Visions of Paradise: Art and the Power of Faith
August 21 – November 7 at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
www.svma.org
16 July 2010 – Sonoma, CA: Where do artistry and spirituality meet? From August 21 – November 7, 2010, the answers to these questions – and other queries posed – are at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (www.svma.org) when curator Virginia Breier offers Visions of Paradise: Art and the Power of Faith a landmark exploration of the role of art in spiritual life.
“Expressions of faith are a source of creative inspiration,” said Kate Eilertsen, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art Executive Director. “Artists have explored themes within their cultures and faiths since before the written word, often touching on similar concerns and subjects. Virginia is an amazingly creative and dynamic curator. The exhibition she put together for the museum in 2007, Creatures of Myth and Magic, was one that everyone is still talking about. The idea for this exhibition along with the eclectic artists she brings in and the collectors with whom she has access will provide another phenomenal exhibition for our museum.”
For more than 35 years Breier has served as a curator and as a supporter of artisans through her work in the Bay Area and beyond. Her gallery on Sacramento Street in San Francisco served as a destination for collectors of hand-crafted objects until her retirement in 2006. For Breier, this show is an opportunity to explore an expansive topic in a museum setting far different from her own small gallery space.
“I never had sufficient space to launch a show with such a narrative,” explains Breier. “I put this exhibition together to compare the ways different groups use art in their spiritual path; to explore the commonalities between faiths and the path of traditions around the world.”
For Visions of Paradise, Breier again teams up with exhibition designer Ted Cohen, her collaborator on Creatures of Myth and Magic, to pack the Museum with the vivid colors and excitement that is so often evident in work celebrating faith.
Throughout much of the world, popular images created by local artists, often anonymously, are displayed in designated buildings or spaces and in the privacy of homes. Of particular note are the ancestor shrines found in many Asian gardens. Offerings, sometimes made daily, are left to nourish the souls of the dead. Prayers are offered for their well-being. In other cultures, Dia de Los Muertos, the annual Day of the Dead, is a community celebration.
A portion of the exhibition will focus on memorials and prayers for the souls of the dead. Another commonality between faiths is the creation of vehicles to convey the spirit into the afterlife. Spirit boats feature in stories of faith from many cultures, including Indonesian, Japanese, Haitian and among Native American populations. This show includes a series of images by clients of Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center, which serves adult artists with developmental, mental and physical disabilities. Works by the center’s clients are featured in prominent collections and museums worldwide.
“Humankind has long believed in a higher power or unseen forces influencing life, capable of granting favors and protecting from negative forces,” says Eilertsen. “Visual arts have served as a primary form of transmitting these sentiments, both as a request for assistance and as gratitude for wishes fulfilled.”
Visions of Paradise will be on view at the Museum, 551 Broadway in Sonoma, August 21 through November 7, 2010. Museum members are invited to an opening reception on August 20 from 5pm 'til 7pm. Museum hours are Wednesdays through Sundays from 11am 'til 5pm with extended Friday hours (until 8pm) through September 3. More information about the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art is available at www.svma.org or by calling (707) 939-7862.
In conjunction with this exhibition the Museum offers the following public programs:
Saturday, September 18, 2pm - 3pm
Artists in Conversation with Curator Virginia Breier
Saturday, October 2, 2pm - 3pm
Interfaith Forum
Sunday, October 31, 11am -- 5pm
Dia de Los Muertos
About the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art:
With more than 1,000 members, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (SVMA) is the largest visual arts organization in the San Francisco North Bay region. It was incorporated in 1998 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to promote the creation, exhibition, and collection of fine arts, to provide a venue for art exhibition in Sonoma, and to offer educational opportunities for people of all ages. It occupies an 8,000-square-foot space at 551 Broadway, just one-half block south of the historic Sonoma Plaza. The Museum purchased the building in early 2001, and completed extensive renovations in March 2004. The Museum is open to the general public during exhibitions Wednesday through Sunday from 11am 'til 5pm during the summer the Museum is open until 8pm on Fridays. Admission is $5 for individuals, $8 for families, and free to members. (707) 939-7862 / www.svma.org.
