For our visual artists...

[katycarl]

While wandering in the basement of the National Basilica here in D.C. the other day, I happened on a free art exhibit called "Redeeming Beauty: Religious Works of Contemporary Artists." Guys, it is STUNNING. If you're in the area, I totally recommend that you go. There's an Indian-style Pieta, stained glass windows of incredibly rich color, sculpture and other 3-D pieces, stations of the cross, 19th-century-style paintings, Byzantine-inspired iconography, a manga-style line drawing of St. Michael casting out the Devil, and lots more delightful, terrifying, moving, gorgeous things. I'm no artist, but the exhibition is juried, and even I can tell that the standard of craftsmanship was very high here. Do see it if you can.

The sponsoring organization was also one that, it struck me, might hold interest for some of our contributors. It's called the Foundation for the Sacred Arts, www.thesacredarts.org, and it maintains lists of artists working on Church-related projects in the United States, as well as networks for those artists to connect with one another and opportunities for them to show their work. Seems pretty sweet to me.

[Bernardo]

That sounds wonderful Katy. I think I'm going to have to take a trip down there this weekend to see it. Where is it exactly? In that wide hall before one enters the crypt church? If it is a good as you say, perhaps we could feature some of those artists in DT, don't you think?

[katycarl]

That's exactly what I was thinking. It'd be interesting to know what age group the artists fall into, too: there was definitely a youthful feel about much of the work.

And yes, that's just where it is: in the big open space. If you go in the street-level doors on the right-hand side of the Basilica, go down the hallway past the gift shop, and take the stairs straight down, you'll see it right as you come out of the stairwell.

[Bernardo]

I finally stopped by the art exhibit today and was very impressed. It is a pleasure to find the work of so many excellent religious artists together in one place. This Foundation for the Sacred Arts seems like an excellent organization. They did a great job with this. I took a brochure and will try to get in contact with these artists. We should definitely get some of them to contribute to Dappled Things.