Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
Art of J. Michael Walker at Yale
Institute of Sacred Music, 409 Prospect
October 10 - November 30
Weekdays, 9am - 4pm
Free and open to the public.
Reception on Thursday, October 27 / 4:30– 6 pm
The sacred art of J. Michael Walker will be on display in New Haven at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, 409 Prospect Street, from October 10 – November 30. The free exhibition, entitled Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe: J. Michael Walker’s Life with the Virgin and Saints, is open weekdays 9 – 4. Most of the works will then travel to New York to the National Museum of Catholic Art and History, where they will be on display from December 10, 2005 to August 30, 2006.
An Arkansas native, J. Michael Walker was culturally and spiritually transformed by a lengthy stay in the Sierra Tarahumara of northern Mexico. The sacred themes presented in this exhibition reflect the artist’s immersion in the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the legends of the saints.
Since 1995, J. Michael Walker has created a series of works depicting Mexico’s most important icon and patron saint, The Virgin of Guadalupe, as a real Mexican woman of Indian descent, engaged in the myriad daily tasks by which women hold the world together. His imagery flows from an apocryphal revelation in his studio, in which he perceived Guadalupe and her attendant angel to “free” themselves from their
iconic positions, to comedown from their pedestals into the three-dimensional space of the artist’s studio. This “vision” permitted him to place María in a physical, three-dimensional space without disrespecting her rich Mexican traditions.
More recently, the artist’s attention has focused on the vast number of streets in Los Angeles named after saints - San Julian, Santa Monica, and Santa Clara, to name a few. The works inspired by these street names bear witness to the rich Mexican and Catholic tradition present in Los Angeles since the eighteenth century.
There will be a reception for the artist on Thursday, October 27 from 4:30 – 6 in the Great Hall of the Institute. The exhibition is presented by Yale Institute of Sacred Music with support from Yale Divinity School.