News Release

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Divine sculpture from South Asia
to make up Ackland exhibition

CHAPEL HILL - From graceful dancers to sword-wielding celestial women, from the creative power of Shiva to the compassion of the Buddha, representations of divinity will be on display Jan. 21-March 25 at the Ackland Art Museum.

Twenty-four Buddhist, Jain and Hindu sculptures and architectural fragments will make up the exhibition "Fashioning the Divine: South Asian Sculpture" at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill museum.

"For thousands of years, artisans have created objects to assist believers in their quest for the divine," said Carolyn Wood of the Ackland, who curated the exhibition with Pika Ghosh, an associate professor of art history at UNC. "'Fashioning the Divine' features such objects of beauty and intricacy, as well as religious and cultural significance."

Images of the Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna and other gods and goddesses are displayed with supplemental materials designed to engage visitors of all ages. An exhibition brochure and materials designed especially for families and youth provide additional information.

The artworks were created on the Indian subcontinent during the second through 11th centuries as part of elaborate architectural contexts in what are now Afghanistan, Burma, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

More than seven years in the planning, "Fashioning the Divine" will be the first comprehensive exhibition of such pieces from the museum's own collection. Many of them have never before been displayed in the Ackland.

The exhibition catalog includes contemporary photographs of ritual celebrations and temple activities that demonstrate the ongoing power of these religious traditions and the communities that support them.

Also included are descriptions written by Asian art scholars Ghosh; Janice Leoshko of the University of Texas at Austin; Darielle Mason, the Stella Kramrisch Curator of Indian and Himalayan Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Padma Kaimal of Colgate University; and art history graduate students at UNC.

For more information, visit http://www.ackland.org/art/exhibitions/fashioning_the_divine/

The exhibition, catalogue, interpretive materials and programming are made possible by the federal agencies National Endowment for the Arts and Institute of Museum and Library Services; the Palm Beach/America's Fine Art and Antique Fair's Museum Publication Grant Program; the J. Charles Morrow III Ackland Endowment Fund and the William Hayes Ackland Trust.

The Ackland is on South Columbia Street near Franklin Street. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. The museum is open until 9 p.m. on the second Friday of every month. Admission is free. For more information, call (919) 843-1611 (recorded information), (919) 966-5736 (museum office), (919) 962-0837 (TTY) or visit www.ackland.org. For program details call (919) 843-3676.

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Programs for "Fashioning the Divine: South Asian Sculpture," free and open to the public at the Ackland Art Museum:

Jan. 21, 1-3 p.m., Exhibition opening reception and book signing: Exhibition curators Carolyn Wood of the Ackland and Pika Ghosh, UNC associate professor of art history, will sign copies of the exhibition catalog "Fashioning the Divine: South Asian Sculpture at the Ackland Art Museum."

Feb. 2, 11a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Symposium: Exhibition co-curator Pika Ghosh, UNC associate professor of art history, will moderate discussion by four guest scholars of South Asian art, architecture, and religion: Michael W. Meister, University of Pennsylvania; John Cort, Denison University; Leslie Orr, Concordia University; and Leela Prasad, Duke University. A reception will follow from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Feb. 2, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Dance: Pallabi Chakravorty, a faculty member in the music and dance department of Swarthmore College (http://www.pallabi.com/) will perform.

Feb, 24, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., "Experience India: A Community Day": Stories, music, art making and more, with activities for all ages.

Jan. 17, Feb. 28, March 21, 7-8:30 p.m. Ackland Book Group: Book discussions linked to "Fashioning the Divine," facilitated by Leslie Balkany, Ackland museum educator, and UNC faculty members.

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Image URLs: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/ackland/press-buddha.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/ackland/press-yakshi.jpg

Ackland contact: Maria Bleier, (919) 843-3675, maria_bleier@unc.edu
News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589