Relics and Reliquaries: Reconsidered
February 26–May 22, 2011
The Walters Art Museum
600 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Relics and Reliquaries: Reconsidered features works inspired by the Walters Art Museum’s exhibition Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe. Employing a variety of media and techniques—from papermaking to brewing beer—Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) students will demonstrate how themes central to reliquary traditions still reverberate today.
Relics and Reliquaries: Reconsidered was developed during two courses at MICA during the fall of 2010. The art history seminar “Reliquaries: Embodying the Sacred” gave students a historical overview of reliquaries and other sacred objects from several religious and cultural traditions, including artworks from Europe, Africa and Asia. During the interdisciplinary sculpture course “Relics, Reliquaries and Enshrined Materials,” eleven students explored themes related to relics and reliquaries, such as pilgrimage, materiality, history and reenactment, in varying media and techniques. The student artists developed their pieces during the semester, presenting proposals to faculty members, mentors and representatives of MICA and the Walters.
Hours are Wednesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
INFORMATION: General museum information: 410-547-9000 or www.thewalters.org
IMAGE CREDIT: Nick Clifford Simko, Sometimes I Wish It Were Me Instead of You (detail), 2010
