Jan. 13, 2015
As part of a unique partnership, Catholic University is providing programming support for Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea - a landmark exhibit featuring more than 60 paintings, sculptures, and textiles by many of the best-known Renaissance and Baroque artists. The exhibit is on view until April 12, 2015, at Washington, D.C.'s National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA).
The first of this programming kicks off this week with the School of Theology and Religious Studies Lecture Series. Faculty from the school will explore themes of the exhibit. All lectures take place at noon at NMWA and are free with admission to the museum. (Note: All members of the University community are admitted free to the museum with a valid CUA ID.)
• Friday, Jan. 16 Rev. Stefanos Alexopoulos, assistant professor of liturgical studies/sacramental theology, presents "Mary as Woman, Mother, and Idea in the Byzantine Tradition."
• Friday, Feb. 20 Robin Darling Young, associate professor of spirituality, presents " 'She guarded all these words in her heart': Mary's Knowledge According to the Early Syrian Tradition, from Ephrem to Romanos."
• Friday, March 13 Ian Boxall, associate professor of New Testament, presents "Out of the Shadows: Mary in the New Testament and Beyond."
"The University's partnership is such a natural fit," says Nora Heimann, chair of CUA's Department of Art and associate professor of art history.
"Students and faculty from across our campus - theologians, art historians, actors and playwrights, musicologists, historians, and scholars of literature - are all excited to explore the enduring relevance of Mary's inspiration, while at the same time seeking to enhance understanding of the historic works in this show. We are eager to approach this venerable subject, which spans two millennia, in a very new and fresh way," she says.
On March 20 and 21 the University will host a graduate student conference titled Picturing Mary: Woman, Mother, Idea. The first day of the conference will be held at NMWA and will feature a keynote address by renowned medieval historian Miri Rubin, professor of medieval and early modern history at the University of London. Rubin is the author of Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary, among other publications. The second day will be held at CUA. Conference panel discussions include "Mary in Contested Space," "Marian Liturgy and Music," and "Mary in the New World."
For more information on CUA's programming, visit honoringmary.cua.edu. NMWA is located at 1250 New York Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.