Altar Exhibit Offers Wealth of Ideas
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor
When I walked into the San Antonio Art League and Museum Monday, I was met with a lively, rather chaotic scene. More than a dozen people were busy installing a new exhibit throughout the downstairs and upstairs galleries. It was an artsy chaos as artists and various helpers mounted works on the walls and positioned them on pedestals throughout the space.
What they were all doing was setting up the 18th Annual Sacred Art of Altars exhibit, organized by the Celebration Circle, an “inclusive, multi-faith community with a creative approach to spirituality.” Titled One People, Many Paths, this year’s exhibit and art auction feature the work of 60+ artists from San Antonio and the surrounding areas. It is the first time that the unique annual show will be accessible to the public in a museum setting for two weeks.
Celebration Circle co-founder, Zet Baer, explained that the altar tradition was born years ago, following the earlier practice of holding fundraising events at various locations arounds town. At the end of each event, they would auction off the centerpiece, which had been designed and made by an artist.
“Then, in 2007, we got the idea of giving multiple artists identically shaped wooden boxes, and see what happens,” she said. “Now we have more artists willing to participate than we have altars for.”
Created by the Comfort-based craftsman Skip Gerson, the boxes are often shaped with a steeple-type structure on the top, which bring to mind a spiritual association. But artists are free to modify and transform the boxes as they please. As for themes they chose to represent, the field is wide open.
Artist Betty Franklin, for instance, was inspired by the prayer of Quan Yin, a Chinese goddess who is loved rather than feared. She’s the Goddess of Mercy who hears the prayers and cries of humans, who comforts the troubled, the sick, the lost and unfortunate. Franklin placed a small statue of the goddess in the center of her altar against a backdrop of dark-brown velvet with abstractly painted candles on it.  The frame of her box is painted in white & gold. What impressed Franklin is Quan Yin’s “prayer for the abuser” that speaks of the goddess’ mercy for “those who cause agony for others.”
Artist, Ilna Colemere’s altar, “The Blanket,” is packed with symbols and layers of meaning. “I identified some of the important components for positive, continued human growth. I then selected various organic and non-organic materials to exemplify these statements,” she wrote.
At the center of her creation is a sphere representing the world, and you can even turn a small key to listen to “It’s a Wonderful World” melody. On the top of the altar, she placed a protective layer constructed of intertwined forks which represent interlaced hands working together to support a glass steeple. According to the artist’s statement, the glass steeple represents the pinnacle achievement – a nurturing environment for all.
Nearby is a very different piece, Mark Hiebert’s “Honky Tonk” altar. Inside, he placed “20-years of non-winning lottery tickets, 5 years of bottle caps of different sorts, and in the back is a painting on an old shirt,” he said. The shirt is also wrapped around the back of the box. “It represents things to let go of,” he said succinctly.
Other participating artists are Paula Sussman who created a tribute to the Uvalde victims; Rudi Harst whose piece is titled “Trust the Music that Sings in Your Heart,” (he is a musician); Anita Centeno with her “Red, White and Blue”; Katherine Lamb, the creator of “Listen to the Children Praying” altar, and many others.
Though the exhibit will be open to visitors for a couple of weeks, the bidding is taking place online only. All bids start at $75 and can grow by increments of $10. According to Baer, most works will likely be sold by the end of the two-week period. Because so many artists have shown interest in participating, Baer predicts that next year the nonprofit is likely to implement a jury selection of entries.
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To see the art in-person, visit the San Antonio Museum of Art, 130 King William St., 78204, Sept. 1-15. Opening reception is Sept. 1, 5-8 p.m.; closing reception, Sept. 15, 5-8 p.m.; SAALM is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to bid go to www.celebrationcircle.org/altarshow