Hoping to Save the Remains of a Ming Dynasty Temple

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Didi Kirsten Tatlow

CHINA---First a printing press, then real estate developers, now a welding-machine factory. Everyone has taken a piece of Nianhua Si, or Picking Flowers Temple, a Ming dynasty place of worship in the storied Drum Tower district of Beijing. Yet the real threat to the temple — dozens of historically and religiously significant buildings begun in 1581, the ninth year of the reign of the Wanli Emperor, and given its present name in 1734 during the Qing dynasty — isn’t decay, say residents and conservationists. It’s redevelopment. [link]

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Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Bermuda Opens With New Paintings

BERNEWS

BERMUDA---On Friday night, Bermuda’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church opened their doors as locals were invited to learn about their traditions and view their intricately painted church icons created by an Ethiopian Monk Priest. The Debra Ganet Immanuel Cathedral in St George’s features an interior full of painted icons by Abba Gebre Hiwot Wolde Samuel, who was born in a small village in Ethiopia, and ordained as a Monk Priest when he was 18 years old. [link]

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Bringing Back the Artistic Beauty of a 19th-Century Church: Cost $4.5 Million

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez/The New York Times

NEW YORK---The stunningly decorated sanctuary of St. Anselm’s Church in the South Bronx is a marvel of art and architecture, capturing Byzantine, Greek, Italian and German styles. A similar mix is reflected in the Roman Catholic congregation, whose members hail from at least 16 countries. Under one roof, they are of one heart. Unfortunately, you can also see the deterioration in the church, which was founded in 1892 by Benedictine monks from Germany and inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. After months of study, he estimated that 90 percent of the building could be restored. What was not so easily attainable was the approximately $4.5 million needed to finance the project.[link]

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Art of Christian Contemporary Artist He Qi Featured at GPS Faith Dec. 8

THE ROCK RIVER TIMES

"More Art The Empty Tomb And The Risen Lord" By He Qi |

ILLINOIS---GPS Faith Community invites the public to a free open house to view the traveling exhibition of the art of He Qi, Christian contemporary artist, and hear Dr. Qi speak about his experiences as a Christian artist from China. The open house will be from 4 to 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 8, at GPS Faith Community, 10714 N. Second St., Machesney Park, Ill. Dr. Qi will speak at 5 p.m. and will have signed posters and books available for sale. Twenty-three pieces are on display and have been on tour throughout the United States since 2009. The vivid and contemporary art depicts Biblical stories and characters from both the Old Testament and New Testament. For more about the art exhibit or the church, contact the GPS Faith Community office at (779) 221-8491 or Info@GPSFaith.com. Visit GPS Faith Community on the website at www.GPSFaith.com.[link]

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BYU Museum of Art Curators Borrowed Art From Church Altars for New Exhibit

DAILY HERALD
By Court Mann

One of the paintings from exhibition resting inside the altar; it's normal location.

UTAH---The BYU Museum of Art's upcoming exhibit, "Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz," has been a labor of love for its curators. While the MOA often organizes custom exhibitions, "Sacred Gifts," opening Friday, took curators into uncharted territory. For the last few years, certain MOA staff traveled to Europe a few times a year, visiting churches, museums and archives in places like Denmark and Germany. Oftentimes, the paintings they wanted for the exhibition rested in altars, as these churches' central paintings, where they hadn't moved since being installed in the late 1800s. [link]

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A Marriage Made in Art Heaven

THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK---Emma Butterfield Presler and Steven Yong Lee were married Saturday at Grace Church in New York, where they met. The Rev. J. Donald Waring, an Episcopal priest and the rector of the church, performed the ceremony. The bride, is the manager of the department of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The groom, is the site director of the New York branch of National Justice for Our Neighbors, a ministry of the United Methodist Church that provides programs for immigrants. He is also studying for a Master of Divinity at the General Theological Seminary in New York. [link]

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Putnam Valley Resident (NY) Displays Massive Religious Art Mural of Postcards

HUDSON VALLEY REPORTER
By Dan Curtis

NEW YORK---Artist Suzanne Kraus-Mancuso of Putnam Valley has produced an art display at Graymoor’s Our Lady of Atonement Chapel that consists of 1,500 postcard-sized paintings of holy places throughout the world, many from the Hudson Valley. The massive display, which has taken her three years to amass, is considered to be the largest of its kind in the world. Many of the churches, temples and other holy places in the mural depict specific places throughout the Hudson Valley from Manhattan to Troy, N.Y. People from around the state and throughout the world have sent Kraus-Mancuso photos of holy places for her to paint and add to the massive display.[link]

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An Alabama Synagogue, Once Struggling for Congregants, Stretches Out Its Hand

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, whose congregation in Dothan, Ala.,
has doubled since her synagogue started a $1 million program.

ALABAMA---Jews are moving to a small-town in Alabama in unprecedented numbers after a Jewish businessman funded a $1 million recruitment campaign, according to The New York Times. Jewish families apply for relocation, and the approved families have moved to Dothan, AL from Georgia, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Where once, 15 people came to Saturday worship services, the numbers are now up to 30, a 100% increase and growing.

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Religious Art Tours Expand to African American Churches

STAR NEWS
By Ben Steelman

St. Stephen church, Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church and First Missionary Baptist Church are on the Religious Art Walking Tour Oct. 12 and 19. Photos by Amanda Greene, Wilmington Faith and Values

NORTH CAROLINA---Wilmington's Religious Art Walking Tours are expanding their focus to include historic African-American churches. The first two-hour session begins 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Stephen A.M.E. Church, 501 Red Cross St. A second tour will be at 9 a.m. Oct. 19 at the same location. Five churches are on the program: St. Stephen, First Missionary Baptist Church, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church and St. Luke A.M.E. Zion Church. Each of the five congregations formed shortly after the Civil War, said tour guide Amanda Greene, editor for the religious news website Wilmington Faith & Values, which conducts the event.[link]

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Shoshanah Brombacher is Showcased in "Colors of Chanukah"

BROADWAY WORLD

NEW YORK---The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy will open "Colors of Chanukah: The Art of Shoshanah Brombacher" at the Fifth Jewish Heritage Festival on Sunday, November 3, 2013. The exhibit showcases the work of artist Shoshanah Brombacher, whose lively, colorful oil paintings explore Chasidic-Jewish themes and folklore. Brombacher will be on hand at the LESJC Kling & Niman Family Visitor Center to give a live presentation of her works at 1:30 PM. The exhibit is only one part of the day-long Fifth Jewish Heritage Festival. [link]

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‘The Odyssey and Art of John H. Less’ Exhibition Comes to Museum in Newark

THE RECORD | NEW JERSEY.COM

'Escape' by former township resident John H. Less will be shown in an exhibition at The Jewish Museum of New Jersey

NEW JERSEY---The Jewish Museum of New Jersey presents, "Berlin — Shanghai — Newark: The Odyssey and Art of John H. Less," an exhibition of paintings that primarily focuses on the artist's life as a German Holocaust refugee in Shanghai from 1940 to 1947. Less, who passed away in 2011, lived in Millburn for 50 years. In the exhibition, he portrays his uprooting from a culture in which he and his family believed themselves to be at home and secure to their abrupt transformation into complete outsiders. The exhibition begins with a reception on Sunday, Oct. 6, from 1 to 5 p.m., and will be open on Sundays through Sunday, Dec. 15. [link]

The Jewish Museum of New Jersey: "Berlin — Shanghai — Newark: The Odyssey and Art of John H. Less," (Oct. 5-Dec. 15); Congregation Ahavas Sholom, 145 Broadway, Newark, NJ;  (973) 698-8489; jewishmuseumnj.org. 

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Houses of Worship as Public Art

THE HERALD NEWS
By Paul Cienniwa

Rose window: Espirito Santo Church

MASSACHUETTS---In Monday’s post, I wrote about the lack of public art in New England, but I did mention that, “in many ways, New England doesn’t need public art installations, since we have a plethora of historic buildings, houses of worship, and city centers.” From a sheer aesthetic point of view, what would Fall River be without its religious infrastructure? And, my atheist friends, you don’t have to be religious to appreciate how Fall River’s pallette is shaped by its houses of worship. As you walk or drive by our city’s religious buildings, I invite you to think of them as works of art. Be a tourist and stop in--you might be surprised by what you find inside. [link]

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Vandalism Hits Grand Rapids Artist's Noah's Ark ArtPrize Entry

GRAND RAPIDS PRESS
By Angle Jackson

Adele Vanocker said her entry called "Calm before the storm!" was vandalized. A paper mache dove was stolen from a window of the ship crafted from an old boat and wood. (Angie Jackson)

MICHIGAN---On Adele Vanocker's Noah's Ark ArtPrize entry aimed at spreading a message of faith, she dedicated a dove made of paper mache and Styrofoam to her late husband. The Grand Rapids artist was slightly discouraged to discover someone apparently stole the dove - a symbol of love. Vanocker said the sculpture was snatched from the installment outside of First United Methodist Church on either Thursday, Sept. 19, or the night before.[link]

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Baptist Church Evangelizes With Hallways Filled With Great Art of the Renaissance

TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH
By Rebecca Hoeffner

"Ascension of Christ" (1721) by Jean-Francois de Troy and
currently hangs in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy

TEXAS---Green Acres Baptist Church will attempt to evangelize to people who attend all kinds of events in the CrossWalk Center ballroom. But the church will do it without anyone saying a word. The hallway outside the ballroom, which is used throughout the year by many organizations, faith-based or not, now features 16 pieces of Renaissance art depicting the life of Christ. “During the Renaissance and before, most people were illiterate,” said David Dykes, senior pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church. “They couldn’t read the Bible. Art was the main way the Gospel was explained. Artists had more of an influence on theology than the priests did.” The 16 pieces are all replicas — some of the originals are near priceless, Dykes said. The prints were paid for by an anonymous couple in the congregation. [link]
The other pieces are:

• Gerard van Honthorst’s 1622 “Adoration of the Shepherds”
• Jean Auguste Dominique’s 1861 “Jesus Among the Doctors”
• Paolo Veronese’s 1563 “The Wedding Feast at Cana”
• Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s 1633 “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee
• Lodovico Carracci’s 1594 “The Transfiguration of Christ”
• Luca Giordano’s 1674 “Christ Expelling the Traders from the Temple”
• Hans Jordaens III’s 1632 “Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane”
• Valentin de Boulogne’s 1620 “The Crowning with Thorns”
• Antonello da Messina’s 1475 “Christ at the Column”
• Gerard David’s 1481 “Christ Nailed to the Cross”
• Diego Velazquez’s 1630 “Christ on the Cross”
• Jacopo Bassano’s 1610 “The Entombment of Christ”
• Bartolome Esteban Murillo’s 1658 “The Resurrection of Christ”
• Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s 1602 “The Incredulity of Thomas”
• Jean François de Troy’s 1721 “Ascension of Christ.

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Artists and Churchgoers Collaborate on Exhibit at College of Art

THE BALTIMORE SUN
By Mary Carole McCauley

"Everything that ought to have remained" (2011) by Leigh Davis at NYC church, now on display at MICA

MARYLAND---The old arched red wooden door to the Seventh Metro Church is less that two blocks from the modern glass-and-steel panel that floats in front of the Maryland Institute College of Art's newest exhibition space. They bring to mind two different eras and seem designed to be used by two dissimilar groups of people: spiky-haired artists and church ladies wearing fancy hats. But when a white art student in her 20s met a middle-aged African-American pastor, they discovered that both doors opened into sacred spaces where people look for answers to the same big questions. One of the nicest surprises is that the project brought into contact the leaders and members of all five churches. Though they were located just a few blocks from one another, most had never met. [link]

Maryland Institute College of Art: "Congregate art + faith + community" (Ends Sept. 25), 131 W. North Ave, Baltimore, MD; (410) 669-9200, congregatebaltimore.com

In addition, there are several free public arts events inspired by the exhibit:

• The second annual Akimbo Artwalk, which features site-specific dance and movement organized by the Deep Vision Dance Company, will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at nearly two dozen locations throughout Station North.
• At 3 p.m. Sept. 22, Baltimore Performance Kitchen will stage "Closets" at MICA's Studio Center. This live performance features the real-life stories of congregation members that will be interpreted and performed by members of Single Carrot Theatre.
• "Congregate's" cpmfa@mica.edu closing party will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 25. It will feature live performances by church choirs and will launch the exhibit catalog.
• A picnic and afternoon of stories, support and sharing will be held from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. outside Penn Station. The event is co-sponsored by the rape-eradication advocacy group FORCE.

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