Posted by vrcvanderbilt on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 in Events, Fine Arts Gallery, HART, News, Student/Alumni, VRC.

History of Art majors and minors and their families and friends are invited to attend the department’s reception and awards ceremony for our graduating seniors on Thursday, May 10, from 2 to 4 pm. The event will be held in the atrium of Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody campus, and awards will be presented at 2:30 pm.

Graduates and their families are invited to view the current exhibit in the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery near the atrium from noon to 4:00 pm. Portraits of leaders in the arts, painted by one of their own, are the focus of the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery whose latest exhibit, America Creative: Portraits by Everett Raymond Kinstler, showcases the storytelling skill of the country’s foremost living portraitist and celebrates a generation of creativity. Everett Raymond Kinstler, now 91 years old and often compared to John Singer Sargent, is America’s foremost portrait painter. In his career, he has rendered portraits of more than 2,000 individuals—leaders in almost every professional field, including eight United States presidents.

On view in the Fine Arts Gallery now through July 14, the exhibition is the third in a three-part series on portraiture organized by the Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Joseph Mella, director, and Margaret Walker, assistant curator, with special thanks to the artist, Peggy Kinstler, and Michael Shane Neal. At the close of the exhibition, this special grouping of thirty-one portraits will leave Vanderbilt to travel to other venues.

In the west atrium of Cohen Hall is a second exhibition entitled Syriac: Preserving an Endangered World Culture. For nearly two thousand years, Christians across the Middle East and Asia have shared a common heritage through Syriac language and culture. Many of these communities face the threat of extinction today. In response,  this exhibit showcases the enduring presence of Syriac culture around the globe.

The exhibit features historical reproductions as well as items from the family collection of Rev. Dr. P.K. Geevarghese, priest of the first Indian Orthodox parish in Tennessee. The exhibit is curated by Charlotte Lew (Divinity Library), Stephanie Fulbright (MTS’17), Julia Liden (MTS’18), and David Michelson (assistant professor, Divinity School and Classical and Mediterranean Studies, with assistance from the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery.

The gallery will be open on Commencement Day (Friday, May 11) from noon to 4 pm, and Saturday, May 12, from 1 to 5 pm. Gallery hours for the summer (now through August) are Tuesday-Friday, noon to 4 pm; and Saturday, 1-5 pm. The gallery will be closed on Sundays and Mondays during the summer.

*(above) Atrium of Cohen Memorial Hall, courtesy Vanderbilt University; (middle) Everett Raymond Kinstler (b. 1926). Christopher Plummer as Prospero, 2011, oil on canvas, collection of the artist; and (below) St. Thomas Cross, traditional East Syriac design. Kerala, India. 2006. Photograph by Henry Shipman.