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HTML
is on the Way
In keeping with the practice of many e-mail newsletters these days,
ImageUpdate will soon be switching to HTML format. That is because
most people these days have systems that allow them to read HTML in their
e-mail programs. For those of you who don't have that capability, a link
at the top of ImageUpdate will direct you to the web version of
the newsletter, allowing you to read it through your browser.
 Survival
or Prophecy?
The Letters of Thomas Merton and Jean Leclercq
Is it possible to get too much of Thomas Merton? Certainly, since his
death almost 35 years ago, there has been a continuous uncovering and
publishing of journals, correspondence, and just about anything else that
came from his pen. When the vaults are finally emptied (who knows when?)
some of Merton's works may eventually prove more or less vital than others.
However, each opportunity we have to glimpse again into the world of this
wise and worldly/unworldly Trappist monk is an opportunity to see the
world with a freshness and awe that only God could inspire. Survival
or Prophecy? is a collection of the correspondence between Merton
and French Benedictine monk Jean Leclercq. Their discussion centers around
the meaning of the monk's life in the modern world, what the monk has
to offer to the world outside the monastery, and other pressing issues
they both faced. One sees an intimate and personal side to both writers
as they correspond for the better part of two decades. This revealing
correspondence is a rare treat for any Merton devotee, as there have been
few opportunities to witness Merton's correspondence with a peer. Recommended
for all readers of Thomas Merton, or anyone interested in the broader
implications of monasticism in modern times.
Read more
from the publisher.
 Sixpence
None the Richer—Divine Discontent
Sixpence None the Richer became a household name in the summer of 1999
when their song "Kiss Me" became a mainstream radio hit, and
many assumed the band was an overnight success. "Kiss Me," in
fact, came from the band's fourth release, and the band has been together
for twelve years. Their latest release, Divine Discontent, was
produced by Paul Fox (10,000 Maniacs, XTC), and confirms Sixpence as the
leaders in intelligently wrought, beautifully accessible pop music. The
band's chief songwriter, guitarist and cellist Matt Slocum, has drawn
on a wide variety of influences and allusions throughout the band's career,
including C.S. Lewis, the psalmist, Walt Whitman, Rainier Maria Rilke,
W.H. Auden, and Pablo Neruda, but Divine Discontent finds him coming
into his own as a lyricist.
Divine Discontent deals with a concept that Slocum calls "positive
dis-ease… a fascination with the fact that God would strike you down,
and then raise you back up." "Still Burning" finds the
artist coming to terms with pain as refining fire: "the hand that
is breaking/is the hand that is making all the dead things in me grow."
Vocalist Leigh Nash breathes life into Slocum's poetic lyrics, whether
in the lilting, psalm-like "Melody of You" or "Paralyzed,"
a dark meditation on the costs of war. Listeners who are only familiar
with Sixpence None the Richer's pop singles should be pleasantly shocked
by the musical and emotional depth of this release. The wait between Sixpence's
self-titled release and Divine Discontent was five years, but the
group has matured considerably, adding a keyboardist and string arrangements
from collaborators including the legendary Van Dyke Parks (noted for his
work with the Beach Boys).
The album can be heard in its entirety at the Sixpence's
website.
CIVA
Conference
Images of the Body: Sacred, Personal, and Public
We thought we'd post a reminder about the CIVA Conference, which happens
just once every two years. Images of the Body: Sacred, Personal, and
Public will take place June 26-29 at Gordon College in Wenham, MA.
The theme draws from the western tradition of body representation-a topic
that recent artists and scholars have revisited and critiqued. For more
than twenty years, contemporary artists have been referencing the body
as a battlefield of political and social consciousness. Many important
artists have given us raw images of the body that would seem to lay the
axe to received traditions of the "body-beautiful." Is there
a shared vision of human beauty and significance any longer? Moreover,
in these times is there a distinctive Christian witness to be borne with
regard to representing the body? Are there alternatives to the polarities
of prettiness (nineteenth century European academic realism) and the deadpan,
raw representations of the human visage often seen in the modernist era?
Is there a "third way"? These and other questions will be addressed
at the CIVA 2003 Conference.
For information on registration and exhibition entry, please contact Rosemary
Scott-Fishburn at Christians in the Visual Arts or go to the CIVA
website.
 The
Lords of Misrule
X. J Kennedy
Acclaimed poet X. J Kennedy (who we've had the honor of publishing in
Image) carves a wide swath through a litany of topics in his new
book, The Lords of Misrule. In these often tight and startling
poems, Kennedy's humorous and metrical verse takes up topics ranging from
the death of Allen Ginsberg, to odd historical artifacts, to September
eleventh. The language Kennedy embraces is never harsh, and always inclusive.
Mixing slang with the strangely everyday into these poems, Kennedy makes
clean the lens through which we view the world, and we see more thanks
to his effort. There is as much gentleness as wisdom in these poems. The
simple and generous space of the poems in The Lords of Misrule
will comfort and lighten each of its readers.
Find
it at the publisher's website.
 Continuing
Art Exhibits
Tobi Kahn, Sky & Water
Tobi Kahn's Sky &
Water exhibition will be on display May 4 - August 24, 2003 at the Neuberger
Museum of Art at Purchase College in New York. An acclaimed painter and
sculptor, Tobi Kahn was featured as Image artist of the month last October.
His work is on display in museums around the country, including the Guggenheim
museum in New York City. Sky & Water is a meditative collection that
includes some 85 paintings. They will, no doubt, create a serene space
for visitors to this exhibition—a place to encounter, paradoxically,
inevitable moments of disturbance and turmoil within the serenity. Read
a review
on this exhibit by Donald Kuspit. For driving directions and hours, visit
the museum website. For more on
Tobi Kahn, see his page
on the Image site.
Holy Russia:
Icons from the Collection of Francesco Bigazzi
This exhibition will
display late 19th and early 20th century Russian icons from a collection
based in Italy. Holy Russia represents the shifting styles of Russian
iconography during the turn of the century, existing as a blend of ancient
spiritual tradition and new style in iconography. View the collection
at the American Bible Society Gallery in New York City from May 16-September
6, 2003. For more information, see the gallery
website.
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