Announcing "The River is a Magic Thing: Celebrating the Art, History,
Ecology, Spirituality and Future Health of the Hudson River and its
Communities."  The event is scheduled for May 6th at the Museum of Biblical
Art in Manhattan and is co-sponsored by the Society for the Arts, Religion
and Contemporary Culture, CrossCurrents Magazine and Auburn Seminary. 
 
For further details about the program, continue reading, or to register,
please visit our website: 
www.sarcc.org
 <http://www.aril.org/register/register.html>
www.aril.org/register/register.html
 
Artists featured during the May 6th program were selected following a region
wide search for those whose work effectively expresses the themes of the
day's celebration. 
 
The featured artists are:
 
Richard Bruce, Paintings
A native of West Virginia, Bruce grew up at the base of the Appalachian
mountains and on the shores of the Ohio River. After a brief period in North
Carolina, he moved to New York City, where he lived for 10 years, knowing
that some day he would return to a rural area.  He found everything he was
looking for in the Hudson Valley.  He now lives in the village of Cold
Spring and maintains a studio in the city of Beacon, where many artists have
migrated in recent years.
Bruce writes: "My paintings have been heavily influenced by the Abstract
Expressionist painters and, during my years in NY, I had the great fortune
to work with and get to know many of the greats, including Joan Mitchell,
Milton Resnick and Louise Fishman.  Abstract elements are still incorporated
in my work, however, now my paintings are much more informed by the area in
which I live and the ethereal beauty of the Hudson Valley.  In my  paintings
I am not trying to create  literal depictions of specific places, but am
more interested in capturing  the experience of the landscape, of being in
nature and the inherent spirituality found there.  The paintings are very
much about the river and water.  When I am not painting I spend a great deal
of time kayaking on the river or hiking on the many trails in the area.  I
am also very concerned about the preservation and restoration of this
environment and wonderful resource."
 
Susan Hockaday, Photographs               
The artwork of Susan Hockaday has always focused on structures and patterns
found in the natural world. She has worked in many media, but for the last
twelve years has used photographs to make layered images of water, foliage,
and other elements of landscape. Over time, she has become increasingly
aware of the destruction of the natural 
world by man's uncontrolled activities, even in Cape Breton Island, Nova
Scotia, where she lives in the summer and does much of her work.
 
Recently, she has begun to add painted or printed marks to the surface of
the finished photographs to introduce the idea of the disturbance of nature.
These narrative elements indicate invasion and encroachment. They add
another level of meaning and tension to the images, which are collectively
titled "Turning on Nature."
 
For the last year she has photographed the waterways and harbors around
Manhattan from a small airplane, recording some more extreme examples of
Nature Disturbed.
 
Ms Hockaday takes all her photographs with hand held cameras, and prints the
final chromogenic prints in a studio in New York City.
 
After graduating from Vassar College, Ms Hockaday continued her studies at
Yale University, The Pratt Graphics Center, the School of the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston, and Princeton University. She has exhibited widely, and is
currently affiliated with SOHO20 Gallery in New York.
 
Ian Koebner and Jeff Grow, Sacred Slam
Sacred Slam is a not-for-profit organization that works with individuals,
communities and organizations for peaceful resolution of conflict,
self-representation, and respect for diversity through the arts and
education. Sacred Slam is derived from recognition that fierce exploration
of a concept ('slamming') is worthy of veneration or respect (sacred).
 
Two members of the Sacred Slam network of contributing artists will present
at "The River Seems A Magic Thing" - Ian Koebner, Founder of Sacred Slam,
and Jeff Grow, Buddhist magician. Ian Koebner began Sacred Slam on the
anniversary of September 11th with a night of InterFaith dialogue through
poetry, or as Abd al-Hayy, a Sufi poet, says, "a communal evening of
soul-expression whose goal is a sweet enlightenment, and an ecumenical
recognition of everyone's path to the Divine."  Since then he has been
organizing performances and workshops in universities, hospitals, houses of
worship, poetry clubs and public spaces up and down the Hudson River valley
to combat stigma.
 
Performing as a magician some of Jeff Grow's clients include: Jive Records,
Chrysler Corporation and the N.F.L. Hall of Fame.  Jeff's sleight of hand
has been featured in the award winning independent film The Empty Building,
as well as national and international commercials.  As an actor his original
N.Y.C. productions include: discoverosis, A Wise Fool: the Nasrudin Stories
(various venues), Transfix (Madison Square Garden), A Story About Magic (NYC
& Prague), Persephone (Fringe, NYC), and City of Bells: an adaptation of
Allen Ginsberg poetry (HERE).
 
Conference presenters include:
 
J. Taylor Basker holds a degree in Art History and Theology from the
Graduate Theological Foundation at Kellogg College, Oxford University, with
a specialty in religious symbolism.  She has a MA from the University of
Oregon, and a BA from Notre Dame of Maryland and resides at Westbeth Artists
Housing in Greenwich Village NY.  On the World Art History faculty of School
of Visual Arts and New Jersey City University, she is also an artist and
videographer, as well as art critic.  Her dissertation on the cloud as a
symbol in Early Christian Art led her to research ancient symbolic systems
of clouds, water and rivers.  Living in desert areas in South America,
Africa (Peace Corps) and the US gave her personal experience of the profound
importance of water and rivers in human culture and religious symbolism.
Patricia Ackerman is an Episcopal Priest and psychotherapist.  She is a
project director at the Garrison Institute, and founder of Over the Rainbow
Institute for Living Ethics. Rev. Ackerman has been doing faith based social
transformation work in hospitals, parishes, and inner city neighborhoods for
the past 15 years. Her multifaith ministry focuses on conflict prevention,
dialogue and public conversation. She is a graduate of Union Theological
Seminary where she received the Julius T. Hansen Memorial Award for
parish-community empowerment. She is a past senior consultant of conflict
prevention for the Episcopal Diocese of NY, and is a member of the
Episcopal- Muslim Relations Commission. Rev. Ackerman teaches Counseling and
World Religion at Sing Sing correctional facility and is in the Doctoral
Program in Political Science at CUNY Graduate Center. She is a community
mediator and a member of Auburn Theological Seminary's Women's Multifaith
Committee. 
Dr. Mike Magee is host of the weekly web cast, Health Politics (
<http://www.healthpolitics.com> www.healthpolitics.com) and director of the
Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative. He has served as Senior Fellow to the
World Medical Association on environmental health issues, and assisted in
the launch of the UN Water for Decade in 2005. Dr. Magee is the author of
numerous books, most recently, Health Politics: Power, Populism and Health
and Healthy Waters  (Spencer Books, NY). Dr. Magee is a former David
Rockefeller Fellow and is noted for his visionary perspective on health care
and for championing patient rights, principled leadership and access to
scientific discoveries. Dr. Magee's work on creating healthy and productive
cross-sector partnerships between government, industry, academia, and
non-governmental organizations is well known and often quoted, placing him
at the center of health care reform.
 
Ena Heller is Executive Director, Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA), New York
City. Dr. Heller has a Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts,
New York University, with a specialty in medieval art and architecture.
Prior to becoming the first director of MOBIA, she has taught art history at
the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA) and Manhattanville College
(Purchase, NY), and was the founding director of the Gallery at the American
Bible Society. Dr. Heller is contributing editor of the volume Reluctant
Partners: Art and Religion in Dialogue (2004) and of the exhibition catalog
Icons or Portraits? Images of Jesus and Mary from the Collection of Michael
Hall (2001), and a contributor to the volumes Women's Space: Patronage,
Place, and Gender in the Medieval Church (2005) and The Art of Sandra Bowden
(2005). She has presented papers at the conferences of the Society of
Architectural Historians, College Art Association, and the Council of
American Jewish Museums, at the Institute of Fine Arts, and at numerous
museums and universities throughout the country. 
 
Fran Dunwell is Hudson River Estuary Coordinator at the NYS Department of
Environmental Conservation. She oversees the implementation of the $368.3
million Estuary Action Agenda  adopted by Governor Pataki in 1996 and
recently updated. The Estuary Program's goal is to conserve and recover the
tidal Hudson and the extraordinary natural heritage of its watershed through
programs founded in science and implemented in ways that support the quality
of life of the Valley's citizens.  Dunwell has worked for 30 years as a
river conservationist, and has written the  award-winning book, The Hudson
River Highlands. She has a Master's degree from the Yale School of Forestry
and Environmental Management and a BA in anthropology from Kirkland College,
now Hamilton. She lives in the Hudson Valley on a farm in New Paltz, New
York. For more information on the program see
www.dec.state.ny.us/website/hudson/hrep.html
<http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/hudson/hrep.html)> .  
 
Donna Schaper is Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church  and the author
of 28 books, most recently "Holy Vulnerability: Spiritual Resources For
People with Cancer."  She is a graduate of Gettysburgh College and holds
Master's degrees from Lutheran Theological Seminary and the University of
Chicago Divinity School. In addition to being one of the most widely
published women ministers in the country, Schaper frequently is a workshop
leader or speaker at conferences nationwide and appears regularly as a
commentor on National Public Radio. She has a thirteen year old cat named
Hudson and was born in Kingston, New York and was formed by life looking at
and swimming in the river.
 
Charles P. Henderson is Executive Director of the Association for Religion
and Intellectual Life which publishes CrossCurrents, a journal of opinion,
inter-religious and inter-disciplinary in scope. He is President of the
Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture, a graduate of
Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary in New York, a member of
the New York City Presbytery, and an organizing member of Presbyterians
Concerned For Jewish and Christian Relations. Henderson is the author of
several books including God and Science (John Knox / Westminster); his
articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, Commonweal,
Christian Century and CrossCurrents, among others. He has lectured and
taught at Princeton University where he also served as a chaplain. He edits
a popular blog, The GodWeb ( <http://www.godweb.org/> http://www.godweb.org)
and is currently working on a book on sacred space with a grant from the
Louisville Institute.
 
The conference runs from 9:30am to 4:30pm and includes a continental
breakfast, lunch and a wine and cheese reception.  Registration is $60;
Student registration $15.  The Museum of Biblical Art is located at 1865
Broadway at 61st Street in Manhattan. For further information please call
Charles Henderson, at 212-870-2544 or email [log in to unmask]
 
For conference registration at our secure website:
www.aril.org/register/register.html 
 
 
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