RELIGIOUS ART | TALK OF WEEK



AOA WEEKLY PICK:

 Work by India's Zarina Hashmi at the Venice Biennale (above), and other religious and spiritual art news stories of the past week (below). AOA NEWS is new Monday - Saturday with this newsletter summary on Sabbath Sunday. For daily updates, please "Like" us at "Facebook.com/AlphaOmegaArts" or "Follow" at "Twitter.com/AlphaOmegaArts".  This week's curated collection of art news is grouped into six faith categories: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, and Other.

BUDDHIST ART:

• Thailand hosts art exhibition of Sacred Tattoos (The Nation)
• Buddhist Monks Painstakingly Create Sand Mandala (The Charlotte Observer)
• Thailand Bans Religious Tattoos for Tourist Following "The Hangover II" (Fox News)

CHRISTIAN ART:

• Wisconsin's Virgin Mary Shrine Drawing Crowds (Fox News)
• Scotland's Methodist Art Collection, 1620-2010 (The List)
• ACLU Seeks to Remove Christian Artwork from Walls of a Rhode Island Public School (Patch)
• LA Catholics Critique Modernist Madonna sculpture (National Catholic Register)
• Traveling to Find the World's Biggest Jesus Sculptures (Huff Post)
• Jonestown Victims Finally Get Their Memorial After 32 years (IBT)
• INSPIRE ME! Gerda Liebmann (AOA News)
• KJV Celebrated in England with Re-print on Museum Press (Norwich Evening News)
• Fort Meyer's, FL Gallery Features Art of Christina Jarmonlinski (Lehigh Acres Citizen)
• Imagine if Aborted Babies Were Declared Holy Martyrs (Life Site News)

HINDU ART:

• Art Review: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco's Bali Exhibition (NYTimes)
• Experience the Fun of India on a Tour of Navagrah Temple (AOA News)
• Holy Flame at Hindu Shrine is a Hoax (Phillipine Star)
• Group Show, "Holy Cow" Explores India's Love with the Cow (The Hindu)
• Venice Biennale: Celebrating India's Art in all its Hues (Deccan Herald)
• Indo-French Art Exhibition in Paris (The Hindu)

ISLAMIC ART:

• The Home of Hamas Founder and Spiritual Leader Becomes a Museum (CBS News)
• EBay Founder Gives the Louvre $3 Million to Promote Persian Art (Huff Post)
• Farah Osuli's Paintings on Display at Islamic Art Exhibit in Pittsburgh (Tehran Times)
• Lucrative Antique Islamic Arts Market Draws Money and Criminals (Voice of America)
• Artist Helen Zughaib Wants to Foster Dialogue Between People…And Cats (Washington City Paper)
• LA Museum Improvises Without Art Loans from Russia (LATimes)
• Gifts of the Sultan: the Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts, June 5-Sept 5 (Art Newspaper)

JEWISH ART:

• Female Artists in Israel Explore Faith and Gender (Haaretz)

OTHER ART:

• Australia's Blake Prize Challenges Artists to Examine Religion and Spirituality (Daily Examiner)
• Aminah Robinson's Latest Exploration of Faith and Race at the Columbus Museum of Art (Dispatch)
• Hobbit Films Get Names and Release Dates (Popeater)
• French Artist-Critic Camille Saint-Jacques Explores When Art Was Religion (Huff Post)
• Delaware Art Museum's Labyrinth walk (News Journal)
• Book Show: The History of Book Plates (ABC Radio News)
• Australian Salt Sculpture Explores Life & Death at the Venice Biennale (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Collectors: Phillip Brown's Spirit of Expressionism Collection (Florida Times Union)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "This June's INSPIRE ME artist, Gerda Liebmann has issued a challenge to find a Cross in your life each day for a year. I'm taking her up on that challenge for the entire month of June," says Ernest Britton, Executive Director, Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts.

Learn more about June's INSPIRE ME! Artist at: AOA:INSPIRE ME!

Explore the practice of Islamic gifting at: The Art Newspaper

Learn about this group of female artists in Israel at: Haaretz

Read about this Balinese rice goddess at: The New York Times