Reflections of the Buddha - The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Bob introduced them to the rewards of conducting
intensive object research in the complex, intricate, and
frequently abstruse field of Buddhist art. We are grateful
to them for providing new insights that have already
altered the way we think about these objects. Their
well-researched entries for the Harvard works in the
exhibition can be found on the exhibition’s website,
buddha.pulitzerarts.org.
Symposia at the Pulitzer have long emphasized
the interchange of ideas among participants. Instead
of presenting papers, participants share openly their
observations about the works and their display in Andō’s
spaces. Phillip Bloom organized a symposium at the
Pulitzer in November 2011, bringing together professors
and graduate students interested in Buddhist art from
the University of California, Berkeley; Duke University;
Harvard University; University of Illinois at Chicago;
University of Kansas; University of Washington; and
Virginia Commonwealth University. A second symposium
in February 2012 will offer the opportunity for curators
and conservators from the lending institutions, along
with conservation scientists and other specialists in the
field, to learn more about the exhibited works and to
discuss their future care and display.
We would also like to acknowledge and thank
The Korea Foundation for inviting Francesca to join an
important two-week workshop on Buddhist art in Korea
in the fall of 2010. This workshop offered her the
opportunity to meet important scholars from around the
world and to visit collections of Buddhist art as well as
numerous Buddhist temples and monasteries. These
experiences not only influenced the way she approached
the Korean works in the exhibition, they also helped her
gain a better appreciation for the ritual context of
Buddhist art.
Since 2004, David Robertson, artistic director of
the St. Louis Symphony, has prepared a series of notable
chamber music concerts at the Pulitzer. For Reflections of
the Buddha, compositions by Western composers of the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries (including Jonathan
Harvey, John Cage, and Morton Feldman) connect to
Buddhist themes and explore the unique possibilities
that Andō’s space provides.
Other public programs have included meditation
classes taught by clerics and lay practioners from
diverse Buddhist traditions. The Buddhist Council of
Greater St. Louis helped us offer this extremely popular
series of classes. Another program, “Exploring Buddhism
and Art,” brings together as a team Buddhist practitioners
and Pulitzer docents who are available to answer
questions and lead discussions about Buddhism and
Buddhist practices as they relate to the artworks on view.
Members of the St. Louis community — including artists,
artisans, clerics, historians, social workers, and poets
— have also given brief gallery talks about an artwork
from their own personal and professional perspectives in
another popular program titled “Frame of Reference,”
organized by Courtney Henson, visitor services manager.
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Integral to the exhibition is the Pulitzer’s
Staging project. In partnership with Prison Performing
Arts, St. Patrick Center, and Employment Connection, the
Pulitzer is presenting Staging Reflections of the Buddha, a
community project inspired by our highly successful
Staging Old Masters project of 2009. Led by Lisa Harper
Chang and Emily Augsburger, this Staging project seeks to
make connections between the art and the viewers, while
also deconstructing social barriers. For five months
during 2011 and 2012, a group of former prisoners and
homeless veterans, referred to as actors, participate in
weekly workshops that include art exploration and
instruction, theatre exercises, meditation, and rehearsals.
An original performance piece created by the actors
under the direction of Agnes Wilcox, artistic director of
Prison Performing Arts, will be presented in the Pulitzer
galleries this spring, intertwining the actors’ personal
stories and experiences with the philosophies, figures,
and symbols of the works on view. The actors hope to
apply what they learn toward fulfilling personal and
occupational goals. Their work culminates in live
performances in February and March of 2012. A symbolic
ceremony featuring lanterns constructed by the actors
and fellow members of the St. Louis community will
mark the closing of the exhibition and performances.
The Pulitzer would like to thank the following
partners and their staff for their invaluable support of
our community projects: faculty, staff, and students from
the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University
in St. Louis; Prison Performing Arts; St. Patrick
Center; Employment Connection; affiliated staff and
artists for Staging Reflections of the Buddha; 88.1 KDHX;
CAM / Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; Big Brothers
Big Sisters; Diversity Awareness Partnership; Living
Insight Center; and The Buddhist Council of Greater St.
Louis; with particular thanks going to Edward Lawlor,
Amanda Moore McBride, Agnes Wilcox, Rosemary
Watts-Dreyer, Maggie Ginestra, Emily Piro, Br. David Betz,
Terri Brown, Juan William Chavez, Bob Hartzell, Kongsak
Tainpaitchitr, Donald Sloane, Carianne Noga, Reena Hajat
Carroll, Sevda Safarova, Alina Sigmond, Christopher Fan,
Rachel Crump, Cristina Flagg, Jack Sisk, and Nico Leone.
The Pulitzer staff deserves much appreciation
and applause for helping to organize, display, and
research such an important group of objects. I am
especially grateful to Francesca Herndon-Consagra for
conceiving of and organizing Reflections of the Buddha and
its curatorial initiatives, for overseeing and contributing
to its web and print catalogues, and for helping to
organize its public programming. We would both like to
thank Sydney Norton, curatorial assistant, for conducting
object research, offering classes to the Pulitzer’s docents,
and providing a detailed study guide for the Pulitzer staff,
docents, and local educators. Abigail Green, the Pulitzer’s
summer intern, produced a comprehensive glossary of
terms, and Matthew Barker, curatorial administrative
assistant, helped design and edit the study guide.
For an installation so refined and understated,