Bible Museums Across the U.S. Range from Scholarly to Colorful

MCDONDOUGH VOICE
By Kelsey Dallas

Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C.

In a few years, families won't be limited to exploring presidential monuments or walking along the National Mall on vacations to Washington, D.C. They'll also have access to a new Bible museum, scheduled to open in 2017 just a few blocks away from some of America's most famous tourist attractions. The project is sponsored by the family that owns Hobby Lobby. Its nonprofit organization, Museum of the Bible, also funds a traveling exhibit of biblical artifacts and a Bible curriculum for high school students. [link]

Further clues can be found in the Bible exhibits already in operation. Check out these unique sites across the country, which range from scholarly to colorful:

1. Museum of Biblical Art, New York City
2. Dunham Bible Museum, Houston
3. Library of Congress Bible Collection, Washington, D.C.
4. Museum of Biblical Art, Dallas Opened in 2013
5. Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C. 
6. The Bible Museum, Goodyear, Arizona
7. BibleWalk, Mansfield, Ohio 
8. Treasuring the Word, Sevierville, Tennessee

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Folk Art Collection of Robert Hicks Now on View at Customs House Museum

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

TENNESSEE---The Customs House Museum is exhibiting works from the Folk Art collection of Robert Hicks, the first Tennessean to be included in Art & Antiques magazine’s Top 100 Collectors in America. Folk Art is art which does not come out of the fine art tradition. Folk Artists are typically from rural or pre-industrial societies, and are more closely related to craftsmen than to fine artists. Today, the term “Outsider Art” is often used in place of “Folk Art”. Outsider art is defined as art produced by self-taught artists who are not part of the artistic establishment. The Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is the State’s second largest general museum.

Customs House Museum: "The Outsiders" (Ends September 7, 2014); 200 South Second Street, Clarksville, TN; (931) 648-5780; customshousemuseum.org

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Marisol Escobar's Sculptures and Works on Paper at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

ARTDAILY

"The Family" (1969) by Marisol Escobar. Mixed media: wood, plastic, neon and glass.

TENNESSEE---Memphis Brooks Museum of Art announces the exhibition "Marisol: Sculptures and Works on Paper," which premiered at the Brooks Museum on June 14. The exhibition will remain on view in Memphis until September 7 when it travels to El Museo del Barrio in New York City. A catalog, co-published by Yale University Press, is available worldwide. This is the first major retrospective to include Marisol’s sculptures in conjunction with her works on paper. Curated by the Brooks Museum’s Chief Curator, Marina Pacini, the exhibition is inspired by Marisol’s mixed-media sculpture The Family, commissioned by the Brooks Museum in 1969. [link]

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A&O Meetup on June 11 in Nashville at the Upper Room's Christian Art Museum

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Whether you are in Nashville for just a few hours or a few days, you will want to place the Upper Room Chapel and Museum at the top of your “must see” list. It is sure to be the stop you will tell your friends about and the one that will linger in your memory for years to come. The uniqueness makes the Upper Room Chapel and Museum Nashville’s best Christian attraction for individual tourists, church groups, students of all ages and a regular stop for tour bus companies. Each year the Upper Room Chapel and Museum hosts more than a thousand visitors. Christians of all denominations, religious history buffs of any faith, or those who are simply interested in art and sculpture visit this remarkable tourist spot to view the nearly life-size woodcarving of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and the many other interesting features of the chapel and pieces of art in the museum. [Source]

• Exhibition: Museum's collection of 21st to 11th century art and artifacts.
• Location: The Upper Room Chapel, 1908 Grand Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, 877-899-2780 ext.7207, chapel.upperroom.org
• When: Wednesday, June 11, 10:00 a.m. (2-hours)
• RSVP: By Saturday, June 7 to "Tahlib(at)AlphaOmegaArts.org"
• Cost: Admission is free. A $4.00 donation is encouraged
• Dress: Dress blue, of course and the group tour

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Icon Makers Continue Religious Art Creation

WBIR-CHANNEL 10 
By Emily Stroud

Iconographers set aside their own creativity to focus on symbolism and precise recreation of religious art.

TENNESSEE---It is religious art full of symbolism created to bring people closer to God. The practice of making icons dates back more than one thousand years and continues today here is Knoxville. They applying paint to create images but it is not simply painting. "It's kind of formulamatic. There are certain things you do and don't do," Jim Phillips said. These members of the East Tennessee Iconographers Guild paint, or write, icons. It's a particular type of religious art. Jim Phillips explained that the process is prayerful and precise. "I'm not rendering something from my imagination or standing outside and drawing my trees and painting that in. I'm using a picture of an icon that's been around forever," he said. [link]

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Artist Lalla Essaydi Speaks At Hunter Museum Tonight

THE CHATANOOGAN

Lalla Essaydi, Les Femmes Du Maroc: La Grande Odalisque, 2008, 43 1/2 x 54 1/2 inches (110.5 x 138.4 cm), photographic print, edition of 10, Museum purchase, 2011.1

TENNESSEE---The distinguished speaker series at the Hunter will continue Thursday from 6-7 p.m. with artist Lalla Essaydi. An artist of Middle Eastern descent known for her images that blend Islamic calligraphy with images of the female body, her work can be found in major museum collections worldwide. Ms. Essaydi's "Odalisque" is a contemporary work in the Hunter's collection that has intrigued and haunted many guests, said officials. The Art Wise series is sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee Community Trust with additional support from Sally and Buddy Faulkner. [link]

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