Welcome

The Center for Sacred Art is an independent arts organization based in Seattle since 1997. We develop, produce, and present quality programming and content that illumines and celebrates the intersection of spirituality and the sacred arts. Our activities include educational events, public programs, research, and publications that are grounded in a historical understanding of sacred art.

Our approach is holistic and multifaith, as we explore the heart, mind and spirit of the world's sacred art traditions. We open doors to beauty and wisdom by providing understanding and experiences of chant, visual art, architecture, and other sacred arts.

We offer a varied selection of programming in music, visual art, architecture, and more, through talks, retreats, concerts, and workshops. (See our upcoming and past events.)

We seek to reclaim the practices and traditions of sacred art as a tool for supporting connection, spiritual growth, and healing. We are interested in re-establishing the traditional connection between sacred art and inner work (prayer and meditation, visualization, and other forms of spiritual practice).

We believe sacred art is a uniquely effective vehicle for identifying resonances among religious and spiritual traditions throughout the world. The Center seeks to identify commonalties that lead to an integrative understanding of humanity and world sacred art.

What's Happening

24-Hour Interfaith Chant for Peace

Joseph Anderson leads two one-hour Gregorian chant sesssions (Friday night and Saturday afternoon--exact times to be determined) as part of Great Vow Monastery's wonderful all-night, all-day chant event.

Friday, July 22, 7pm to Saturday, July 23, 7pm
Great Vow Zen Monastery, Clatskanie, OR

Chanting is a powerful way to bring peace to oneself and the world. In this event chant leaders from various religious traditions lead a continual flow of chant dedicated to peace. The event is co-sponsored by the Northwest Dharma Association. For more information call the monastery at 503-728-0654.

CSA Summer Gregorian Chant Retreat

Joseph Anderson leads a weekend of singing the monastic Divine Office.

Friday-Sunday, July 29-31, 2005
St. Andrew's House Retreat Center, Union, WA (on Hood Canal)

A twice-annual weekend retreat that recreates the chanted experience of monastic time. We gather in a beautiful private woodland chapel to sing the monastic Divine Office (eleven services in all). From Vespers and Compline on Friday evening to Sext (noon prayer) on Sunday we immerse ourselves in prayer, contemplation, and sacred time. In between our chanted prayers there are teaching sessions where you learn new chants and explore their deeper spiritual meanings in a welcoming multifaith context. You'll also have opportunities for silent reflection and walks in nature. Previous chant or singing experience is helpful but not necessary. For more information call the Center for Sacred Art at 206-781-8544.

Jizos for Peace

The Center for Sacred Art is pleased to support Jizos for Peace, a project organized by Great Vow Zen Monastery.

In early August 2005 representatives from Great Vow Monastery will bring wishes for peace to Japan, along with 270,000 images of Jizo--one for each person who perished in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Buddhist bodhisattva Jizo, a beloved figure in Japan, represents a part of ourselves that is moved by the suffering of others and wishes to relieve it. In addition to contributing our own handmade prayer flags, the Center has made a donation to the Jizos for Peace prisons project, which provides art supplies to prisoners who want to contribute prayer flags being the image of Jizo.

Gregorian Chant Workshops

Joseph Anderson leads "Gregorian Chant as Spiritual Practice"

Saturday, October 8, 2005, 10am-4pm
Priory Spirituality Center, Lacey, WA

December 2005
Theosophical Society, Seattle, WA

In this one-day introduction to Gregorian Chant, you will learn how to sing simple examples of the core genres of Gregorian chant: psalms, hymns and other melodies of a traditional Gregorian Vespers service. The spiritual role these ancient chants play in cultivating contemplation is also explored. At the end of the day, as a meditative singing and learning community, participants chant the medieval office of Vespers together. This workshop is open both to singers and to those just discovering their voices. For more information, call the Priority Spirituality Center at 360-438-2595, or the Theosophical Society at 206-323-4281.

Gregorian Chant for End of Life

Joseph Anderson offers a Gregorian chant workshop for the Annual Conference of the Music Thanatology Association International

Sunday, October 23, 2005
Providence Portland Medical Center, Portland, OR

Joseph will be teaching and leading chants related to the traditional medieval monastic death ritual for this gathering of musicians whose vocation it is to offer harp music for those who are in transition.

Buddhist-Christian Studies and the Arts

We recently gave two programs on sacred art at the 7th International Conference of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies at Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles. The Society has asked us to repeat these presentations as part of their programming at the conference of the American Academy of Religion in Philadelphia, PA in autumn 2005.

On November 18, 2005, Victoria Scarlett will be presenting on The Iconography of Compassion: Visualizing Kuan Yin and the Virgin Mary (part of a panel presentation on visual religion that runs from 4-6:30pm, location to be determined).

Through an exploration of iconography in visual art we can identify powerful imagery to cultivate personal and global healing. What is the visual language of open heartedness? What themes, motifs, symbols, and gestures communicate enduring mercy? This slide presentation will analyze various representations of Kuan Yin and the Virgin Mary as they appear in visual art traditions, and will explore the resonances between them and their iconography. We will explore how this imagery can be drawn upon by contemporary meditators for visualizations and visual meditation (practices found in both Buddhist and Christian traditions, and reaffirmed by modern science). Learn how archetypes of compassion can be reclaimed as a source of healing energy to help overcome the ego and unlock the heart.

From 9-11am on November 19, 2005, Joseph Anderson will lead a panel presentation on Chanting Sutras and Psalms: Japanese Buddhist and Gregorian Chant (location to be determined).

Japanese Shingon and Tendai Buddhist chant (shomyo) and Gregorian chant have analogous roles within their traditions. With roots in ancient music sources, they both blossomed in the 8th-9th century CE, achieving a high degree of aesthetic sophistication. They both play a key role in ritual activities, creating a sonic framework for the transformative action of tantric practices and the sacrament of the Mass. Both traditions had a profound influence on the wider musical culture (Noh theater music and Renaissance polyphony owe a great deal to chant forms). This panel will consider and compare the history, musical characteristics, and ritual purposes of these chant traditions. Panelists include musicians/chant scholars and clergy/monastics who practice chant within a traditional context. The session will include performances of both shomyo and Gregorian chant.

Gregorian Chant for Advent

Saturdays (November 26, December 10, and December 17, 2005), 5:30pm
St. James Cathedral, Seattle, WA

Peregrine Medieval Vocal Ensemble (an affiliate of CSA) provides chant music for Saturday vigil masses during Advent 2005.