2014 Indigenous Christian Art Calendars

Greetings in this advent season, as we anticipate the Christ Child's incarnation and also reflect upon the year that is coming to a close.  In anticipation of the year to come, I've found two 2014 calendars (so far) that feature indigenous Christian art.

The first is another art calendar by Missio Aachen, a Catholic Mission organization.  This year's 2014 art calendar features contemporary Egyptian icons by artist Joseph Khalil.  Each icon depicts a scene from the life of Jesus, along with text in German, English and French.  The calendar can be ordered here.

Based on Google Chrome's Translation, the website states that the calendar's artist, Joseph Khalil,

writes his icons in the tradition of Isaac Fanous, who during the middle of last century founded the neo-Coptic school of iconography in Egypt. He is known for his simple and clear style, which continued the original Coptic tradition and modernized it at the same time. Fanous was committed to idealism rather than naturalism. 

Joseph Khalil was born in 1980 in Mina and studied art there. Today he works as a teacher. His impetus for painting icons was given to him by Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina, the Coptic Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Giza. The icons that are shown in this calendar hang in the chapel of the Bishop's house in the "city of the 6th October," a satellite city of Cairo.

Unfortunately the calendar does not contain boxes for each day of the month, but rather shows one large art image with a horizontal line of dates in small print at the bottom, as seen below and on page 2 here.

Last year's Book of Kells calendar

Then there's always the Large Book Of Kells 2014 Calendar, available through Trinity College Dublin.  The calendar has been produced using a fine art printing process which renders the images in a much higher resolution more akin to a photographic print.

The book of Kells dates from c.800 A.D. and contains the four Gospels in Latin.  The name Book of Kells is derived from the Abbey of Kells in Kells, County Meath, which was its home for much of the medieval period.  Now measuring 33 x 25.5 cm, the book was trimmed and rebound in the 19th century.  It is written on vellum and the Gospel texts are prefaced with Canon Tables and characterizations of the Evangelists.  What makes the Book of Kells unique are the lavish illustrations intertwined with text.  These artists' intentions for these illustrations was to glorify God's creations.   The Large Book Of Kells 2014 Calendar can be ordered here.