February 15, 2008 - May 25, 2008
The Legard & United Company Galleries
Opening Reception
Member’s Prevue Reception: Thursday, February 14, 2008, 6:30 to 8 pm
Public Opening Reception: Friday, February 15, 6-8 pm
Image: Mary Jane Miller, Mary of the Unsleeping Eye, egg tempera, 23kt gold, silver pewter repousse, 2007
About the Exhibition
This exhibition will shed light on art as a persistent religious inflection and also prompt us to literally view religion from an objective and artistic perspective. The emphasis of the exhibition is that level of tradition shared by each that binds them throughout history, in any media, in any culture, in any faith. The works in this exhibition transcend beyond aesthetics just as they cannot be isolated by religious terms. Three artists are showcased in this exhibition, each of who practice one of the three Abrahamic religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Dr. Halide Salam, Professor of Art at Radford University, begins with her Islamic background and faith to produce large-scale paintings that eventually arrive at a plane of personal spirituality. Mary Jane Miller, an Abingdon native now working near San Miguel, Mexico, revives the Christian icon as an important connection between human devotion and the divine. Arnold Schwarzbart, residing in Knoxville, Tenn., has designed both ceremonial and decorative pieces adhering to the traditions of Judaica.
Related Events
Sunday, February 24, 3 pm . Islamic Art and Spirituality Illustrated Through the ‘Pen’ and ‘Architecture’-Arabic Calligraphy and the Mosque. Explored in the Perspective of Islam as a Religion and a Civilization by Dr. Samir Saliba, Department Chair of International Studies at Emory & Henry College
Tuesday, February 26, 5:30 pm. Paying the ‘Promessa’: The ‘Milagre’ Votive Tradition of Northeast Brazil by Dr. Lindsey King, lecturer for the Sociology and Anthropology Departments at East Tennessee State University
Tuesday, March 4, 5:30 pm. The Icons of Mary Jane Miller: Byzantine Style in Modern Icon Painting by Mary Haviland, Curator of 1912 Gallery at Emory & Henry College; adjunct professor of Art History at Virginia Highlands Community College
Sunday, March 9, 3 pm. Divine Connections by Arnold Schwarzbart, artist of Judaica, traditional Jewish ceremonial art
Tuesday, March 25, 5:30 pm. Art, Religion, and ‘The Aesthetic’ by Dr. Keith Green, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at East Tennessee State University
Sunday, March 30, 3 pm. The Spiritual in Art by Dr. Halide Salam, Assistant Professor of Art at Radford University
Sunday, April 6, 3 pm. Lecture by Dr. Richard Chess, Director of the Creative Writing Program and the Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina at Asheville
