Browse the chronological list of events at the Saint Louis University Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific event. Click “View” for more information about an event. If you need further information about an event, please contact us.
Day With(out) Art
December 1, 2009
MOCRA observes the twentieth anniversary of , a national day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis, by exhibiting The Promise, an important work by the late New York artist Adrian Kellard. The Promise will remain on display during regular museum hours through December 13, 2009.
Adrian Kellard was a rising artist in the 1980s. His large-scale carved wood block panels evoke both medieval shrines and the woodblock prints of 20th-century German Expressionists, but their bright colors and folksy quality make them accessible to a wide range of audiences. For Day With(out) Art, MOCRA will feature one of his last works, The Promise, which references the legend of St. Christopher, who carried the infant Jesus across a turbulent river. Kellard depicts himself in the role of St. Christopher. The Promise asserts the possibility of hope and compassion in the midst of suffering.
The Promise was included in the 1992-93 international traveling exhibition From Media to Metaphor: Art about AIDS, and in the 1994 exhibition Art’s Lament: Creativity in the Face of Death (organized by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston). Kellard’s own life was cut short by AIDS. He died in the fall of 1991 at the age of 32.
above:
Adrian Kellard, The Promise, 1989. Latex on wood. 75 x 45 x 2 in. Courtesy of the Estate of Adrian Kellard.
Listen to a conversation about Adrian Kellard on Episode 2: Adrian Kellard
Listen to a conversation about the origins of Day With(out) Art on Episode 3: Thomas Sokolowski
| Exhibition | |
|---|---|
| 2018-10-07 to 2018-10-14 | 
Walking in Hope: A Weeklong Celebration of the Canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero |
| 2017-04-20 | 
“The Hand Acts Out a Joyous Dance”: Celebrating the Art of Bernard Maisner |
| 2016-09-25 | 
Erika Diettes: “Stories Told from the Threshold” |
| 2015-12-06 | 
So That You Know Each Other: Intercultural Reflections on Art, Beauty, and Islam |
| 2014-11-15 | 
John Handley: “The Religious Art of Pablo Picasso” |
| 2018-09-28 to 2018-09-29 | 
Fleur-de-Lis Floral Art Walk |
| 2014-02-23 | 
“The Economy of Gift” in Socially Engaged Art Practices: A Public Deliberation |
| 2013-10-02 | 
Art21: The Spiritual Light screening at CAM |
| 2013-03-02 | 
Rituals and Spirituality in the Performative Photographic Work of Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons |
| 2012-11-11 | 
Breaking Boundaries: A Conversation about the Art of Patrick Graham |
| 2012-05-20 | 
Stephen P. Durchslag: “The Jewish Experience and the Haggadah” |
| 2012-03-27 |
2012 Loyola Chair Lecture: “The Image of the Wounded Body of Christ and the Modern Social Consciousness” |
| 2011-10-06 |
2011 Loyola Chair Lecture: “The Pursuit of the Spirit: The Renewed Interest in the Spiritual and Religious Dimensions in Contemporary Art” |
| 2011-05-01 | 
Terrence Dempsey, S.J.: “Georges Rouault and the Art of Sacred Engagement” |
| 2010-11-15 |
Terrence Demspey, S.J.: “Creating a Religious Environment through Contemporary Art and Architecture” |
| 2010-03-28 |
Terrence Dempsey, S.J.: “The Wounded Body of Christ and the Modern Social Conscience” |
| 2009-12-01 |
Day With(out) Art |
| 2009-11-15 | 
Michael Byron: “Cosmic Tears: Word and Image” |
| 2009-03-29 | 
Art and the Religious Imagination |
| 2008-04-15 | 
Wu Hung: “What Is Contemporary Chinese Art?” |
| 2007-10-07 | 
Celluloid Bible Classics: The Ten Commandments |
| 2007-11-04 | 
Celluloid Bible Classics: Ben-Hur |
| 2007-09-16 | 
Michael Morris, O.P.: “Moving Pictures: The Bible and Beyond” |
| 2007-03-30 | 
Peter Frank: “An Oskar Fischinger Tribute” |
| 2006-12-01 | 
Day With(out) Art |
| 2005-12-04 | 
Robert Rosenblum: “DoDo Jin Ming: An Art Historian's View” |
| 2003-09-07 | 
To Make Extraordinary: The Role of Sacred Objects in Life and Worship |
| 2002-05-04 | 
The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: A University Response |
| 2002-04-30 | 
Fred D. Gray: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: A Study That Should Never Have Occurred |
| 2002-01-31 | 
Cloudlanders |
| 2002-01-26 | 
Thomas Sokolowski: “The Last Temptation: Andy Warhols Art as Belief” |
| 2000-11-30 | 
Day With(out) Art |
| 2001-04-06 | 
Bare Naked Statues in concert |
| 1999-04-15 | 
Two Lectures: Ellen Dissanayake and Jack Renard |
| 1999-03-27 | 
Bernard Maisner: “The Art of the Illuminator” |
| 1998-03-22 | 
Renaissance and Modern |
| 1997-11-15 | 
The Role of the Computer in Contemporary Art |
| 1997-07-24 | 
Jennifer Biddle: Body, Country, Canvas: Meaning and Identity in Central Desert Aboriginal Women’s Art |
| 1997-06-07 |
Creativity as Ancestral Mind: Living with the Ancestors |
| 1997-02-27 | 
The Artist and the Theologian Dialogue: The Body of Christ as Veiling and Unveiling the Invisible God |
| 1996-12-01 | 
Day Without Art |
| 1996-05-19 | 
The Artist as Poet: Readings by Edward Boccia |
| 1995-05-20 | 
Ian Friend: “The Edge of Belief” |
| 1995-05-04 | 
Peter Selz: “Degenerate Art” |
| 1995-02-05 | 
Lynn Hague in recital |
| 1994-11-13 |
Terrence Dempsey, S.J.: “The Spiritual in Art in the Time of AIDS” |
| 1994-12-01 |
Day Without Art |
| 1994-11-05 |
Thomas Sokolowski: “The Changing Face of AIDS” |
| 1994-11-01 |
The Amici String Quartet in recital |
| 1994-10-15 | 
Consecrations: The Spiritual in Art in the TIme of AIDS dance program and opening reception |
| 1993-10-29 | 
I Remember Alvin |
| 1993-11-05 | 
An Evening with Katherine Dunham |
| 1992-11-07 | 
The Artist and Sacred Space |