Arts News

{mosimage}IZAMAL, Mexico - The Yucatan. To sun-starved Canadians the very name conjures up images of Caribbean beaches, a turquoise sea and ancient Mayan ruins. Lots of them. The Yucatan Peninsula is reputed to have one of the richest stores of archeological treasures in the world. It is populated by the Maya, the largest indigenous group in North America and the focus of Mel Gibson’s recent movie Apocalypto. Multitudes of Canadians visit every year.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Artist Elizabeth Adams has been making art for churches for 30 years. Her latest commission, titled Unbind Them, is on view at St. Philip the Apostle Anglican Church in Toronto. Despite her years spent studying in Italy, and her love of Romanesque architecture on display in the front hall of her home and studio, almost none of Adams’ work has seen the inside of a Catholic church.

TORONTO - When Ireland Park opens at the foot of Bathurst Street June 21, the 25-metre-long wall commemorating those who died on Toronto’s waterfront in 1847 will display 663 names. Blank spaces have been left for the 461 whose names have disappeared from the historical record.

The most important information in the bookends of the Bible, Genesis and Apocalypse, is the stuff that tells us who we are. Identity is one of the most deeply religious questions we can ask.

Chimera is an engaging play about a topic which is rarely dealt with in theatre. For that reason alone it is well worth seeing, but it is also well acted and well staged, thought provoking and topical.

TORONTO - One gets the sense from reading selections from Dr. Vincent Lam's Scotiabank-Giller Prize-winning new collection, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, that the author would have made an excellent reporter had his time not already been taken up with medicine and fiction writing.

TORONTO - There is barely a square inch of free wall space in Bishop Pearse Lacey's North York apartment. The walls are covered with dozens of portrait and landscape paintings, most of which he painted himself.

TORONTO - Some religious communities are turning to the latest technology to help promote vocations.

Fr. Paul McAuley, C.S.Sp., decided to post some videos about TransCanada Province of the Spiritans on YouTube after reading about it in the news recently.

As always, five English-language books were shortlisted for this year's Governor General's prize for fiction. The majority deal with war. As Canadians struggle with the tragedy of Afghanistan and our military's foggy role in it, this is not likely a coincidence.

TORONTO - The media today, whether it be newspapers, radio, TV, the movies or the web, is a pervasive, and, some might add, invasive fact of life in the 21st century. Is the incredible influence that the secular media have on our lives all the more evidence that we are turning our backs on God?