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MIANational Exhibition Tour of The Saint John's Bible, the First
Handwritten Bible in 500 Years, Premieres at The Minneapolis Institute
of Arts
21st Century Bible Uses a Medieval Tradition to Interpret Scripture from
a Contemporary Perspective
"America's Book of Kells" -- Newseek
For Immediate Release: January 13, 2005
Contacts: Lynette Nyman, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, (612) 870–3173
Dana Larson, Ruder Finn A&CC, (212) 593–6448
Minneapolis, January 10, 2005—The Minneapolis Institute of Arts announces
the premiere of a national touring exhibition of The Saint John’s Bible.
“Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s Bible” presents the only
handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned since the advent of the
printing press more than 500 years ago. The Saint John’s Bible, a richly
ornamented masterwork hand-illustrated with gold leaf on oversized vellum,
is an unprecedented undertaking in contemporary book arts and a major
cultural and interfaith endeavor. Organized by The Minneapolis Institute of
Arts and Saint John’s University, “Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s
Bible” will be on view in Minneapolis from April 10 through July 3, 2005.
This exhibition and its national tour are made possible by Target. After
its Minneapolis premiere, “Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s Bible”
will travel to the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, where it will be on
display from January 21, 2006 through April 15, 2006. Additional national
venues are under consideration and will be announced in the coming months.
Commissioned by Saint John’s Abbey and Saint John’s University in
Collegeville, Minnesota, The Saint John’s Bible is a contemporary work
created in the tradition of handwritten medieval manuscripts. The artistic
director of the project, Donald Jackson, is one of the world’s foremost
calligraphers and scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown Office at
the House of Lords. During the past four years, Jackson has worked in rural
Wales, United Kingdom, with scribes and artists to write and illuminate The
Saint John’s Bible entirely by hand, using quills and paints hand-ground
from precious minerals and stones such as lapis lazuli, vermilion,
malachite, silver, copper, and 24-karat gold.
“Illuminating the Word” features pages from the first three completed
volumes of The Saint John’s Bible: Pentateuch (the first five books of
Jewish and Christian scripture), Gospels and Acts, and Psalms. Among the
pages on view are The Seven Days of Creation, Genesis, The Garden of Eden,
Jacob’s Ladder, The Ten Commandments, The Parable of the Loaves and Fishes,
The Sermon on the Mount, The Parable of the Sower and the Seed, The Birth of
Christ, Dinner at the Pharisee’s House, The Woman Accused of Adultery, The
Raising of Lazarus, The Death of Moses, The Crucifixion, the frontispieces
for the four Gospels, and images of flora and fauna indigenous to Minnesota.
Original artist sketches are on view, as is a worktable from the scriptorium
displaying materials such as quills, hand-ground pigments, gold leaf,
calfskin vellum, and ancient inks from China. The exhibition also includes
examples of sacred texts from non-Christian religions and artwork from the
special collections of Saint John’s University.
“The Saint John’s Bible is a magnificent work of art. It is at once an
authentic revival of medieval craftsmanship and a masterpiece of
calligraphy, as well as a showcase for contemporary illuminations that
interpret a timeless sacred text,” said Jane Satkowski, the exhibition’s
curator.
Theologians from Saint John’s Abbey and University and the College of
Saint Benedict, together with consultants from other faiths, have worked
with Jackson, providing theological briefs that direct the interpretation of
scripture in the illustrations. Based on these briefs, Jackson and his team
of scribes and artists have created illuminations reflecting a multicultural
world and humanity’s enormous strides in science, technology, and space
travel. Because the project is an interfaith undertaking, Jackson has
incorporated imagery from Eastern and Western religious traditions, as well
as influences from Native American cultures.
For example, an illumination in Gospels and Acts depicts the Earth as
seen from space, a contemporary interpretation of our place in the universe.
Illuminations throughout Psalms show artistic renderings of digital voice
prints of Saint John’s monks chanting the Psalms—intersected with digital
voice prints of calls to prayer in Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Sufi, and
Native American religious traditions.
“Illuminated manuscripts have always marked the time and place in which
they were created, and The Saint John’s Bible will reflect our world at the
beginning of the twenty-first century for future generations,” said Brother
Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, president of Saint John’s University. “Today,
through partnerships with museums and educational outreach, we hope to touch
people of all cultures and creeds with the spirit and beauty of this book.”
The Saint John’s Bible, consisting of 1,150 pages in seven volumes, will
be completed in 2007. Then it will be housed permanently at the Hill Museum
and Manuscript Library, Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville,
Minnesota, where it will be used in worship and be available to scholars and
the public. The Saint John’s Bible will tour to libraries and museums
worldwide, and educational and outreach initiatives for children and
underserved communities are currently in development.
“The Saint John's Bible is a unique artistic undertaking, and Target is
proud to bring the ‘Illuminating the Word’ exhibition to The Minneapolis
Institute of Arts and other venues across the country,” said Laysha Ward,
vice president, community relations, Target Corporation. “Target believes in
making the arts accessible, and through our sponsorship of this exhibition,
we hope all audiences will enjoy the project’s contemporary and
multicultural nature.”
Two exhibition-related books are available for purchase: Illuminating the
Word: The Making of The Saint John’s Bible ($39.95) and Gospels and Acts
($64.95). For more information call The Minneapolis Institute of Arts’
Museum Shop at (612) 870–3100 or toll-free (866) 632–7467, or visit online
at www.artsmia.org/shop.
“Illuminating the Word: The Saint John’s Bible” opens April 10 and runs
through July 3, 2005. This is a ticketed exhibition. General adult admission
is $6.
About The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Ranked among the top ten comprehensive U.S. art museums, The Minneapolis
Institute of Arts is dedicated to bringing art to life for everyone. In a
beautiful landmark building near downtown Minneapolis, the museum houses
over 100,000 works of art, representing more than 5,000 years of world
history. General admission is always free. Some special exhibitions have a
nominal admission fee. Museum Hours: Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Tuesday,
Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.;
closed Monday. Please allow plenty of time to arrive, as our campus is under
construction as part of our expansion project. For additional information,
call (612) 870-3131 or visit www.artsmia.org.
About Saint John’s Abbey and University and
the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML)
Saint John’s Abbey is a Benedictine monastic community of men who follow
the 1500-year tradition of worship and work through daily prayer and
service. About two thirds of the community live and work in Collegeville,
Minnesota. The Abbey is located on 2,400 acres of woodland and lakes in
Collegeville, 70 miles north of Minneapolis/Saint Paul. Located on the
campus of Saint John’s University, the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library is
dedicated to preservation of and access to art, rare books, and manuscripts
focused on how humans imagine the sacred. HMML’s history of preserving rare
and endangered handwritten works from around the world by capturing them on
microfilm, and now in digital formats, began in earnest in 1965; the
collection now totals 30 million pages of manuscripts, the largest of its
kind in the world.
About Target Stores
Minneapolis-based Target Stores serves guests at 1,313 stores in 47 states
nationwide. Target Stores, along with its parent company Target Corporation
(NYSE:TGT), gives back more than $2 million a week to its local communities
through grants and special programs. Since opening its first store in 1962,
Target has partnered with nonprofit organizations, guests, and team members
to help meet community needs.
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