Pillar of Salt

The 2019 Exhibition of the Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts Program

Imagine what might happen if creative individuals of different religious/spiritual perspectives and from diverse artistic disciplines and practice were to come together for sustained reflection and conversation about one sacred text. The Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts Seminar, sponsored by IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute, is creating such an encounter.*

Twelve artists, along with five faculty members, have spent eight weeks studying Genesis 19, the narrative of Lot’s Wife. Together they explored the diverse ways the story has been expressed through religious interpretation, poetry, music, and the visual arts.           

This unique collaboration has produced extraordinary results. Artists have gained inspiration from an ancient text, and their conversation with one another has enriched and nurtured their imaginations. Rarely have ceramic artists, painters, sculptors, playwrights, composers, and poets had the opportunity to build a shared community of thought and practice, to talk not just about their art, but about their spiritual lives. Something transformative happened during those weeks.

This is just the beginning. These artists will join others from previous seminars to continue their conversations and create new work. Congregations, community centers, libraries, and schools across the state are interested in interacting with the faculty and artists as they seek to discover new ways in which religious texts can be expressed and renewed through the arts.

Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Director of Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts

Exhibition Program

*The 2018-19 RSA program is presented in partnership with the Jewish Community Center of Indianapolis  and Christian Theological Seminary

Exhibition and Performance