What Ethnic Diversity Looks Like: Fort Bend, Texas

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By CORRIE MACLAGGAN

Hindu temple made of more than 33,000 pieces of hand-carved Italian marble and Turkish limestone.

TEXAS---Nikhil Sabharwal of Toronto stood outside a hotel, next to a cart piled with luggage, holding a tall stick decorated with gold garland, a bhangra dance prop from an Indian wedding he had attended here. Steps away, at a coffee shop, a woman wearing a hijab sat near the spot where, minutes earlier, Lynne Gabriel, a fashion blogger of Filipino descent, had posed for photos for her website. All of this played out on Monday at the town square in Sugar Land, the largest city in Fort Bend County, which Stephen Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University, calls the most ethnically diverse county in America. By that, he means that this county southwest of Houston comes closer than any other county in the United States to having an equal division among the nation’s four major ethnic communities — Asian, black, Latino and white residents. [link]

Read More

Religion And Science Mix In New Southwest School Of Art Exhibit

TEXAS PUBLIC RADIO
By Jack Morgan

TEXAS---Artist Chris Sauter wants you to question the notions of religion and science, and how they interact -- or don't interact. "If you’re a religious person you can’t really believe in science and if you’re a scientific person you can’t really believe in religion," he said. "I think that’s a fallacy." So Sauter creates art to get you to think about how they have a certain overlap. Soon, he will have four themed exhibitions in four separate locations. "The Southwest School exhibition is the first," he said. "It opens on November 21." [link]

Read More

Kansas City Trip Shows Visual Component of Interfaith Worship

JBU STUDENT ONLINE
By Sydney Van Wyk

MISSOURI---Many students had their first experience with Orthodox Christianity and Islamic art during a trip last weekend to Kansas City. Students in Honors Integrated Theology visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to tour the “Medieval and Islamic Art” exhibit on Saturday, Nov. 9, before experiencing a Vespers service at a Russian Orthodox church. The next morning they attended a Sunday church service at a Greek Orthodox church. [link]

Read More

Calligraphy in Islamic Art of Adry Abdelrehim, Khawaja Azimuddin, and Samia Nazir at Pearl Fincher Museum

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

TEXAS---Calligraphy in Islamic Art is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 18, at the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts. According to a news release from Pearl Fincher, "The program will feature a discussion on the history of the art form. All three featured artists in the Bridging Cultures exhibition will discuss their artwork and use of calligraphy." Admission is free, and tickets are not required. The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts is at 6815 Cypresswood Drive, Spring. For more information, call 281-376-6322 or visit www.pearlmfa.org. [link]

Read More

Estacado principal tells Christmas story through sketches in LCU art exhibit

LUBBOCK-AVALANCE JOURNAL 
By Natalie Gross

"Shepherds in Fields is a linoleum block print by Sam Ayers. The Estacado principal will have his work on display at Lubbock Christian University through Dec 6th. (Zach Long)

TEXAS---The “Good News of Great Joy” art exhibit at Lubbock Christian University has a 21-year history behind it. The event, set to run through Dec. 6, with a reception Monday, Nov. 11, all started in a Hardwick Elementary School art class in 1992 when Sam Ayers, a longtime educator, observed the students making relief prints. He decided to join in and chose a religious theme for his first go. He was pleased with how “Madonna and Child” turned out, and thus the exhibit was born. The 36-piece collection now on display has been an ongoing project of Ayers since that day, and he’s devoted more than 100 hours to making it happen. [link]

Read More

Historic Tiffany Stained Glass Windows on Display in Waco

WACO TEXAS TRIBUNE
By Carl Hoover

TEXAS---Historic Tiffany stained-glass windows representing angels from the Book of Revelation go on public display Sunday. American art, history and Christian faith align in “In Company With Angels,” a unique exhibit of seven stained-glass windows more than a century old that opens a three-month showing on Sunday at the Lee Lockwood Library and Museum. The exhibit “In Company With Angels” has been shown across the East and Midwest since 2007, but makes its first Texas stop in Waco, sponsored by the Historic Waco Foundation. [link]

Lee Lockwood Library and Museum: “In Company With Angels” (Ends Jan. 26); 2801 W. Waco Drive, Waco, TX; 254-753-5166; historicwaco.org/angels.

Read More

Exhibition of Rare Islamic Objects Opens in Spain

AHRAM

A Moroccan manuscript on surgery dated 610 AH (in the Islamic calendar) is displayed at the “Nur: Light in art and science in the Islamic world” exhibition in Seville (Photo: AP)

SPAIN---A private museum in southern Spain is opening an exhibition of rare Islamic art and scientific objects that highlight the use of light in decoration and studies in the Arab world. The exhibition, "Nur: Light in art and science in the Islamic world," is sponsored by the energy company Abengoa and has gathered 150 pieces from collections such those of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University and private collectors from around the world. Curated by Sabiha Al Khemir, a Tunisian writer and expert in Islamic art, the exhibition opens on Saturday at the Focus-Abengoa Foundation's gallery in Seville. From there, it travels next year to the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas, where it will be open to the public from March 30 to June 29. [link]

Read More

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.

Read More