Entire Collection of Smithsonian's Asian Art Museum Online January 1, 2015

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.

Debra Diamond, exhibition curator and Curator of South and Southeast Asian art,
gives a tour during a press preview of a 2013 exhibition at the Smithsonian's
Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C.

From BLOUIN ARTINFO:

The 40,000-plus items in the Smithsonian’s DC museums of Asian art, the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, will be available online starting on January 1, 2015. The high-resolution images will be accessible to all, without copyright restrictions for non-commercial use, an act director Julian Raby deemed “part of the democratization of art.” Many of the works — approximately 78 percent according to the Washington Post, or 35,000 according to The Art Newspaper — have never been seen by the public. [WP, TAN]

A First Nations Retelling of the Christmas Story

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.

One final Christmas Day post!

I had begun writing a longer post about this earlier this month, but apparently lost it before saving it.  Anyway, I wanted to get this online during the Christmas season.  

The Birth of the Chosen One is a forty-four page paraphrase of the story of Jesus' birth taken from Matthew and Luke.  The text is taken from the First Nations Version Project (FNV) by Terry Wildman.  Terry is of Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Yaqui ancestry. He is a recording artist, songwriter, storyteller, speaker and published writer. Terry is also the "Chief" of Rain Ministries, a nonprofit organization based in Arizona. Since the year 2000 as "RainSong" he and his wife Darlene have invested their lives in sharing the message of Jesus with Native Americans. 

The book's child-like illustrations were created by artist Ramone Romero of Cherokee and Aztec ancestry.  To see more examples of his artwork for the FNV, click here.

Indigenous Christmas Images

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.

Here are a few examples of indigenous nativity art from from around the world to enjoy on this Christmas Day.

Photo: © Karen Elwell 2013

Engraved tree gourd from Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca. This is the work of master carver Antonio Guzman Hernandez.

Storyboard depicting Nativity, Keram River, Papua New Guinea

Mawalan Marika (1908-67), Nativity. C. 1964. 

Martina Parry, Nativity. 1993.

Aboriginal Stained glass window located in New Norcia, WA

"Challenges in Conducting a Christian Art Exhibition in India" by Paul Kattukaran

Please Note: All posts on this blog are intended for informational purposes only, not as an evaluation or endorsement of any artist, art form, organization or website.  If you have concerns about the accuracy of any information presented please contact the author at hmsarthistorian@gmail.com.

The coordinator of Indian Christian Artists’ Forum, Art-i, Fr Paul Kattukaran (r)
presents an Indian image of Christ "My Guru" done by the late Goan artist
Angelo da Fonseca to Archbishop of Goa and Daman Filipe Neri Ferrao as a
token of inculturating Christian faith in India.

For reflections on the challenges that have faced the Indian Christian Art Exhibition mentioned in my last entry, click here.  The post's author is Paul Kattukaran, the Coordinator of the Indian Christian Artists’ Forum (Art-i).  For a news story about the opening of the exhibition (pictured above), click here.

Despite several setbacks, Kattukaran writes:

With all the challenges, the exhibition of Indian Christian Art in Old Goa is a success on different counts; first of all most Goan Christians and many at the national level came to know of the exhibition through the print media and internet, especially UCAN news. Secondly, this exhibition inaugurated and blessed by the Archbishop of Goa has become a stepping stone for Christian Art ministry in Goa and India.