| John 11:25-26 |
| 25 ...I am the resurrection, and the life: |
| he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: |
| 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die... |
The witch has long been portrayed as the outsider, whether as a monster or as a resistance fighter. Many political, religious or social movements used this figure to establish their identity by defining the “other” and it is amazing to see how these various interpretations reach out to the contemporary use of the word “femininity” in regard to emancipation. This recalls the complex process of defining gender, power and desire.The Art Gallery of Mississauga has been skirting towards paranormal imagery for some time now. I first noticed it with the Homer Watson exhibition in 2014 when I wrote:
Part of Beyond the Pines: Homer Watson and the Contemporary Canadian Landscape's purpose was to present Watson's landscapes as though they were infused with ephemeral supernatural beings. The AGM's curators obtained this notion of "spirits" from one aspect of Watson's life: his questions regarding his deceased sister and whether she could be "visiting" him. “Could it have been? Or was it a delusion?” he asks of a "vision."I believe now the beautiful work by Watson, filled with southern Ontario landscapes, attracted Kendra Ainsworth's (the curator of the exhibit) attention because it tied so well wth these "ephemeral supernatural beings," so alien to the Judeo Christian origins of Western art, whose origins are grounded in the non-ephemeral supernatural being of God.
Nothing is defined about Watson's belief in spirits, but it makes for an interesting exhibition.
If at any point in the future, you visit the AGM and create an unsafe, critical and or threatening space, we will contact security who will request that you leave the premises.And this year, about two years after that email, about a week ago, I felt it important that I see this exhibition in person (and I had caused no "incident" at the gallery which I had never entered since the email).
I had emailed you some months back expressing the AGM’s concern with the nature of your reviews and commentary for the AGM’s programmes, staff, artists and community. I had clearly articulated at the time that if the hateful and insulting tone of many of your blog posts, in regards to AGM content, staff and or community did not cease, you would be no longer welcome at the AGM. While you certainly have the right to freedom of speech, the AGM also has the right to not be defamed and or the recipient of hate propaganda.Of course Salter never made any reference to any of my blog posts at the initial "warning." Nor did she reference any in this recent one. Her reference to the "unsafe, critical and or threatening space" I may create, I assumed in the initial communication, was to the "difficult" questions I had asked the artists at their presentation's panel.
As you have continued to criticize, defame and generally create an unsafe space for many at the AGM, you will no longer be permitted to enter the AGM premises under the Trespass to Property Act, RSO 1990, c. T.21 - Ontario.ca
If you are to enter the AGM premises at any time in the future, you will be escorted off the property immediately by City Security.
Mandy Salter
Last year, I attended a panel discussion on the exhibition Beyond the Pines: Homer Watson and the Contemporary Canadian Landscape at the Art Gallery Mississauga. I had visited the exhibition numerous times, going through Watson's work one by one, to study his technique, his evolution as an artist, his views, his concerns, and his Canada.I was gong to leave it at that, just a personal observation (not naive or untutored, since I have a solid background in the arts), hoping that I would gain some insight from these artists.
The exhibition also displayed works by contemporary Canadian artists to bring this pine "narrative" to the fore. Some were reasonably good, but none reached the overall skill and beauty of Watson's paintings.
Contemporary Canadian artists looking at landscape must also find a way to access the ‘truth’ of a subject that is not only strongly represented in our national artistic history, but one that is both deeply political and personal.So the "truth" of a subject is now mandated to "represent" not just our nation "objectively" but has to incorporate political and personal views as well.
I can only surmise from this late notification that the AGM is getting some kind of monetary benefit from this "email list" which it seems to use haphazardly to meet with its program mandates.And the reply I received from Mandy Slater the director:
In my case, the mandate appears to be that of a minority female artist who can participate in the discussion on how to add more "diversity" into the art collections of the region.
Through your lack of appropriate notification, you indeed lost the participation of a minority female artist (myself) who would have made a unique and substantial contribution to this discussion.
The AGM prides itself on its high professional standards and its strong relational manner. We provide a safe and accountable space for our diverse staff, volunteers, artists and audience. All of this supports the democratic nature of the work we do at the AGM.Diversity counts at all costs, even if it means getting the "diverse" complainant out the door!
Moving forward, if you are able to visit the AGM in a congenial and supportive way I encourage you to do so. If at any point in the future, you visit the AGM and create an unsafe, critical and or threatening space, we will contact security who will request that you leave the premises. If you do not comply they will be entitled to further legal action under the Ontario Trespass to Property Act. I have cc’d senior Security Officers at the City of Mississauga on this and other incidents regarding inflammatory and false statements made by yourself.
The AGM prides itself on embracing diversity and inclusion as a core institutional value. We strive to create an accountable and inclusive space that supports like-minded individuals.
Part of what makes his live story so gripping is that he shaped himself into the world-historical figure he became, in the quintessentially American tradition of men who spring, as F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, from their own Platonic conception of themselves. But his self-conception was extraordinary: it began as a worthy ideal and evolved into a magnificent one. In his fiercely ambitious youth, he sought to win acclaim for his for his heroism and savoir faire. In his maturity, he strove to be, in his own conscience even more than in the eyes of others, virtuous, public-spirited, and (although his ethic wouldn't allow him to claim the word (noble). He did hope, however, that posterity would recognize and honor the purity of his motives; and Americans, who owe him so much, do him but justice in understanding not only what he did for them but also what greatness of soul he achieved to do it..
From: The Founding Fathers at Home (p. 94)
By: Myron Magnet
I'm not sure how the greeting goes, but I will just say: Happy Purim!This year, it is with a very different mood that Purim is celebrated, at least in Israel. It is not one where one wishes "Happy Purim" but rather where one waits for these terrible days to play themselves out.
Tomorrow night, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we'll read the Book of Esther. We'll read of a powerful Persian viceroy named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people some 2,500 years ago. But a courageous Jewish woman, Queen Esther, exposed the plot and gave for the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against their enemies.That is all he had to say to make his point, but he is in secular, even with some atheistic, company, and had to go on with a political message.
The plot was foiled. Our people were saved.
Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei spews the oldest hatred, the oldest hatred of anti-Semitism with the newest technology. He tweets that Israel must be annihilated -- he tweets. You know, in Iran, there isn't exactly free Internet. But he tweets in English that Israel must be destroyed.
For those who believe that Iran threatens the Jewish state, but not the Jewish people, listen to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, Iran's chief terrorist proxy. He said: If all the Jews gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of chasing them down around the world.
But Iran's regime is not merely a Jewish problem, any more than the Nazi regime was merely a Jewish problem. The 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis were but a fraction of the 60 million people killed in World War II. So, too, Iran's regime poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also the peace of the entire world. To understand just how dangerous Iran would be with nuclear weapons, we must fully understand the nature of the regime.
The Jewish holiday of Purim ended last week. It commemorates:Netanyahu came during that holiday, as fate (as God) would have it, and remind the world of another time when the formidable Persians controlled the fate of Jews. This contemporary Persians would not show any of the goodwill their ancestors granted Esther. Their annihilation of the Jews will be swift and merciless. Now, they have a new god, their Allah, who will sanction their behavour....the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire where a plot had been formed to destroy them...
Rembrandt's Esther
The Jewish holiday of Purim ended last week. It commemorates:...the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire where a plot had been formed to destroy them...Rembrandt painted a series of paintings depicting Esther. Below are what I think it is a complete list:
According to the Book of Esther, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus...planned to kill all the Jews in the empire, but his plans were foiled by Mordecai and his cousin and adopted daughter Esther who had risen to become Queen of Persia. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing [more here].
Haman and Ahasuerus at the banquet with Esther
Haman Prepares to Honour Mordecai
Haman Begging Esther for Mercy
Esther is Introduced to Ahasuerus
Esther before Ahasuerus
Esther with the Decree of Destruction
Esther Preparing to Intercede with Assuerus
More paintings of Esther by various artists can be found: here, here, here and here.
A special holiday cake called hamentashen is served for this holiday. I mention my first encounter with hamentashen in my post Kidist's Best of New York City (Best Hotel Bakery Item: The Hamentashen at the Plaza Hotel - apricot filling), which I discuss more here.
I'm not sure how the greeting goes, but I will just say: Happy Purim!
As the annual observance of African-American History Month comes to a close, it is worth noting one of the most compelling reasons why African-Americans, or blacks, should have their own nation in North America: Blacks view themselves as a separate nation — a nation with its own distinctive history, its own heroes, its own literature, its own folklore, its own popular culture.Here are her posts and the ensuing discussions:
There is no Irish-American History Month, Italian-American History Month or German-American History Month. There is no White History Month. The Irish, the Italians and the Germans are not clamoring for these observances. That’s because they do not view themselves as separate to the same extent. They are not a separate nation. Look at the uniformity with which blacks approach politics. Almost all blacks vote the same way. No group in America has such a strong collective identity.
James Lesesne Wells was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1902 and received BS and MS degrees from Columbia University, New York. He had a long career in printmaking, first participating in the Federal Arts Project, which encouraged the development of the art in the United States during the Great Depression, and then teaching at Howard University in Washington, DC, for almost four decades. Wells was active in the civil rights movement and often depicted the struggles of African-Americans in his work. African Nude, which Wells created late in life, reflects his printmaking skill, interest in traditional African aesthetics, and commitment to representing African-American history and experiences.And this about his African Nude:
The woman in African Nude, wearing only a large necklace, reclines on an overstuffed settee. Her alluring position is similar to the pose found in classic images of odalisques—female slaves in the Ottoman Empire whose identities became sexualized and popularized during the nineteenth century. Yet unlike the seductive odalisque seen in Western art, whose gaze challenges by staring directly at the viewer, the nude in Wells' work, with eyes downcast, appears unhappily submissive and ill at ease amidst the oversize lush plants and gala colors of the background. The viewer is thus left unsettled, as if unwelcome despite the outwardly inviting scene.I cannot leave this biography without commenting on the National Gallery of Art's description of African Nude.
derived from government, indicating its restricted use by government entities in the United States. The gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the United States federal government. [Source]As Laura wrote:
There is no Irish-American History Month, Italian-American History Month or German-American History Month. There is no White History Month. The Irish, the Italians and the Germans are not clamoring for these observances. That’s because they do not view themselves as separate to the same extent. They are not a separate nation. Look at the uniformity with which blacks approach politics. Almost all blacks vote the same way. No group in America has such a strong collective identity.And she asks:
Can Americans ever amicably come to the conclusion that blacks should have their own nation and make this happen in a peaceable way?It seems that blacks have already decided, no matter what everyone else thinks, or does. And I saw it in the simple suffix to the website African-American History Month, which is used for website's address andtitled, as though the whole of black American life is subsumed by that one month of "identity."
Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
...changed her career focus in 1997 from the corporate world to a full time commitment to painting. She is a graduate from York University’s Creative Arts program and has studied with Harold Klunder, Peter Kolisnyk, Brian Atyeo, John Leonard, David Hannan, and Steve Rose at the Neilson Park Creative Centre, Bridgewater Artist Retreat and at the Haliburton School of Fine Arts. She has participated in the "Artist in Residence Programme" with the Halton Region Conservation Authority at Crawford Lake, Halton, Ontario. Christine was accepted as a member to the Ontario Society of Artists in 2012.Here are the her teachers.
[...]
She is currently represented by Tracey Capes Fine Art, PI Fine Art and A.G.O. Art Rental & Sales in Toronto. [Source: Christine Proctor]
The Columbia Journalism Review called Leonard "our primary progressive, catholic [small "c"] literary critic."[10] Stylistically, he was, as CJR dubbed him, an "enthusiast,” known for his wit and wordplay, his liberal use of the semicolon and his impassioned examinations of authors and their works. He wrote definitive career essays on the work of writers ranging from Thomas Pynchon and Joan Didion to Eduardo Galeano, Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo, Mary Gordon, John Cheever, Toni Morrison and Richard Powers.[Source: Wikipedia]------------------------------
[David Hannan's] cinematography is featured in some of the world's most successful natural history feature films, television programs and series. These include the BBC's 'The Blue Planet', National Geographic 'The Shape of Life' and 'Great Migrations' series and David Suzuki's 'The Nature of Things'. [Source: Plankton]These are her teachers! Except for Brian Ateyo, who is really a second rate off-shoot of the Canadian Group of Seven (all Canadians put influences of the Group of Seven somewhere in their portfolio, so Proctor isn't doing anything unusual), and Hannan, which shows her "ecclectic" choices, it is clear where her careful method of primitive style came from, and how it was supported through the cultural critics of John Leonard.
I am a painter of abstract landscapes. My subjects are both conceived in my mind and connected to memories of places I have experienced. I translate images into simple shapes and bands of colour, eliminating details normally visible in nature. By doing this I hope to encourage viewers to fill in the details with their own mental imagery, and the atmosphere of their individual place. [More here]On the first page of her website, she writes:
I paint abstract landscapes, simplifying visual reality into fields of rich pure colour, transforming nature into a mysterious place for you, the viewer, to contemplate awhile. I invite you to fill in the details with your own individual experience: where the imagery, mood, and atmosphere of your personal place interacts with the colour and form of the artwork.This has been a clever cop-out of modern and modernist artists: to "encourage viewers to fill in the details with their own mental imagery..."
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
This is a modern illumination based upon an image by the 13th century English monk, Matthew Parris. He is the leading figure of the School of St Albans style of English medieval artClayton writes more here about The Pious Knight:
The Westminster Psalter, which was produced in the 13th century, has a picture of a pious knight kneeling before his king.More about David Clayton, and his painting style here and here.
[...]
As we were painting the picture of the knight, it occurred to me that to the 13th century reader of the psalter, this would have a picture of a contemporary figure. We must aim to make this style of its time in the same way. It is only when we can look at a similar contemporary figure painted in such holy styles and it seems natural that we will have truly established a Christian culture.
Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 rocked the civilized world and triggered World War II. A story not as widely known during the run-up to WWII concerns the Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand — who valiantly stood up to Hitler's war machine, starting in the 1920s. Hildebrand became one of Hitler’s biggest challengers and fought a different kind of war — one of argument, faith, and conscience. A panel discussion "Hildebrand Versus Hitler" will be held at Franciscan University of Steubenville on Wednesday, December 3. The event will take place in the Tony and Nina Gentile Gallery, J.C. Williams Center, at 6:00 p.m. Much of the discussion will center around the new book, My Battle Against Hitler: Faith, Truth, and Defiance in the Shadow of the Third Reich, which details Dietrich von Hildebrand’s journey, memoirs, and writings during his battle against the Nazis. Three Franciscan University professors will take part in the discussion: Dr. John F. Crosby, director of the MA Philosophy Program, and translator/editor of the book; Dr. Kimberly Georgedes, chair of the History Department; and Dr. Jonathan Sanford, assistant vice president of Academic Affairs. John Henry Crosby, director of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Project, who was the principal editor and translator of the volume, will deliver opening remarks.The full video is now online here.
And so, I would invite you as you read this text, to reflect as well on this paradox between the particularities of von Hildebrand's life and also the universal, timeless example that he presents to us, because I think there is so much to learn about how we approach those challenges in our own day and age.We would do well to heed Sanford's counsel to extend of Hildebrand's "universal, timeless example" into our own era.
What I find inspiring...is the moral example that von Hildebrand supplies. I think of that moral example in term of its exempalariness. It comes through with this word example, but an exemplar, a moral exemplar, has this particular role to play in moral reflection, and so when I look at von Hildebrand, the way he lived his life, and the way he reflects upon the way that he lives his life, I'm struck by the paradoxical relationship of the uniqueness and individuality of this remarkable man, who has this very particular history, very remarkable family, who went to school in the places he went to school, and so on and so forth. He has all of these particular circumstances that are unique, and individuality comes through in a number of those truly intriguing stories - about the five-year-old von Hildebrand professing his belief in the divinity of Christ, for instances.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But, he presents to us values that are universal in scope. So we find in him something that's imitatable, something that can be taken out of the particular circumstances of this man's autobiography and applied to our own life.
And so I wanted to reflect for a few moments on how that works. So thinking on the particulars of the challenges faced by von Hildebrand, and challenges that we too face in response to moral evil, there are it seems to me four general classifications of responses to moral evil. So we have, as the story emerges here, we have those Nazis who fully promoted the evil of National Socialism, embraced it, engaged in propagandic activities in order to perpetuate it. Some of them were murderers. And so on and so forth. We don't hesitate to recognize the grave evil of those promoters of moral evil.
But there are also are a lot of tag-alongs, who in many respects just wanted to be on the winning side. They are along for the ride. The Nazis are rising to power and they're there for the journey. They're hoping to be on the winning side and to come out on top. So they're just tagging along.
And then there's a rather large group of those who recoil in the face of moral evil, and yet remain silent. They keep a low profile. They do what they can to avoid engaging in any kind of open combat. And I would find it to be the case that many of us in this room might find ourselves in that category, were we similarly faced with moral evil.
Then finally we have those few warriors. And indeed von Hildebrand was a warrior. But as a warrior, one of the things he sought to do was to move people from these categories to those that are more appropriate. So the tag-alongs he tried to convict with at least the beginnings of a moral conscience. So they might movie into that territory of being recoilers. And he tried to make of those recoilers in the face of moral evil true warriors. And that's what he did in many respects with his philosophical works at the time and his work with the newspapers.
So what is it that fed this exemplarism of von Hildebrand such that he becomes a warrior in the face of moral evil? Well my colleagues have already remarked on several of those features. So we have his unique personality, the strong individuality of spirit. He's as non-conformist as a human being can be without becoming Diogenes, for instance. He still of course was a civilized human being. He didn't engage in the sort of dramatic anti-conformist activities that we sometimes associate with Diogenes, of you don't know about Diogenes the Cynic, I wont regale you with any stories right now. But look him up, OK!
So even though he conformed to many of the conventionalities of how to conduct oneself in a civilized fashion, he never gave his heart over to the evils of his age, or positions that he didn't fully embrace. So even as a child he was somehow resistant to the infection of ideas that he was not convinced ought to be his own. And it would be tempting for us to say well he's just sort of a one-of-a-kind sort of person, sui generis, who was able to be a moral warrior because of his unique gift. But, I think that gets us off the hook. And it also points to a kind of psychological reductionism here in the way that we're thinking about him. As though all that makes a person tick is the set of individual talents that they have. And I don't think we should get off the hook here.
So the end of my story here is that we all ought to be warriors like von Hildebrand.
The other feature that's been remarked upon a little bit here is the way in which the moral witness plays a major role in the way that he thinks. And here, I think he's guided by his approach to philosophy in many significant ways. And it's not just a phenomenological approach to philosophy that makes the critical difference here. But in fact, an approach to philosophy that puts moral experience front and center. And this is something that he shares with Max Scheler as well.
But one can think of other phenomenologists who did not put moral experience front and center. In many respects Husserl did not have that kind of engagement with making sense of the world of value. Certainly Heidegger does not. So I spent a good bit of time in my youth working through the pages of Heidegger, and it was in that critical period that I'd mentioned before when I encountered von Hildebrand, and I found myself disaffected by my reflections about Heidegger. As excited as I was about many of his approaches to metaphysical questions, one could not find room for making sense of the human being as a fundamentally moral being. One who's engaged in the world of good and evil, who is faced with fundamental choices between good and evil. And in Heidegger, the closest you get, at least in his early period, are notions of authenticity, which need to be worked up into the beginnings of a moral theory. But you don't have a fundamental engagement with the human being as a moral being. "Dasein" doesn't have that facet of his nature plumed in the metaphysical reflections of Heidegger. Whereas for von Hildebrand, it's there, it's front and center, and I think it needs to be front and center because that is what we fundamentally are. We are beings in possession of free will who from the outset of our existence are confronted with choices of profound moral import.
And finally, this has been remarked upon at more length so I wont dwell too long, we have the religious experience of von Hildebrand, and particularly as John Henry was saying, the role of his conversion to Catholicism as the fundamental life-changing moment of his life. And I would agree with that assessment based upon the comments we find here in this book. And for von Hildebrand, the fact of being a Catholic is not a confessional matter. It's profoundly and totally transforming. So to be a Catholic is to be transformed in Christ, is to be Christophied, is to live every facet of your life as a follower of the way, the truth and the life of Jesus Christ. So this resonates in significant ways with the way he approaches philosophy as a way of life, but supersedes it in other significant ways and his philosophical approaches are taken up into his Christianity in ways that are remarkable in so far as they direct him in the kind of choices that he makes, and allow him, enable him, enable him, to be the warrior, that he was.
So we have then these three components, that I think are all imitatable in our own unique ways. We all have our own distinctive set of talents, we all can embrace a philosophical approach that puts the moral experience of the human being front and center, and we can all live our faith in a way that goes far beyond a mere confession of beliefs but is striving to be fully transformed in Christ.
And so we find in von Hildebrand both the moral courage to make the sort of choices that he makes (and you can learn about those when you read his book) as well as to wrestle with a significant, profound, deep sense of responsibility. It was not enough for him to think rightly, it wasn't enough for him just to act rightly in his profession, he needed to commit himself totally to bearing the burden of responsibility to bring as many people into the proper recognition of the moral evil that faced them at this time, and to convert them into warriors like himself.
And so, I would invite you as you read this text, to reflect as well on this paradox between the particularities of von Hildebrand's life and also the universal, timeless example that he presents to us, because I think there is so much to learn about how we approach those challenges in our own day and age.
Education:And from his Linked In page:
- Academy of Realist Art, Toronto, Ontario
- BFA Illustration School of Visual Arts, New York, New York
Experience:
- Academy of Realist Art, Toronto, Ontario
- Freelance Illustration Commissions
- Freelance Landscape Commissions
- Currently working on two commissioned portraits of
His Eminence Cardinal Justin Rigali Archbishop of Philadelphia
Exhibitions:
- Finalist for the Art Renewal Center’s 2006 Annual Juried Saloon Competition
- Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society at the Fine Art and Framing Gallery in Hartford, CT
- Mamaroneck Artists’ Guild Annual Small Works Show in Larchmont, NY
- Represented by the Mary Anderson Fine Art Gallery located on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia
- Finalist for the 2011 Portrait Society of American Competition
Fine Artist: oil painterAnd his CV:
Fine Artist and Portraitist
April 2008 – Present (6 years 8 months)
Fine Artist trained in traditional oil painting technique working within the genres of portraiture, landscape, still-life and religious figurative works.
Spent 7 months of 2010 painting in Europe and completing 6 commissioned portraits and teaching two workshops in Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
Currently commissioned to paint portrait of His Eminence Cardinal J. Rigali of Philadelphia
Currently working on new portrait commission of His Eminence Cardinal Edwin F. O'Brien, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Knights in Jerusalem.
Recently returned from traveling for three months throughout Ireland painting plen air landscapes as well as teaching 5 workshops in Portrait and Figure Painting in Dublin, Ireland.
Recently completed commissioned portrait of His Eminence Cardinal Edwin F. O'Brien, Current Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, now hanging in Vatican City.
William A. Nathans, Painter
b. 1981
Education:
- School of Visual Arts, BFA, 1999- 2003
- Academy of Realist Art Atelier, 2003-2006
Travelled throughout Europe, Great Britain and Ireland copying and studying Old Master works in museums
Commissions of Note: 2007-Present
- Invited to work in Zurich, Switzerland producing 11 portraits and several landscape paintings for private collections
- Commissioned to paint three Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, one of which hangs in Vatican City
- Currently Commissioned to paint His Eminence Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, Archbishop of Vienna, Austria and President of the Austrian Bishops' Conference
- Continue to work on private commissions globally
Teaching: 2008-Present
- Instructor at the Silvermine Guild of Art teaching Life Painting and Life Drawing
- Instructor of several workshops in Dublin, Ireland from 2010 to present teaching Life Painting and Drawing
Awards and Honors
- Finalist in the 2011 Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition held in Atlanta, GA
Additional Awards (Linked In page)
- Finalist with portrait "Sean" in the 2011 Portrait Society of America Competition.
- 2nd Place in Commissioned Portrait cat, for the Portrait Society of America Members Competition 2011
- 2nd place, CT Society of Portrait Artists "Faces of Spring" 08 "the Mackem and Tackem"
- Finalist, ARC 06 International Salon Show
Commissioned by His Eminence John Cardinal Foley to paint portrait hanging in Vatican City
And more on his training at the Acadamy of Realist Art, to study i the Classical Realist tradition. From the ARA website:Will Nathans is a professional artist and instructor in the Classical Realist tradition who came to ARA after attaining a degree in Fine Arts. His vision was to refine his technical abilities and explore his passion for portraits and religious painting. After completing his studies at ARA, Will was selected over a number of international competitors to execute a commissioned portrait of His Eminence John Cardinal Foley in Rome.
NEW YORK CITY becomes more and more congenial to Islam by the day. The Police Department recently announced that it will disband a surveillance unit that sent undercover detectives into Muslim neighborhoods for the purpose of identifying potential terrorists. The program, started in the wake of 9-11, was dropped in response to civil rights complaints, including civil rights complaints by Muslims.It is not enough to "observe" Good Friday this Easter, nor to optimistically wish each other Happy Easter on Sunday. Our calling now is bigger than words and songs. We have our enemies to ward off. We have to prepare for this.
And, Bill de Blasio continues to pledge to put Muslims holidays on the school calendar. According to one estimate, ten percent of New York public school students are Muslim
