RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

At noon earlier this month, I walked down to Christ Cathedral Church for my Ashes. It was the annual holyday of Ash Wednesday, and they were offering walk or drive up blessings right from the sidewalk. Days later my friend Leslie joined a Purim party for Jews, and a college room-mate Kumar traveled to his parents home in Huntsville, Alabama for the Holi festival. One of the most special things all believers share are holydays; a series of "annual" days of rituals where we are invited to reconnect. Many are drawn to rituals and to art that remind them of the essential importance of holydays, and especially when it resists stereotypes. That is the case with the henna-calligraphied women of Lalla Essaydi, and that's why her new show in Virginia (above) is my NEWS OF WEEK.

In other religious art news from across the USA, and around the world:

• Buddhist Art of Week: "Tibet and India" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art [More News]
• Christian Art of Week: "Relics & Reliquaries" at Museum of Religious Art of Fourvière [More News]
• Hindu Art of Week: "The Body in Indian Art" at the National Museum of India [More News]
• Islamic Art of Week: Lalla Essaydi at James Madison University's Sawhill Gallery. [More News]
• Judaic Art of Week: Hitler's "Degenerate Art" on display at Neue Galerie NYC [More News]

We are all members, united in the search for human meaning through art from the religious imagination. For us, it's more than Art. It's Religion. We follow artists who explore religious ideas with their creativity. When you follow religious artists, you join others who do the same. Some of us join as "Collectors" and make board decisions; others join as "Meeters" who gather for the dialogues; and most of us join as "Subscribers" to this "free" weekly newsletter; (or follow on: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, or Soundcloud). All vote for the A&O Prize.