| While religious art brings to mind traditional images of the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ, the wide variety of works currently on display at the University of Tennessee’s Ewing Gallery and UT Downtown Gallery is proof that, in the world of sacred artistic expression, anything goes. "Thresholds: Expressions of Art and Spiritual Life" is the brainchild of independent cultural critic and curator Eleanor Heartney. Heartney, from New York, proposed the exhibition in order to examine the growing tendency of artists to draw inspiration from their spiritual inclinations and religious backgrounds. The traveling exhibition features art depicting aspects of religion from a wide variety of viewpoints, including Catholicism, Judaism, Pentecostalism, Buddhism, Evangelical Christianity, pantheism, Santeria, and Vodun. |  |
Thresholds at UT – Melissa Harris
While religious art brings to mind traditional images of the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ, the wide variety of works currently on display at the University of Tennessee’s Ewing Gallery and UT Downtown Gallery is proof that, in the world of sacred artistic expression, anything goes.
"Thresholds: Expressions of Art and Spiritual Life" is the brainchild of independent cultural critic and curator Eleanor Heartney. Heartney, from New York, proposed the exhibition in order to examine the growing tendency of artists to draw inspiration from their spiritual inclinations and religious backgrounds.
The traveling exhibition features art depicting aspects of religion from a wide variety of viewpoints, including Catholicism, Judaism, Pentecostalism, Buddhism, Evangelical Christianity, pantheism, Santeria, and Vodun. The twist? Each of the 54 artists whose work is featured hails from one of five Southern states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee. Two Knoxville artists, Joyce Gralak and Gary Monroe, have pieces on display in the Downtown Gallery portion of the exhibition.
Heartney explains; "’Thresholds,’ the word which appears at the title of this exhibition, is meant to conjure the picture of a figure poised between two realms.” These realms are many. The artists here meditate on the boundaries between heaven and earth, body and soul, matter and spirit, human and divine, living and dead."
"The art is powerful," said Lee Marchalonis, who helped prepare the exhibit for the Ewing Gallery. "Some religions believe that their way is the only way and, by having so many beliefs and ideas represented here, it is a celebration of respect and understanding. Each artist had such strong feelings about the message they wanted to send, and you can see that in their work."
"Thresholds" features works not only from a variety of beliefs, but also a wide range of media. Local artist Gralak’s Will Rover or Rob Go to Heaven? is constructed of photocopies, candle wax, found objects, acrylic and paper, all placed on a plywood board. Gralak says of her work, "My spiritual leanings over the years have moved from God as an entity we humans relate to, separate from us mortals, towards a more all-encompassing view of God as spirit or energy—an energy that ties all life forms, the earth and the universe, together as one." Gralak, who was raised Catholic, uses art as a way to deal with conflicting issues of spirituality.
The large drawings of Monroe deal with revered rituals sometimes found in Appalachian Pentecostal churches, such as snake handling, speaking in tongues, laying hands on the sick and exorcism. Snake handling is considered a test of faith by those who practice it, and Monroe uses both this ritual and other biblical and mythical references to serpents within his drawings.
Of his chalk and charcoal drawing "The Ecstasy of Saint Columbia Gay Hollins of Jolo," Monroe explained, "An initial impression upon viewing is the realist documentation of the folk history of Southern Appalachia. Upon reflection, however, the viewer discovers the interwoven influence that serpents and snakes have played throughout the course of both Christianity and art history."
