News

Media Contact:
Steve Christensen
Manager, Communications
Loyola University Chicago
312-915-6164

CHICAGO, October 19, 2006 — On Saturday, October 28, the Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA), along with official sponsor, Exelon, Proud Parent of ComEd, will unveil the museum's latest exhibition, The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama. Set to run through January 15, 2007, this traveling multi-media art exhibition brings together more than 88 well-respected artists representing 30 countries.

"The intent of the show is to both engage and heal," said Randy Rosenberg, the exhibit's curator. "One of the central roles of art and the artist is to encourage us to think about the forces that shape our lives. The power of art invites us to reflect on those forces, and to make the shifts in our perceptions necessary to expand them. That is also the purpose of each of the works in this exhibition."

The exhibition, organized by the Committee of 100 for Tibet (C100) and the Dalai Lama Foundation (DLF), celebrates and explores the many paths to peace. The project seeks to reach thousands of people around the world in an effort to make a lasting contribution to the global dialogue around peace and to inspire individuals on their path toward personal, inner peace. As part of the project, artists have executed works based on His Holiness and the themes of compassion, peace, harmony, community, people in exile, spirituality, nonviolence, and unity of all things through traditional art disciplines, electronic media, and performance art.

Artists such as Bill Viola, Mike and Doug Starn, Richard Gere, Sylvie Fleury, El Anatsui, Chuck Close, and a number of other accomplished artists are part of this impressive exhibition. In addition, all of the exhibit's works have been donated by the artists and will be auctioned to raise funds for the peace initiatives of the DLF and the C100 at the close of the project. The Dalai Lama, who has met with The Missing Peace organizers on several occasions, supports the project and has loaned a work of art from his personal collection as well.

"As a museum dedicated to the exploration of the spiritual in art, our mission is affirmed through exhibitions such as The Missing Peace," said Pamela Ambrose, director of LUMA. "We congratulate the artists in the exhibition for their generosity of spirit in donating their artwork and acknowledge their commitment to effect social change through their creativity."

"Exelon is proud to bring the inspirational and thought-provoking exhibit, The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, to Chicago," said John W. Rowe, chairman, president and CEO of Exelon. "The central theme of this fine exhibit is that there is more to unite us than divide us. At Exelon, we encourage both diversity and thoughtful cross-cultural dialogue, so we can cultivate compassion in our own lives and in our communities."

Rolling Out the Red Carpet
To kick-off The Missing Peace's stay, LUMA will host an elegant gala reception on the evening of Thursday, October 26.

Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m., and include an awards ceremony honoring Marjorie Benton and The Children's Place Association with the esteemed Compassion in Action Award, which is given to an individual and an organization that embodies pure motivation and compassionate concern for the well being of others, world peace, ecology, and global responsibility. A special auction will follow the ceremony, offering everything from a Richard Avedon photograph to a dinner with Michael Garanzini, S.J., president of Loyola University Chicago to a sitting for a personal portrait by internationally recognized photographer Victor Skrebneski.

Following stints at LUMA and the UCLA Fowler Museum (site of the exhibit's first U.S. stop), The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama will travel to the Rubin Museum of Art in New York (March 3 - September 4, 2007) and other venues, which will soon be announced.

The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Educational Programming and Related Programs
Ongoing - Free Tuesdays
Teatime with the Buddha
Every Tuesday from October 28, 2006 to January 9, 2007
5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
For the length of The Missing Peace exhibition, LUMA invites everyone to sit, meditate, and relax with the installation piece Paranirvana by Lewis deSoto in the Simpson lecture hall while enjoying a pure tea blend provided by Argo Tea.

Creating Dialogues through Peace, Art, and Cultures
Teacher Workshop
Saturdays, October 21 and 28, 2006 
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 
Join LUMA and the Shanti Foundation for Peace for a teacher workshop that will explore creative approaches to The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama. Teachers will learn about Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, and how to address modern and contemporary art. Shanti Foundation staff will demonstrate techniques that promote art and nonviolence concepts in daily classroom activities, core curriculum integration, and collaborative learning.

LUMA Members Reception
Friday, October 27, 2006 
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

To Find the Peace: Learning from the Dalai Lama
Friday, October 27, 2006 
4:30 p.m. - Reception with Dr. Robert A.F. Thurman
5:30 p.m. - Lecture
Dr. Robert A.F. Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, president of the Tibet House U.S., and president of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. He is a noted scholar and has also translated important Tibetan and Sanskrit philosophical writings and regularly lectures on Tibetan Buddhism, Asian history, and the history of the monastic institution in the Asian civilization. Time magazine chose Professor Thurman as one of its 25 most influential Americans in 1997 and The New York Times recently said Thurman is considered the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism.

Celebrate Peace through the Arts
Sunday, October 29, 2006 
Noon - 5:00 p.m. 
Celebrate Family Day at LUMA! Co-sponsored by the Shanti Foundation for Peace, LUMA's family day will celebrate peace through the creation of a Rangoli, painting a mural, and participation in an improvisational workshop. Families of all ages will delight in these workshops. No art experience necessary!

Tales of Tibet
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Tour The Missing Peace and discuss Tales of Tibet: Sky Burials, Wind Horses, and Prayer Wheels (edited and translated by Herbert Batt) with Dr. Daniel Born of the Great Books Foundation and Ann Meehan of LUMA. All reading material will be provided.

An Immigrant Class: Cross Cultural Lessons from Chicago's Newest Immigrants
Tuesday, November 28, 2006 
6:00 p.m. - Lecture
Join Jeff Libman, author of the acclaimed book An Immigrant Class: Oral Histories from Chicago's Newest Immigrants, as he discusses his collection of oral histories and photographs of 20 of Chicago's recent immigrants, along with their struggles, successes, disappointments, and aspirations. Jeff is the former executive director of the Tibetan Resettlement Project in Chicago, and currently is an instructor in English as a Second Language at Truman College in Chicago.

Art at the Barricades: Modern Art and Social Themes
Sunday, December 3, 2006 
3:00 p.m. - Lecture

Join LUMA for a lecture by Paula Wisotzki, Loyola professor of art history, as she discusses what art can accomplish. Does it shape our time or merely reflect it? Artists, theorists, and the public have grappled with these questions since early in the 19th century. This lecture will offer a historical perspective on artistic avant-gardes and their modes of commenting on contemporary life.

Culture Day at LUMA - Tashi Delek: Afternoon of Tibetan Culture
Saturday, January 6, 2007 
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Celebrate the rich heritage of Tibet with an afternoon of sacred chants, dance, music, and cuisine. Organized by the TIBET Center, this day will feature sacred chants by the Tibetan monks, cultural performances by Tibetan children and adults from Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin, and a sampling of delicious momo (beef and vegetable dumplings) and chang (Tibetan barley beer). All ages are welcome!

For more information on any of these programs, or to R.S.V.P., contact the museum directly at 312-915-7630 or luma@luc.edu.

About the Exhibition Organizers 
The Committee of 100 for Tibet (C100), founded in 1992, is comprised of one hundred thinkers, innovators, leaders, and Nobel Prize laureates from around the world. C100 runs two major programs, The Missing Peace and the Self-Determination Initiative, which focuses on the Tibetan people's right to self-determination. www.c100tibet.org

The Dalai Lama Foundation (DLF), founded in 2002, supports the development of our shared global capacity for ethics and peace. The DLF is currently focused on three initiatives: a free study guide and study circles on ethics and peace based on the Dalai Lama's book, Ethics for a New Millennium; online courses on ethics and peace topics; and curricula for The Missing Peace.

Editor's Note: Participating Artists: Marina Abramovic, Seyed Alavi, El Anatsui, Laurie Anderson, Ken Aptekar, Jane Alexander, Richard Avedon, Kirsten Bahrs Janssen, Chase Bailey, Tayseer Barakat, Sanford Biggers, Phil Borges, Dove Bradshaw, Guy Buffet, Dario Campanile, Andy Cao, Michal Rovner and Squeak Carnwath, Enrique Martinez Celaya, Long-Bin Chen, Constantino Ciervo, Christo and Jean-Claude, Chuck Close, Bernard Cosey, Santiago Cucullu, Binh Danh, Lewis deSoto, Era and Don Farnsworth, Filippo di Sambuy, Doris Doerrie, Fairbrook and Fox, Spencer Finch, Sylvie Fleury, Louis Fox, Adam Fuss, Juan Galdeano, Rupert Garcia, Robin Garthwait and Dan Griffin, Richard Gere, Losang Gyatso, Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison, Hi-Jin and David Hodge, Jim Hodges, Jenny Holzer, Tri Huu Luu, Ichi Ikeda, Yoko Inoue, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Jesal Kapadia, Anish Kapoor, Nefeli Massia, Yumyo Miyasaka, Gabriela Morawetz, Kisho Mukaiyama, Tom Nakashima, Dang Ngo, Michele Oka Doner, Robert and Shana Parke Harrison, Susan Plum, Rosemary Rawcliffe, Tenzing Rigdol, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sebastiao Salgado, Salustiano, Andra Samelson, Arlene Shechet, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Kimsooja, Mike and Doug Starn, Pat Steir, Hoang Van Bui, Adriana Varejao, Bill Viola, Michael Wenger, Inkie Whang, William Wiley, Katarina Wong, Yuriko Yamaguchi, Negishi Yoshiro.

About LUMA
Opened in 2005, the Loyola University Museum of Art is dedicated to exploring, promoting, and understanding art and artistic expression that illuminates the enduring spiritual questions of all cultures and societies. As a museum with an interest in education and educational programming, LUMA reflects the University’s Jesuit mission and is dedicated to helping people of all creeds explore the roots of their faith and spiritual quests. Located at Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus, the museum occupies the first three floors of the University’s historic Lewis Towers on Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue. For more information, visit the museum’s website at LUC.edu/luma.

Art illuminating the spirit!

-LUMA-