The new exhibition opening at Episcopal Church & Visual Arts this week is titled 'Art as Public Narrative: ECVA Imaging Ubuntu.' Designed as a visual collaboration with the work of TEC's Executive Council, the show's call challenged artists around the country to submit work that illustrated the Zulu concept of Ubuntu.

"Artists have a unique opportunity to dissolve barriers. The images and objects we create serve as both public and personal narrative—a lens through which we observe that which exists both within and apart from us, and as a means by which we can convey both the seer and that which is seen in a distinctively connected way.

"To honor The Episcopal Church’s General Convention theme of Ubuntu, ECVA invited members of The Artists Registry to explore the concept of Ubuntu through an artistic lens, asking them to submit works that 'weave together the threads of your personal and our communal story to create compelling and hope-filled images that will express the meaning and application of Ubuntu.'" ~ Diane Walker, Curator, Art as Public Narrative.

The online exhibition features 36 works of art from artists across the country created with textiles, drawing, mosaic, photography, iconography, watercolor, mixed media, oil, acrylic, digital media, and fiber sculpture. Submissions were reviewed by a committee of jurors: The Rev. Dr Melford "Bud" Holland, The Rev Canon Brian Prior, The Rev Canon Robert Two Bulls Jr, and The Rev Paul Fromberg. You can see their top selections here.

On View above and on the homepage Rain, mixed media by Rara Schlitt.

On View, on the Homepage, in the Masthead: Teaching Photography, photography by Jim Wroten. Why does this image serve as art for public narrative? Wroten explains, " Urban parks provide an oasis of nature and tranquility in the hustle and bustle of modern city life. We can not only enjoy nature, but each other as well, in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. Even in the big city, it is OK to talk to strangers. ... Here, the photographer witnessed the meeting of two individuals: a young boy learning to skate and the older gentleman, an experienced skater. By taking a few minutes to teach the young boy this move, the gentleman put his individuality aside (and removed his earphones) and illustrated Ubuntu: the view that humanity is an inter-connected web that often requires us to reach outside our usual groups and share ourselves with others."

On View, also on the Homepage, Crucifixion watercolor by Alyssane McGaffey.

View the Show Online: Art as Public Narrative: ECVA Imaging Ubuntu, curated by Diane Walker. Jurors: The Rev. Dr Melford "Bud" Holland, The Rev Canon Brian Prior, The Rev Canon Robert Two Bulls Jr, and The Rev Paul Fromberg. The Rev. Fray Toy, Honorary Juror. Exhibition design: C. Robin Janning.

- Holla at Your Savior -
[from the Installation Press Release] ''Say My Name' is a lighthearted musing on the material expression of the spiritual, as well as a meditation on the diametric qualities of the physical and divine realms.

'The installation seeks to echo/mirror the physical form and intention of Grace Cathedral itself - rich materials, elaborate decoration, and massive scale evoking the presence of God and the emotions of faith (while expressing the power of the church and the wealth of its benefactors) - essential qualities of Gothic church architecture. Expounding on the physical form of the cathedral and corresponding church traditions of bejeweled reliquaries, golden Eucharistic chalices, and the kissing of popes' rings, a contemporary manifestation takes shape as a levitating, deity-sized piece. 'Say My Name' also seeks to explore parallels between the church's luxuriant expressions of the spiritual & sacred and contemporary material displays of wealth, power, and import evidenced in popular culture.

'The letters of the nameplate, YHWH, are the transliteration of the ancient Hebrew Tetragrammaton representing God's name. The true pronunciation of God's name has been lost to taboo, time, and translation, but the prevailing interpretation is that 'YHWH' can be extrapolated to 'Yahweh,' and anglicized to 'Jehovah' (further translated by Jay-Z to 'H to the Izz O, V to the Izz A'.)

-----

The site-specific installation 'Say My Name' is the work of artist and photog Adam Wier. It was part of the summer edition of EpiscoDisco, a monthly event where community congregates to enjoy contmporary art, live performance, drinks and DJ's at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. EpiscoDisco is hosted on the second-to-last Saturday of the month by Reverend Bertie Pearson and curatorial duo Paradise Now.

September's EpiscoDisco features artist Sarah Filley. Her installation, PRAYER ROPE, consists of 300 feet of 12-braid, marine-grade, black rope suspended in the vestibule of the cathedral. Her video piece meditatively documents the effort of counting each prayer knot illuminates the apse. The imagery of this heavy, knotted rope conjures several conflicting associations: from seafaring and military operations to eroticism and rituals of the sacred. In her own words, "The physical act of tying 100 knots in the PRAYER ROPE is a contemplative act, which has a history well beyond my own hands. Maybe we need an over-scaled PRAYER ROPE for our REALLY big sins. Or, perhaps it acts as a public plea for our collective guilt. Or, more poignantly, it may provide a visual reminder of the humility of each of our spirits." Saturday, September 19, 2009, 7-10pm. For more information, contact Paradise Now.

On View: Say My Name, by Adam Wier, installation view. Photograph by Bertie Pearson.

Fleeing Enforced Uniformity

[Library of Congress]
"Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women, who, in the face of European persecution, refused to compromise passionately held religious convictions and fled Europe. The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established "as plantations of religion." Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives--"to catch fish" as one New Englander put it--but the great majority left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct. They enthusiastically supported the efforts of their leaders to create "a city on a hill" or a "holy experiment," whose success would prove that God's plan for his churches could be successfully realized in the American wilderness. Even colonies like Virginia, which were planned as commercial ventures, were led by entrepreneurs who considered themselves "militant Protestants" and who worked diligently to promote the prosperity of the church."

"The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens.

"Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics. The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as "inforced uniformity of religion," meant majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters in their midst. In some areas Catholics persecuted Protestants, in others Protestants persecuted Catholics, and in still others Catholics and Protestants persecuted wayward coreligionists."
- From Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, an exhibition of The Library of Congress. Available as an online resource here.

On View: above Murder of David van der Leyen and Levina Ghyselins, Ghent, 1554 Engraving by J. Luyken, from T. J. V. Bracht (or Thieleman van Braght), Het Bloedig Tooneel De Martelaers Spiegel. . . . Amsterdam: J. van der Deyster, et al., 1685. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress
This engraving depicts the execution of David van der Leyen and Levina Ghyselins, described variously as Dutch Anabaptists or Mennonites, by Catholic authorities in Ghent in 1554. Strangled and burned, van der Leyen was finally dispatched with an iron fork. Bracht's Martyr's Mirror is considered by modern Mennonites as second only in importance to the Bible in perpetuating their faith.

Also on view, on the Homepage, Speaking to the Soul: A Jesuit Disemboweled John Ogilvie (Ogilby), Societas Jesu, 1615. Engraving from Mathias Tanner, Societas Jesu usque ad sanguinis et vitae profusionem Militans. . . . Prague: Typis Universitatis Carolo-Ferdinandeae, 1675 Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress. Jesuits like John Ogilvie (Ogilby) (1580-1615) were under constant surveillance and threat from the Protestant governments of England and Scotland. Ogilvie was sentenced to death by a Glasgow court and hanged and mutilated on March 10, 1615.

Also on view, on the Homepage, Daily Episcopalian:Frightful Outrages perpetrated by the Huguenots in France
Engraving from Richard Verstegen, Théâtre des Cruautez des Hérétiques de notre temps. Antwerp: Adrien Hubert, 1607. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.
In the areas of France they controlled, Huguenots at least matched the harshness of the persecutions of their Catholic opponents. Atrocities A, B, and C, depictions that are possibly exaggerated for use as propaganda, are located by the author in St. Macaire, Gascony. In scene A, a priest is disemboweled, his entrails wound up on a stick until they are torn out. In illustration B a priest is buried alive, and in C Catholic children are hacked to pieces. Scene D, alleged to have occurred in the village of Mans, was "too loathsome" for one nineteenth-century commentator to translate from the French. It shows a priest whose genitalia were cut off and grilled. Forced to eat his roasted private parts, the priest was then dissected by his torturers so they can observe him digesting his meal.

Images and text courtesy of the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov.

Contemplation frees the organized to set other ways of movement into play. Like love, it is patient. Eventually most come to see it as kind.

Contemplation doesn't keep attendance or score. Whether you wear its colors in the stands or visit occasionally with flowers as though it were a grave, contemplation will treat you like a child, its child.

Contemplation does not accept currency. So you who are well-read, ardent, broken or profound, leave your shoes at the door. You stand on holy ground.

On View: Untitled, by D. Davis. As seen in the 'Los Angeles Visual Preludes 2009', presented to The General Convention of The Episcopal Church, Anaheim. The Rev. Gabriel Ferrer, Producer.