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Press Release:
Iconic
Images in Villanova Exhibit
Villanova,
PA
– An interpretive exhibit of Old World religious icons,
“Ever Ancient, Ever New – Sacred Treasures”,
by Reverend Richard G. Cannuli (Order of St. Augustine), opens
March 27 in Villanova University’s Art Gallery, with a
public reception from 5 to 7 p.m. to meet the artist. The exhibit
continues to May 17. The exhibit is free and all are welcome.
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The exhibit
offers a look into the centuries-old holy shrines stationed along
the streets and alleyways of Southern Italy and Sicily, the birth
region of the Philadelphia-born artist’s ancestors.
To Rev. Cannuli,
the time-honored and very precise process of creating an image
of Christ, the Holy Mother or a Roman Catholic saint signifies
the spiritual journey on which he has been for most of his life.
“Art is not a metaphor for creation; it is the continuation
of its presence. In creativity, we begin to know the Creator,”
he notes.
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Rev. Cannuli
is a noted iconographer and a certified liturgical design consultant,
who has planned worship spaces for numerous religious communities.
His designs for stained glass windows, mosaics, sanctuary furniture
and liturgical vestments may be found in worship spaces in the
United States and abroad.
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comprises large wall hangings, more than a dozen three-dimensional
floor pieces, as well as traditional icons in gold leaf and tempura.
In one treatment, multiple sets of eyes peer softly out from an
icon of St. Lucy, the martyr of Syracuse, Sicily, whose eyesight,
it is said, was miraculously restored after her eyes were put out.
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In another work,
an imprisoned Jesus looks out from behind bars in an image superimposed
over the recess of a roadside reliquary. A sorrowing Holy Mother holds
in one hand an image of Christ, in the other the Cross of Calvary.
The Villanova University
Art Gallery is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. For
weekend and extended hours, and other information, telephone the Art
Gallery at (610) 519-4612. Selected works for the exhibit may be previewed
on the gallery’s website at www.artgallery.villanova.edu.
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