affair, which drives anyone who gets in its way to death or exile, is one of the most violent portrayed in opera. The tension between the frosty beauty of Mr. Wilson’s production and the simmering passions of its characters is disconcerting at first. What Mr. Wilson offers is a geometry lesson in human passions. In Monteverdi’s opera, the historical events are introduced as a test of strength between Amor, Virtue and Fortune, which Amor is determined to win. The libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello reflects the very Venetian bent for intellectual contrarianism on the margins of the religious conformity of his time in the 17th century. [link]

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Movie Review: In ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2,’ War and Peace and Beasties

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By STEPHEN HOLDEN

HOLLYWOOD---War and peace. Humans and animals. Contemplation of our bestial versus our spiritual sides. These may be too much heavy baggage to attach to a corporate product like “How to Train Your Dragon 2.” But such matters are there for you to ponder in this sequel to the 2010 blockbuster that recertified DreamWorks Animation, after a fallow period, as a major player in Hollywood’s cartoon sweepstakes. And pop mythology nowadays has a way of seeping into the culture and sending far-reaching undercurrents. [link]

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Book Review: On the Legal Front Lines of Same-Sex Marriage

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Dale Carpenter

PUBLISHING---For more than four years a group of prominent lawyers led by Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, along with political consultants and Hollywood celebrities, campaigned against Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriages approved by California voters in 2008. The latest triumphal installment comes from Mr. Olson and Mr. Boies, in “Redeeming the Dream: The Case for Marriage Equality.” This self-described “odd couple”— Mr. Olson is a Republican, Mr. Boies is a liberal Democrat — were legal adversaries in the contested 2000 presidential election, Bush v. Gore, before teaming up to challenge the constitutionality of Proposition 8. [link]

REDEEMING THE DREAM
The Case for Marriage Equality
By David Boies and Theodore B. Olson
Illustrated. 310 pages. Viking. $28.95.

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RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

This past week, the Center for Civil and Human Rights opened in Atlanta and gay couples earned their freedom to marry in Indiana. For three days, gay couples married as part of the equality movement inspired by Civil Rights heroes like Coretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, and current Congressman John Lewis. It is Lewis's life and example that are told in 37 expressionistic works by Georgia artist Benny Andrews, now in the center's collection. The works feature John Lewis’s recollection of key episodes in his life and his unwavering fight for civil rights. For a week when freedom both waxed and waned, "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaking" (above) by Benny Andrews is my NEWS OF WEEK.

In other religious art news from across the USA, and around the world:

• Buddhist Art of Week: New book, "Artful Contemplation" from Bhutan [More News]
• Christian Art of Week: Pat Robertson says Christian tattoos are "heathen" [More News]
• Hindu Art of Week: Smithsonian's yoga exhibition illuminates in Cleveland [More News]
• Islamic Art of Week: Capture the Spirit of Ramadan" returns for holymonth [More News]
• Judaic Art Week: ArtFest - 4 days of art, performance, music & writing [More News]

Join the journey. When you follow religious artists, you look for others who do the same. Some of us join as "Collectors" and make policy decisions; others join as "Friends" who gather for the dialogues; and most of us join as "Subscribers" to this "free" weekly newsletter; (or follow on: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, or Soundcloud).

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Brooklyn Museum: ‘Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties’

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Holland Cotter

"Witness (detail)" (1968) by Benny Andrews (American, 1930–2006).

NEW YORK---This imaginatively chosen show lays to rest the idea that photography was the only memorable art the civil rights era produced. Most of what’s here is painting, sculpture and collage. The roster is racially and ethnically mixed, the artists varied in degrees of familiarity. Some, like Jacob Lawrence, Frank Stella and Norman Rockwell, are well known. Others — like [Benny Andrews,] Cleveland Bellow, LeRoy Clarke, Virginia Jaramillo and John T. Riddle Jr. — are rare visitors to our major museums. The show gets the balance of history right in other ways too, by letting it be confused and confusing, a thing of loose strands and hard questions still looking for answers. [link]

Brooklyn Museum: "Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties" (Through July 13); 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY; (718) 638-5000; brooklynmuseum.org

"City Limits" (1969) by Philip Guston (American, b. Canada, 1913–1980)

"New Kids in the Neighborhood (Negro in the Suburbs)" (1967) by Norman Rockwell (American, 1894–1978)

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In the Shadows of Shrines, Shiite Forces Are Preparing to Fight ISIS

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Thomas Erdbrink

Iraqis walk past the damaged al-Askari mosque following an explosion in 
Samarra, 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Courtesy of TIME.

IRAQ---A dozen miles outside this shrine city, on the edges of the uninhabitable western Iraqi desert, a group of paramilitary policemen provides the only visible line of defense against the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Hunkered down in a command post, its walls fortified with concrete and rubble, the policemen’s leader, Col. Hossein Alegeli, is dispatching one of his ranger teams deep into the sultry wastes in search of Islamic extremists determined to destroy the holy shrines of Shiite Islam. The team might be the first line of defense, but as Shiite officials in the area scramble to meet the threat, it is hardly the last. [link]

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Church of the Holy Innocents, Home of NYC's Only Daily Latin Mass, Might Close

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Sharon Otterman

Holy Innocents, on West 37th Street, dates to 1869.
Credit Christopher Gregory for The New York Times

NEW YORK---As the Rev. Justin Wylie took the pulpit at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan last month, anger and anxiety emanated from the pews. The church is the only one in New York City to offer a daily traditional Latin Mass, but an archdiocesan panel had recommended that it be closed. Nationally, about 440 churches celebrate the Latin Mass at least once a week, double the number that did so in 2007, according to Coalition Ecclesia Dei, an organization that promotes the Mass. Faced with a shortage of priests and a declining number of parishioners, the New York Archdiocese — which includes the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and seven counties north of New York City — has been determining which of its 368 parishes it will shutter through a planning process called Making All Things New. [link]

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‘Deliver Us From Evil’ Movie Is Based on Book By Policeman-Demonologist

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Michael Wilson

“Deliver Us From Evil,” based on a former policeman’s book, opens July 2.
Credit Earl Wilson for The New York Times

NEW YORK---The worried woman described the bizarre goings-on at her home in the Bronx, which she suspected was haunted, to the police officer standing before her. “Let me explain your problem,” the officer, Ralph Sarchie, replied. “Your home has been invaded by a demonic spirit, which is causing the phenomena you’ve described. Mr. Sarchie wrote a book, “Beware the Night,” with a co-author, Lisa Collier Cool, about encounters like the one above in the Bronx. It was published in 2001 by St. Martin’s Press to little fanfare, and he retired in 2004. But 10 years later, a horror film based on the book, “Deliver Us From Evil,” is set to open July 2, and the countless posters advertising it all over New York announce its source material in bold red letters: “Inspired by the Actual Accounts of an N.Y.P.D. Sergeant.” [link]

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Prophet Goes to Church: A New Iteration of Reggie Wilson’s ‘Moses(es)’

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By GIA KOURLAS

". . Moses(es)" by Reggie Wilson, at St. Cornelius Chapel
on Governors Island. Credit Darial Sneed

NEW YORK---In the stage version of “ ... Moses(es),” performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last December, the choreographer Reggie Wilson began by introducing himself to the assembled crowd. His dancers followed suit, adding how long they’d spent as members of his Fist & Heel Performance Group. Mr. Wilson then stuffed armloads of silver tinsel into a suitcase. He packs a lot into his dances. In Mr. Wilson’s low-key iteration of the production, shown at St. Cornelius Chapel on Governors Island on Wednesday, the space changes everything. The chapel’s crumbling white walls, arched windows and depth give the dancers pronounced individuality; instead of sculptural red costumes, they wear red practice clothes. The swooping, almost feverish choreography was just as potent here as it was at the Brooklyn Academy, but Mr. Wilson’s structure ignited the performance space with an earthy fervor. [link]

The River to River Festival continues through Sunday at various New York locations; rivertorivernyc.com.

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Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Returns Art Works to Nigeria

ARTBEAT | NYTIMES
By Tom Mashberg

MASSACHUSETTS---The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has returned eight works of art to Nigeria after determining that the documentation accompanying some of the items, six of which were bequeathed in early 2013 by a prominent donor and collector, was suspect or fraudulent. The repatriated antiquities include two Nok terracotta figures and a terracotta head, items known to be at high risk for theft; a wooden ancestral figure from the 18th or 19th century known as an ekpu, which disappeared from a Nigerian museum in the 1970s; an elaborate bronze altar figure of a warrior from the 1910s, which was likely stolen from the Royal Palace in Benin City in 1976; two terracotta heads from the Kingdom of Benin, and a group of three figures made of wood and fiber known as Kalabari. [link]

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Stay on Same-Sex Ruling Leaves Gay Couples With Questions

WTHR CHANNEL 13 | NBC
By Emily Longnecker - Bio | Email 

Ernest & Gregory Disney-Britton, co-founders of
Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts

INDIANA---Members of the gay community are upset with Friday's appeals court stay of the ruling that allowed same-sex marriage in Indiana. They see it as a fight to protect their rights and this ruling calls that into question. The ink was barely dry on their marriage license from Wednesday when Ernest and Greg Disney-Britton learned other gay couples still wanting to get married would have to wait. "That's why its even more of a letdown, because it was unexpected to even happen and then you rip it away," said Greg. "I thank God for Wednesday and Wednesday's going to come again," Ernest added. It has to, they said, and they believe most Hoosiers agree with them. [link]

Watch Video: [Same-sex couple reacts to stay]

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Hinduism's Yoga Exhibit Soothes, Illuminates at Cleveland's Art Museum

CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS
By Carlo Wolf

“Yoga: The Art of Transformation” at Cleveland Museum of Art

OHIO---Yoga’s widening influence on art and culture, starting in ancient India, is on fulsome, sensuous display at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Wandering from room to room in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall engenders a feeling of peace – if, perhaps, not quite the enlightenment the yogis and yoginis were said to attain. A blend of all kinds of art, from ancient sculptures to golden-hued paintings to garish, mystical woodcarvings, along with vintage photography and magazines, “Yoga: The Art of Transformation” delights the eye and stimulates less visible neural pathways. Organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and curated by Debra Diamond, associate curator of South and Southeast Asian Art there, it debuted at the Sackler last October. Cleveland is its final stop. [link]

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Pat Robertson Says Tattoos, Even Christian Ones, Are 'Heathen'

THE CHRISTIAN POST
By Michael Gryboski

Pastor Chris Seay of the Ecclesia community at Montrose Church in Houston, Texas.

Televangelist Pat Robertson has weighed in on whether or not Christians should get tattoos, stating that it is a "heathen practice" to get a tattoo. On a Wednesday installment of the long running program "The 700 Club," Robertson was asked by a viewer about his opinion on Christians getting tattoos. During the "Bring It On" segment of the program, a viewer named "Glenn" asked about whether or not a Christian tattoo was acceptable. Robertson responded that "it doesn't make it OK, because it's religious, believe me." He then asserted that getting tattoos is a "heathen practice." "You look at the Bible, the people are told not to mark their bodies and cut themselves like the heathen did. Tattooing is a heathen practice, it is not a Christian practice." In some Christian circles, tattoos have become an increasingly acceptable way of expressing one's religious convictions. [link]

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Effective Philanthropy Meets the Artists Where They Are

CREATE EQUITY | AFTA
By Ian David Moss

One of the dangers of project support, when pursued too zealously, is that it can take the funded organizations away from their core mission—and often, then, their core competencies. The whole point of supporting the arts, to my mind, is to encourage innovation, expectation-challenging, and all what goes along with leading a creative life. Laying out the path ahead of time with too-great specificity potentially squashes the very thing that makes the arts special. I think the same principle can be applied to artists, either when they are funded directly or when their activity is supported through a grant to an organization. I would like to think that most philanthropists who truly believe in the arts can trust creators enough not to try to do their work for them. [link]

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Gay Marriages in Indiana 2014 (Slideshow)

NUVO MAGAZINE
By Mark A. Lee

Ernest Britton and Greg Disney hold hands as Beth White
officiates their wedding on Wednesday. Their union was originally
blessed on January 28, 2008 at Life Journey Church in Indianapolis.

INDIANA---Chief Judge Richard Young's historic decision on marriage equality in Indiana opened up the doors to over a thousand Hoosiers getting married on Wednesday June 25th, 2014. The City County Building in Downtown Indianapolis stayed open past 10PM to perform ceremonies. [Slide Show]

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Malaysian Photo Exhibition Captures the Spirit of Ramadam

ISLAMIC ARTS MAGAZINE

MALAYSIA---The 'Capture the Spirit of Ramadan' International Photography Competition™ (IRPC) is a unique 30-day visual celebration of the holy month that aims to educate and enlighten millions of viewers around the world through the art of photography. It is an integral part of the world renowned 'Capture the Spirit of Ramadan' initiative founded under the context of 'Bridging Cultures & Inspiring Creativity'. Currently in its 4th year, the initiative offers an international platform for talented and professional photographers around the world to share their creativity in an effort to showcase the beauty of Islam through its art, architecture and cultural diversity. [link]

'Capture the Spirit of Ramadan' Photo Exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur/ Courtesy of IRPC

From the 1st 'Capture the Spirit of Ramadan' Photography Exhibition / Courtesy of IRPC

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Artful Contemplation: Collections of the National Museum of Bhutan

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS

"Artful Contemplation: Collections of the National Museum of Bhutan" by Ariana Maki

BHUTAN---The National Museum of Bhutan announces its publication, Artful Contemplation: Collections of the National Museum of Bhutan by Ariana Maki, available at the NMB gift shop  or download the cover at Academia.edu.

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Emaar Blends Islamic Art and Arabian Hospitality at ‘Downtown’ Ramadan Tent’

ALBAWABA

Visitors can revel in a warm, welcoming and truly celebratory ambience with hues of purple
enveloping the tent, which opens to unmatched views of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES---The rich heritage of Arabian hospitality will meet the captivating beauty of Islamic art this Ramadan, at ‘Downtown,’ Emaar’s Ramadan tent in Downtown Dubai. ‘Downtown’ provides visitors with an experience like no other; a journey that begins at the spectacular entrance, where they can observe the design aesthetics of Emaar’s upcoming projects, including The Opera District and Dubai Hills Estate models, spread across the venue. Visitors can revel in a warm, welcoming and truly celebratory ambience with hues of purple enveloping the tent, which opens to unmatched views of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. They can enjoy world-class traditional and contemporary cuisine, catered by Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure subsidiary of Emaar. [link]

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Opening Today! Wild Goose Festival Puts Spotlight on Christian Visual Arts

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Amanda Greene | Religion News Service

NORTH CAROLINA---Words and music are the stock-in-trade at most Christian festivals, but the Wild Goose Festival is adding another component: the visual arts. This year’s progressive Christian smorgasbord of culture, justice and spiritual exchange June 26-29 in Hot Springs, N.C., near Asheville, will feature plenty of speakers. Keynoters include newsmakers such as the Rev. William Barber, leader of the state’s Moral Mondays campaign; Jim Wallis, poverty activist and founder of Sojourners magazine; and Frank Schaefer, the United Methodist minister who was defrocked in December for performing his son’s same-sex wedding. But as with last year, the festival is making an intentional shift to include more visual art; more than 13 artists and arts groups will present their work. [link]

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German Film "Stations of the Cross" Explores Religious Extremism And Value of Faith

LIST FILM
By Paul Gallagher

Stations of the Cross (Kreuzweg)

This deliberate, meaty, provocative drama brilliantly uses the structure and form of religious art to deconstruct the damaging effects of religious indoctrination. Through 14 sections, each consisting of just one take, shot from a fixed camera position (with two significant exceptions), director Dietrich Brüggemann charts several significant days in the life of Maria, a teenage member of the Priestly Society of St. Paul, a strict Vatican II-denying branch of Catholicism. Each section takes the title of one of the Stations of the Cross – the 14 markers of Jesus’ Passion as defined by Catholic tradition – making Maria an explicit parallel to Christ; a parallel that becomes more poignant and devastating as the film develops. Yet while heavily critiquing the destructive power of heavy-handed religious structures, the film also asks searching questions about the value of Christian faith, and the potentially miraculous power of sacrifice. [link]

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Jewish Art Now Presents: ArtFest – 4 Days of Art, Performance, Music, & Writing

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS

CONNECTICUT---Curated by Jewish Art Now, "ARTFEST" celebrates the vibrant infusion of creativity and artistic engagement in a diverse, eco-conscious Jewish community. ArtFest offers a wildly diverse array of opportunities to learn about, create, and engage with the emerging universe of Jewish art and the art of Judaism — with over 15 presenters from all walks of art. This year’s exploration of of Jewish culture takes place June 30-July 3 at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, in the Connecticut Berkshires. Begin your exploration by RSVPing on Facebook today.

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Music Review: Early Music Finds Its Future in NYC at St. Jean Baptiste Church

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By JAMES R. OESTREICH

Scott Metcalfe conducting the vocal ensemble Tenet at St. Jean Baptiste Church as part of Early Music Festival: NYC.

NEW YORK---The new Early Music Festival: NYC, which ended last week, gives reason for cautious hope. It has powerfully influenced the classical music mainstream with its concern for period style: its ethic of exploring the ways music might have been performed, and the meanings it might have held in its time; its use of — its very need for — improvisation and conjecture to fill in the gaps of sketchy sources and scores and breathe new life into age-old obscurities. [link]

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Qatar Emir Seeks to Transform Spanish Bullring Into Mosque

WORLD BULLETIN

The planned mosque would be the third-largest in the world outside Mecca and Medina.

SPAIN---Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the ruling Emir of Qatar, has reportedly offered to invest $2.99 billion over 5 years to convert Barcelona's Monumental bullring into a 40,000-capacity mosque which would be the biggest in Europe. The planned mosque would be the third-largest in the world outside Mecca and Medina, featuring a 300m minaret and would include a conference hall, a 300-capacity Quran study center and a museum of Islamic art and history. [link]

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Islamic art and hospitality at ‘Downtown Ramadan' tent

KHALEEJ TIMES

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES---Emaar have commissioned a ‘Ramadan Downtown’ tent, which lets visitors enjoy traditional Islamic art, culture and cuisine during the Holy Month of Ramadan. ‘Downtown’ will be home to handpicked Islamic art from London-based gallery Ahlan Art.The Emaar Pavilion will showcase a collection of 27 paintings by artists from Africa, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria and the UK, which organizers say embody the essence of Islamic culture. The paintings incorporate verses from the Holy Quran as well as illustrations of mosques. ‘Downtown’ will be open from the first to the last day of Ramadan. [link]

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Swastikas Spray Painted on Philly Synagogue

THE TABLET

PENNSYVANIA---Two large swastikas were spray painted outside the Congregations of Ner Zedek in northeast Philadelphia Sunday night, JTA reports. The city sent a maintenance team to remove the graffiti when congregants discovered it Monday morning. According to Fox 29 News, the Conservative congregation includes many elderly members, some of them Holocaust survivors. Of course it brings back all sorts of terrible memories of what they went through,” the synagogue’s rabbi, Reuben Israel Abraham, told reporters. According to Philadelphia’s Jewish Exponent, an Anti-Defamation League report released in April revealed a rise in anti-Semitic incidents the previous year, with a total of 45 incidents reported. [link]

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Federal Judge Rules Indiana Marriage Ban Unconstitutional

FREEDOM TO MARRY

INDIANA---Today U.S. District Judge Richard Young ruled that Indiana’s state law denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry violates the U.S. Constitution, becoming the latest of more than 20 federal and state judges to rule in favor of the freedom to marry in recent months. Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, released the following statement:m"Judge Young held today that there is no justification for denying same-sex couples the freedom to marry, the latest in a unanimous wave of favorable rulings over the past few months. The judge noted the harm marriage discrimination inflicts on Indiana families, while benefiting no one. With more than 70 marriage cases pending and a strong majority of Americans backing the freedom to marry, today's decision out of the heartland underscores that America is ready for the Supreme Court to bring an end to marriage discrimination once and for all." [link]

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Kim Kardashian Reimagined as Religious Icons in Art Exhibition

COSMOPOLITAN
By Claire Hodgson

Kim as Hindu goddess Kali

NEW YORK---“Kim Kardashian is God," according to graphic designer Hannah Kunkle, who has created a series of pictures showing Kim as various religious icons. Needless to say they have proved a tiny bit controversial (understatement). The graphic collages see Kim reimagined as everyone from Jesus and the Virgin Mary to Joan of Arc and Aphrodite for an exhibition in New York titled "The Passion of Kim Kardashian." [link]

Kim as a demon

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Brazilian Artists (Twins) Cover Air Intake Structure With Whimscial Covered Woman in Boston

RADIO BOSTON

Brazil's Os Gêmeos converted structure into whimsical character in Boston

MASSACHUSETTS---Boston’s burgeoning arts scene will get a boost when Mayor Marty Walsh appoints a new cabinet-level Arts and Cultural Affairs Commissioner this summer. Os Gêmeos, two Brazilian twins who are famous for being at the forefront of Brazilian street art, have their first US solo show at the ICA in Boston. As part of the exhibit, they converted an air intake structure into this whimsical and colorful character on the Greenway in Boston, MA. So what should the city’s new Arts Czar do to foster creativity in Boston and make it a more vital city of the arts?  [link]

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Tyrannical Fundamentalist Mormon Captor of Under-Age Wives

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Kathryn Shattuck

Mormon brides sitting before mural of angel talking to the Mormon prophet

Talk about scandalous. In “Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs,” on Saturday night at 8 on Lifetime, Tony Goldwyn channels Mr. Jeffs, the president and prophet, seer and revelator, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints — who in 2006 joined Osama bin Laden on the F.B.I.’s 10 Most Wanted list for having arranged illegal marriages between his adult male followers and under-age girls. [link]

Tony Goldwyn as Warren Jeffs in the Lifetime movie “Outlaw Prophet.”

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Music Review: Telling a Temple’s Tale From the Nile to the Met

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Zachary Woolfe

The ensemble Alarm Will Sound performing “I Was Here I Was I,”
the Kate Soper work, at the Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing at the Met.

NEW YORK---The sandstone temple was built around 15 B.C. on the west bank of the Nile, roughly 600 miles south of Cairo. With the construction of the Aswan Dam, starting in 1960, the temple was threatened with inundation. In gratitude for the assistance of the United States in saving the structure, Egypt gave it to the American government, which in turn awarded it to the Met. The tranquil, soaring space in the Metropolitan Museum of Art that has housed the Temple of Dendur since 1978 is so beloved that New Yorkers could be forgiven for thinking that the temple itself is beside the point, merely an excuse for the glamorous room, with its sweeping wall of glass. Its millenniums-spanning past is explored in “I Was Here I Was I,” a serene, sometimes elegant, sometimes listless new music-theater work by the composer Kate Soper and the librettist and director Nigel Maister performed on Friday by the ensemble Alarm Will Sound and its conductor, Alan Pierson, in the temple’s Sackler Wing pavilion. [link]

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Festive Red Named Awards Finalist

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Photo (left) by Michael Watson; and photo (right) by Phil Henke

INDIANA---"Festive Red" is a collection of liturgical vestments created by Linda Witte Henke for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to mark the installation of the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton as the denomination's first female Presiding Bishop. The collection is a finalist in the Collaboration of Design + Art (COD+A) Awards process as one of the Top 100 projects for 2014.  "These are truly outstanding" said Ginger Bievenour, vice chair for Alpha Omega Arts. "I went to the website and found much to vote for - I'll go back and look more carefully again at the different categories and opportunities for casting a vote. Linda is good, there is no doubt about that!" The Festive Red project is showcased at https://www.codaworx.com/awards, where the public may vote daily through June 30 for projects that will receive and award.

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Pew Report Inspires Jewish Theatrics, Literally

THE JEWISH WEEK
By  Hannah Dreyfus

NEW YORK---The 2013 Pew Research's Center's "Portrait of Jewish Americans" painted a rather gloomy picture, reporting 22 percent of Jews describe themselves as having "no religion." However, PEW-ish, an unusual new project designed to expand the conversation about Jewish identity, has decided to take a more proactive approach--on the stage. On June 26, Pew-ish will launch a special dramatic production of 10 new plays written by well-known playwrights including Bekah Brunsetter (ABC's Switched at Birth, upcoming “Cutie and Bear” at Roundabout Theatre), Jonathan Caren (“The Recommendation” at the Flea) and Anna Ziegler (“Photograph 51” at Theatre J). [link]

The first event will take place at the Loft at Judson Memorial Church in New York.

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Sacred Art Evangelizes Hearts, Catholic Experts Say

DFW CATHOLIC.ORG

David Clayton, art teacher at Thomas More College in New Hampshire

KANSAS---Two sacred art experts have stressed the importance of the Catholic visual arts in the new evangelization, saying the arts have the potential to change individual lives, and cultures as a whole. David Clayton and Caroline Farey will teach a two-day weekend program, “Sacred Art and the New Evangelization”, at the Savior Pastoral Center in Kansas City, Kansas July 11-13. Clayton, an English-born artist and art teacher at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire, told CNA June 19 that the beauty of art can help “open up people’s hearts so that they are inclined to be receptive to the Word when presented to them.” [link]

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The Runner-Up Religions Of America

NPR | PROTOJOURNALIST
By Linton Weeks

Glance at the map above, Second Largest Religious Tradition in Each State 2010, and you will see that Buddhism (orange), Judaism (pink) and Islam (blue) are the runner-up religions across the country. No surprises there. But can you believe that Hindu (dark orange) is the No. 2 tradition in Arizona and Delaware, and that Baha'i (green) ranks second in South Carolina? The map — created by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies and published recently in The Washington Post — "looks very odd to me," says Hillary Kaell. [link]

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Alonso Berruguete's Spanish Flair for Ancient Story of the 'The Sacrifice of Isaac'

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Mary Thomkins Lewis

"The Sacrifice of Isaac" (c.1526/32) by the Spanish artist Alonso Berruguete. Museo Nacional de Escultura

SPAIN---The ancient story of Abraham and his beloved young son Isaac is threaded through the sacred narratives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths, and has long raised unanswerable questions about sacrifice, authority and blind obedience to divine will. The sculpture is housed today in Valladolid's Museo Nacional de Escultura. Though isolated, along with related figures, from the fragments that have been reassembled in an adjoining gallery too small to hold the retablo in its entirety, its staggering power as an image is scarcely diminished. Unlike Donatello's more narrative work, in which the protagonists' dawning awareness of their redemption draws us around the sculpture, we are stopped in our tracks by Berruguete's freeze-frame of the final moment before the angel's arrival. [link]

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Westminster Christian Academy Hires Director of Fine Arts

SAINT LOUIS-DISPATCH
By emhill

MISSOURI---Westminster Christian Academy has named current middle school vocal music instructor and chorale director Kathy Eichelberger as director of fine arts, effective August 1, 2014. Eichelberger will utilize her considerable talents and experience to coordinate faculty and programs within the fine arts department at Westminster. “Since we are made in the image of God, we have been made to create,” says Eichelberger. “It is our calling as Christians to create art whether in music, art, drama, or dance that is excellent, honorable, lovely, and praiseworthy. I look forward to continuing to be a part of this creative process at Westminster Christian Academy.” For more information, visit http://www.wcastl.org. [link]

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Searching for Juneteenth: The State of Black Museums — Part II

NONPROFIT QUARTERLY
By Rick Cohen

Many black museums face significant financial challenges, but that hasn’t stopped people in communities small and large from attempting to get museums established and operating. One-fifth of all revenues supporting arts and museums come from individual donors. While allowing for funds with multiple purposes, only 12 of the 75 African-American funds included the arts as one of their giving priorities, compared to 54 for education, 34 for economic empowerment, 24 for health, and 19 for children and youth. If the African-American community of this nation is going to educate others about the centrality of race in American history and the importance of African-American culture in the past and going forward, the ultimate success of fundraising for black museums may be in connecting with and mobilizing large numbers of African-American charitable givers and not waiting for seven-figure grants from Oprah. [link]


Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-part series on how African-American museums in the U.S. are faring amidst the competition for foundation, charitable, and governmental resources. Part I was an overview of the issues and challenges facing black museums; this piece examines the sources of funding and the strategies that some museums are using to survive and thrive.

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The Metropolitan Opera’s Censorship of “The Death of Klinghoffer”: Artwork About Oppression of Palestinians Considered Anti-Jewish

GLOBAL RESEARCH
By David Walsh

The decision by New York City’s Metropolitan Opera to cancel its plans for worldwide high-definition video transmission and radio broadcast of John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer is a scandalous and cowardly capitulation to right-wing forces, with far-reaching implications. The claim that the work is “anti-Jewish” (per the cover of Rupert Murdoch’s gutter New York Post on June 18) is libelous and absurd. It can only be credited by those who have neither seen the opera nor read the text of its libretto—or who have an ideological axe to grind. The musical piece, which opens with choruses of “Exiled Palestinians” and “Exiled Jews,” respectively, is a poetic, somber effort to come to terms with the historical tragedy of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The only anti-Semitic lines (often cited by opponents of the opera) are given to a character nicknamed “Rambo,” an obvious sadist and thug. The Metropolitan Opera’s decision has outraged many around the world. [link]

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A&O Meetup on July 14 in Atlanta at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
By Bo Emerson

Portraits of rights activists.

ATLANTA---On Monday, June 23, 2014 the National Center for Civil and Human Rights opens its doors, offering visitors a history of the freedom movement in this country (told from Atlanta’s perspective) and an accounting of the modern human rights activism that civil rights pioneers inspired.The museum is in downtown Atlanta, to the east of Atlanta's Auburn Avenue District. Its immediate neighbors in the Pemberton Place tourist mecca are the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium. Nearby are Centennial Olympic Park and CNN Center. [link]

*A&O members are invited to Meetup with Verneida Britton in Atlanta at the National Center on Monday, July 14 at 11:00 a.m. RSVP to "Tahlib(at)AlphaOmegaArts.org."

Meetup at the Human Rights museum on July 14, 2014. Debbie Crum, Verneida Britton, Novella Smith

On the bus to Alabama

Verneida Britton, A&O Executive Director

Group photo arrival in Alabama

16th Street Baptist Church group photo

One work in the center's collection based on the life of Congressman
John Lewis. "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaking" by Benny Andrews.

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Bill Viola’s Martyrs: Sleek, Glamorous, Empty

NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
By Simon Willis

A view of Bill Viola’s video installation Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) on display at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

UNITED KINGDOM---Martyrs, a new work by the American video artist Bill Viola, is difficult to take as seriously as it takes itself. It is being shown as a permanent exhibit in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, just a few feet from the high altar, and is designed as a kind of altarpiece. The difference between Viola’s installation and these other memorials is that Martyrs is not about any particular people who died for any particular cause. As images of martyrdom they are rather limp and risk-free. The effect is that the videos—when compared with many other depictions of martyrdom both old and new—are one-dimensional. [link]

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