Pentecost Shadow Puppet Play

Here's a post from Global Christian Worship featuring a contemporary shadow puppet play by Dan Stevers that tells the story of Pentecost.  The video comes at the end, preceded by some background information about the cultural history of shadow puppetry in Asia.  For more information about traditional Indonesian Christian Shadow Puppetry, click here and here.

Art as Culture: Chapter 4 Review

Continuing with my chapter-by-chapter review of Evelyn Payne Hatcher's Art as Culture: An Introduction to the Anthropology of Art, I've arrived at chapter four.  Titled "Who?  The Psychological Perspective," it attempts to explain a psychological view of cultural art forms under four headings: perception, creativity, personality and the psychological functions of art.  Hatcher writes, "The anthropological questions relating to these concepts have to do with the ways in which perception, creativity, personality and functions are similar in different cultural contexts, and the ways in which they are specific to each cultural setting" (85).

Ascension Sunday

Christ in Ascension by Father John Giuliani

Arts For a Better Future Training Events This Summer

Back in February I posted about the ethnoarts training conference Arts For a Better Future that would be occuring this summer in the UK.  Here is a reminder about that plus an upcoming offering coming to Dallas this June!  For more info about both events see the press release below:

ARTS FOR A BETTER FUTURE:

This one week get-your-feet-wet arts exploration event is where participants enjoy inspiration, encouragement, skill development, and networking with like-minded people. Come broaden your palette of tools for cross-cultural arts engagement by learning how to be better catalysts and co-creators for local, indigenous creativity.

The newly published book Creating Local Arts Together: A Manual to Help Communities Reach Their Kingdom Goals (see site here) serves as the foundation for our interactive instruction time (participants get a free copy!). We infuse the entire event with real life experiences to illustrate how to help communities draw on their artistic resources to respond to their spiritual, social, and physical needs.

Sign up for emails that will let you know about future ABF events and the registration details and deadlines: http://eepurl.com/wtuef

Current venues for ABF (click on links for more information):

Dallas - Arts for a Better Future - June 3-8, 2013 (Workshop: non-credit)
Register by April 15 for the early-bird price ($295). After April 15 price is $350. All registration ends May 15.

England - Arts for a Better Future - July 7-12, 2013 (Credit available through All Nations Christian College)

Videos:

England 2011 - http://tinyurl.com/AiMvideo6 (6 minutes)

England 2011 - http://tinyurl.com/AiMvideo3 (3 minutes)

Dallas 2012 - http://tinyurl.com/ABF2012video  (6 minutes)

Easter Morning by He Qi

Easter Morning by He Qi

The following description is from "Bible Paintings: The Resurrection of Jesus Christ" at www.jesus-story.net:

He Qi is one of the most popular modern painters of religious themes. Here a triumphant angel announces that Christ has risen, conquering the demons of darkness who now flee from him. The women have not yet woken properly, and seem unaware of what has happened. They still mourn, but the angel is telling them that the time for grief is over.  Instead of the unfurled military-style banner often held by Christ in earlier paintings, He Qi's angel carries a luminous lily, sign of purity and peace.

Rev. Travis J. Scholl, editor of Concordia Journal, writes:

The more one encounters He Qi’s art, the more one encounters the creative tension between the vernacular and the universal, the local and the global, what Robert Brusic calls the “synthesis between artistic indigenization and proclamation.” He Qi’s pictorial vocabulary is thoroughly Chinese, but the message is nothing less than the Gospel itself. Again, Brusic: 

He Qi presents us with art that connects us to the biblical story in a fresh, even a surprising, way. He is both storyteller and evangelist in his art. He is not only preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, but he is also conveying a message that transcends cultural types. In seeking to de-westernize the Christian story, he is trying to open our eyes to the universal implications of the larger and all-encompassing narrative of God’s love for all creation. (Arts: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies 9:3 (1997), p. 10) 

Holy Saturday

The Fourteenth Station of the Cross by John Giuliani

The Fourteenth Station of the Cross: Jesus is Buried
by Jyoti Sahi

"Jesus is buried, and like the sleeping Asana (Nidre asana) he becomes one with the earth. Beside him is the pot, which symbolizes the empty container of the body, from which the waters of life have been poured out. He is like the tree that is uprooted, falling onto the ground." – Jyoti Art Ashram

The Dead Christ in the Tree by Hector Jandany

"Another means of expressing the relationship between Christian and Indigenous religion is shown in the painting by Hector Jandany, who likewise lives in Warmun and has painted since 1979. That year saw the establishment of the Bough Shed School by two Catholic nuns, invited in by the community. Hector Jandany lived according to and in harmony with both religions. His painting shows the body of Jesus, which lies on a platform in a tree. The artist references thereby a traditional funeral ceremony in his area. Note that the painting does not involve Christian iconography. The artist is renowned for his subdued color-palette in mostly dark tones. The fact that half of the painting is filled with bright ochre helps to emphasize the bier with the figure in black, the black Christ. The painting carries the title “The Dead Christ in the Tree.” Hector Jandany painted this work of art for the Easter service, for which it was used in the church at Warmun for a number of years." – aboriginal-art.de

Milingimbi Easter panel

Milingimbi Easter panel, c.1965

From the National Gallery of Australia (link includes a video of the painting with the following spoken text, or click here):