News Release

Note: This is a sidebar to release No. 370 at http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug04/ackland080404.html

Artists’ talks, performances, more to accompany Ackland exhibition

CHAPEL HILL – Talks with artists, narrated gallery tours and performances will accompany the exhibition "Five Artists · Five Faiths: Spirituality in Contemporary Art," to be displayed Aug. 15 through Jan. 16 at the Ackland Art Museum. All events, listed below, will be open to the public at the museum, an academic unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All except the performances will be free for the public; performances will be free for Ackland members. The Ackland is on South Columbia Street near Franklin Street.

Sept. 26: Opening Reception, 2-5 p.m.; Gallery Talk 4-5 p.m. by exhibition artist Ahmed Moustafa.

Oct. 20: Gallery Talk, 12:15 p.m. by Dr. Barbara Matilsky, curator of exhibitions at the Ackland.

Oct. 24: Artist Lecture, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.; conversations, 3-4 p.m. Exhibition artist Helène Aylon will discuss her work "The Liberation of G-d."* Afterward, the artist and area rabbis will reflect on this work.

Nov. 3: Gallery Talk, 12:15 p.m. by Ackland Director Dr. Jerry Bolas.

Performances: Thursday Evenings at the Ackland

Music, dance and narrative presentations by university and area performers, designed to illuminate the artistic expressions of spirituality in the exhibition, will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Sept. 23, Oct. 28, Nov. 18 and Dec. 9.

Each performance will last about one hour. A reception will follow the final performance on Dec. 9. Series tickets are $25, $15 for students. Individual performances will cost $8, $5 for students. Admission will be free for Ackland members. Space is limited; advance registration required. To register or request more information, call 919-843-3676.

Sept. 23: "Songs from Islam." A choral ensemble led by Mustapha Shoukee will perform and interpret four songs from the "Diwan," a devotional piece by Shaykh Muhammad Ibn al-Habib, a Qur’anic scholar and composer.

Oct. 28, Hindu Dance. The dancers of Sangam, UNC’s South Asian Awareness Organization, will perform a work specially choreographed for the Ackland and this exhibition.

Nov. 18, Jewish and Buddhist Narratives. Storyteller Louise Omoto Kessel and fellow members of the World Religions Storytelling Project will share tales from the Jewish and Buddhist traditions.

Dec. 9, Christian Choral Music. Members of the UNC music department perform carols and spirituals, with a reception afterward.

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*Note: The first reference to "G-d" is in the title of a work of art. The second reflects a convention in orthodox Judaism for writing the
name of God.

For downloadable images and more about the exhibition, visit: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug04/ackland080404.html

Ackland contact: Maria Gloeggler, 919-843-3675, maria_gloeggler@unc.edu

News Services contacts: Print: L.J. Toler, 919-962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, 919-962-8595