Mahashivratri: A march of faith

THE TIMES OF INDIA
March 1, 2011

INDIA--Amid the beating of drums and blowing of conch shells, the city got drenched in religious fervour as it shared the joy of participating in Mahashivratri rath yatra on Tuesday. Mahashivratri is one of the biggest festivals, a day they celebrate with enthusiasm and love. Residents participant in the rath yatra to seek Lord Shiva's blessings. To many devotees, the festival is a time for the family to come together and pray. [link]

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Art exhibition focuses on Liverpool Cathedral interior

BBC NEWS
March 2, 2011

Cathedral Spaces Series by Colin Taylor

UNITED KINGDOM--The giant spaces inside the UK's largest cathedral are the inspiration for a new art exhibition. Cathedral Space is a series of drawings by artist Colin Taylor of the interior of Liverpool Cathedral. It is the latest commission for Liverpool Cathedral's Art in the Cathedral project. Taylor spent 15 months working on the project creating drawings in charcoal, graphite and cast iron powder which will be displayed in locations throughout the cathedral. The exhibition is open from 7 March to 26 April and entrance is free. [link]

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Death of the Blog

Pew Research Center found that from 2006 to 2009, blogging among children ages 12 to 17 fell by half; now 14 percent of children those ages who use the Internet have blogs. Among 18-to-33-year-olds, the project said in a report last year, blogging dropped two percentage points in 2010 from two years earlier.

In any case, he said bloggers often use Facebook and Twitter to promote their blog posts to a wider audience. Rather than being competitors, he said, they are complementary.

“There is a lot of fragmentation,” Mr. Schneider said. “But at this point, anyone who is taking blogging seriously — they’re using several mediums to get a large amount of their traffic.”

While the younger generation is losing interest in blogging, people approaching middle age and older are sticking with it. Among 34-to-45-year-olds who use the Internet, the percentage who blog increased six points, to 16 percent, in 2010 from two years earlier, the Pew survey found. Blogging by 46-to-55-year-olds increased five percentage points, to 11 percent, while blogging among 65-to-73-year-olds rose two percentage points, to 8 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/technology/internet/21blog.html?_r=1&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

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Rebuilding a Buddha

NYT: ARTSBEAT BLOG
February 28, 2011

AFGHANISTAN--German scientists said on Friday that it might be possible to reconstruct the smaller of the two Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed in Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2001. [link]

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David Beckham's new Jesus Tattoo in news

CNN MARQUEE BLOG
February 28, 2011

"Jesus and 3 Cherubs"
by Mark Mahoney for David Beckham

CALIFORNIA--Soccer star David Beckham has a heavenly new tattoo: an image of Jesus on his chest. Beckham unveiled his three-month-old ink — courtesy of L.A. tattoo artist Mark Mahoney — on his Facebook page Saturday, with a video message explaining the meaning behind his body art. "It’s Jesus being carried by three cherubs and obviously the cherubs are boys," he says, referring to sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz. [link]

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Vatican Museums offer Hands-ON approach to art

CATHOLIC NEWS
March 1, 2011

ROME--The Vatican Museums have launched special tours for the deaf and blind. The two-hour tours are free to the hearing- and visually impaired and seek to offer a multi-sensory experience of some of the Museums' most famous works. The initiative also marks the first opportunity for the deaf in Italy to receive training and work in a museum as an experienced guide rather than solely as an interpreter, said speakers at a news conference March 1. [link]

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Matthew Collings Talk at Bath Literary Festival 2011

THE BATH CHRONICLE
March 1, 2011

UNITED KINGDOM--Artist, art historian, TV presenter and writer, Matthew Collings had come to the Bath Literary Festival to give two talks including one being on the Bible in Art. He is the well known as announcer of the Turner Prize winners on TV, talk convincingly on his perception of the principles that lie behind this concept. The fact that he is himself an artist gave relevant authority to his explanation that as a painter he had explored these principles in order to understand why he creates art and how it can be made better. Travelling through the ages from the earliest cave drawings to what Collings called the contemporary bric-a-, he gave examples of the ten principles he believes bring perspective and order to art – and thus beauty. His list included illustrations of the concepts of simplicity, spontaneity, animation and pattern and ranged from the spectacular road bridge at Millau in southern France to Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel. The Bath Literature Festival 2011 continues until Sunday 6th March.. [link]

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