Religion and art are often intertwined. It's difficult to imagine the great churches and synagogues of Europe without picturing the beautiful paintings housed within them. "Michelangelo's Ceiling" painted on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel is world renown. Many great pieces of the past reflect the divinity that inspired them.
The practice of using art as a conduit to examine religion may have fallen out of practice today, but a new Tufts art exhibit that opened this week will go a long way toward providing an opportunity for art to act as a mechanism for religious dialogue.
"A Lens Toward Peace: An Expression of Religious Serenity and Harmony" tries to take a closer look at what religious harmony really means. The artwork in the exhibit reflects different ideas about peace and serenity, and provides perspectives on what that represents within different religious contexts.
The exhibit, which is sponsored both by Hillel and by the Catholic Community at Tufts (CCT), will be on display in the Slater Concourse Gallery through Dec. 19. Its opening reception is scheduled to take place tonight at 8 p.m.
"Lens" is the second art exhibit put on by Hillel and is also the second curated by Tufts seniors Erin Baldinger and Neil Hirsch. Last spring, the pair put together the organization's first art show, which was entitled "Journey of the Seeker: A Student Expression of Religion through Art."
"Journey" represented the first time that Baldinger and Hirsch used art to create an interfaith dialogue, though its topic was much broader, centering more on a general religious theme. The two built upon the knowledge they gained last year to organize "Lens."
All of the pieces in the show were created by Tufts artists, including some in the joint five-year program with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. An estimated half of the artists participated in the previous "Journey" exhibit; the other half are new.
At the time of press, the names of artwork and artists were not available.
Hirsch and Baldinger asked for submissions in September, then reviewed the pieces that were submitted to determine which ones best fit their theme of peace.
"We wanted to include as many artists as possible, so as long as we felt that their work fit within our context of religious peace and serenity," Baldinger said. "We tried to reach as broad a base as we could and we were actually able to accept pieces from every artist who submitted to us."
The pieces in the exhibit represent as broad range of mediums as they do topics. Oil paintings, photographs, and collages are all on display, and their subject matters, diverse as they are, all reflect the original theme of expressing religious serenity.
Though some of the artwork can be tied to a specific religion or ethnicity, much of it is universal. Hirsch said that he hoped that the different subject matters created something of a dialogue between the different pieces.
"Each individual artist brings something different to the table," he explained. "There are definitely pieces that have more of a Jewish perspective, that speak to Jewish ideals, and some speak to a more Indian religion. The whole point is to see the different perspectives."
Baldinger also said that she hoped that the exhibit would help student artists and student musicians connect to the rest of the Tufts community, as well as exposing the rest of the campus to their artwork and music.
"Art is not a major focus [on campus]," Baldinger said. "Since we're putting on our exhibit through Hillel, we have a religious focus, and we want people to think about art in religion and art as a way to express religion, even if it's not the way that you might usually do it if you're not an artist."
The reception tonight will showcase a different sort of religious dialogue. Student musicians will be performing pieces that tie into the exhibit's overall theme all evening long, and visitors will be invited to partake in appetizers as they browse through the artwork that is on display.
"Art, like writing, like everything else, is a fantastic communicator," Hirsch stated enthusiastically. "Any time there's a way that we can use a different medium to communicate our ideas, why shouldn't we take advantage of that?"
"A Lens Toward Peace: An Expression of Religious Serenity and Harmony" will be on display in the Slater Concourse Gallery at the Aidekman Arts Center through Dec. 19. An opening reception will be held to night at 8 p.m. in the Concourse Gallery.
