NYC College Aquires Online Islamic Art Museum

WNYC RADIO
By Marlon Bishop

NEW YORK - Queens College is positioning itself to become a mecca for art and art history in the Arab World. The college recently announced it would take ownership of an online Islamic art museum, thanks to generous donations from big names in the Asian art world: the London-based shopping mall magnate Nasser Khalili and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.The caligraphy lion above is part of the new collection. [link]

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A&O Prize for Young Artists Seeking Central Indiana Talent

AOA NEWS

INDIANA - The Indiana Interchurch Center will name its first central Indiana high school student recipient of the Alpha & Omega Prize for Young Artists on November 12, 2011, but first they are spreading the word to congregations, schools and arts organizations to help identify the best in the region's multi-faith talent.

The A&O Prize, a $750 scholarship for the winners of an interfaith arts competition is part of the 16th annual Spirit & Place Festival and run collaboratively by Indiana Interchurch Center, the Center for Interfaith Cooperation and Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts. It gives high school students the opportunity to explore inter-religious themes through visual art.

This first year’s exhibition & competition title, Beyond Dead: A Student Response will showcase the art work from central Indiana high school students, both those attending private and public schools. The title, Beyond Dead was selected in response to the Spirit & Place Festival's 2011 theme, The Body.

Mel Jolliff, executive director of Indiana Interchurch Center formed this partnership to harness the power of the arts to connect Indiana communities of faith and to respond to the social needs of Indiana youth.

“Young people today, of all faiths, are wrestling with far more complex issues than the youth of my day, and we wanted to provide a visual arts forum for them to express their feelings through both art and dialogue. Jolliff said. “Indiana Interchurch Center wants to represent the diversity of all faith traditions in central Indiana, and this is another important opportunity to build that interfaith connection.”

Ernest Britton, director of the Alpha & Omega Project for Contemporary Religious Arts, said the A&O Prize is an expression of the deep and abiding relationship between the visual arts and religious beliefs.

“We are seeking young people who will create wonderful artworks so that we all gain deeper insights into the ideas and issues that students contemplate as they negotiate their complex worlds,” he said. “The A&O Prize demonstrates the importance of having a belief system and of a visual arts education to express that faith.”

Entry forms and more details for the fine arts competition are available onsite at the Indiana Interchurch Center's main office at 1000 West 42nd Street, Indianapolis or online at http://www.alphaomegaarts.org/. Space at the IIC gallery is limited so registrations are currently being accepted for all entries at aoprize@alphaomegaarts.org or 317-755-8400. The exhibit will run from November 1 through December 31, 2011.

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Fine Arts Enrollment at Christian Colleges is Surging

HUFFINGTON POST
By Daniel Grant

SINCE THE 1980S, [a] fifth of the 105 members of the U.S. Council for Christian Colleges and Universities now have studio art degree programs -- double the number on offer in the 1990s. One of the reasons for this increase is the 70-percent growth in enrollment at Christian institutions since 1990, outstripping the 15- to 20-percent jump in other parts of the university sector. The surge in enrollment has left church-based institutions engaged in a delicate balancing act: training young artists -- with all that that traditionally entails in terms of the freedom to challenge any and all authority -- in an environment that puts religion above all else. When Bob and Sandra Bowden were scouting colleges for their daughter Jennifer in the 1980s, they found that the pickings were slim. The family eventually chose Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.[link]

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Students Learn Filmmaking & Morals at Catholic Summer Camp

THE FLORIDA TIMES-UNION
By Jeff Brumley

FLORIDA - Brian Shields will tell you straight up he's all about instilling Christian values in young people and encouraging them to keep Christ at the center of their personal and professional lives. But what makes this Catholic evangelist different is the method he uses to spread the gospel and inspire youngsters to follow suit: film-making. This week he and his staff from Lumen Entertainment are hosting an eight-day film camp for high school students. He's been holding the camp since 2008. It's mission statement is "To enlighten and nourish with truth through the arts."[link]

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Methodist Youth Ministry Links Art & Faith in Indianapolis

AOA NEWS
By Ernest Britton

INDIANA - Founded by Free Methodists, LYNhouse offers a summer arts program that links art & faith to inspire under priviledged youth in Indianapolis. The LYN House ministry is a multi-age summer youth program called, "Express Yourself." During this program, the students are being challenged to learn about their "God-given strengths and talents" by creating a group mosaic which will retell significant events of their lives. An Open House for the general public will be held on July 11 entitled, "Capturing Inno-sense" which will also include a short performance piece.

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Canadian Student Paints Modern Version of Mary and Jesus

NORTHUMBERLAND NEWS
By Karen Longwell

Rosalie Byrnes, 17, finishes a painting of Jesus

CANADA - It is a different take on religious art, but that is fine by Grade 12 St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School student Rosalie Byrnes. Rosalie put a new twist on two paintings of Mary and Jesus, destined for the cafeteria of the school. "I wanted to do something modern," said 17-year-old Rosalie, who added her influences include Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. St. Mary's is a new school and she believes the paintings complement the style of the school, and will appeal to young students, she added. After she did a painting for the prom last year, Rosalie said the school's vice principal, Rob Majdell, asked her to complete the two paintings. The school provided two large four-by-five foot canvases for the pieces. She started the work last December and just put the finishing touches on the work in early June. [link]

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ACLU Seeks to Cover Prayer Art

CRANSTON PATCH
By Mark Schieldrop

RHODE ISLAND - The Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union is seeking a preliminary injunction for the prayer art banner to be removed until a final outcome in their April civil rights case filed on behalf of a student. The controversial art banner has been the subject of heated debate since the ACLU said it planned to file a lawsuit after the school district declined to voluntarily remove it. The prayer themed banner, one of 21 different student art banners in the auditorium, has hung on the wall for almost 50 years.

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Aodhan King Wins Australia's Youth Prize for Religious Art

CANTERBURY BANKSTOWN-EXPRESS
By Rashell Habib

Art represents expression and spirituality for Aodhan King.
PICTURE: CRAIG WILSON.

AUSTRALIA - Death, destruction, colour, light, God - make of it what you wish. Croydon Park’s Aodhan King’s artwork encompasses all of these but he doesn’t mind if you don’t understand it the way he meant it. “What attracted me to art was the way you’re not only able to express yourself but the way it can be taken in so many different ways,” he said. “You can make it one way but it’s not necessarily the way other people take it.” That is exactly what happened with the 19-year-old’s work but instead of confusion it won him first prize in the 2011 Clancy Prize for Religious Art. Entrants had to work with the theme of St Mary MacKillop of the Cross’s words: “There where you are you will find God.” [link]

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