From Sri Lanka, via Phoenix
Sri lankan art is rarely seen in the West, but a Cantor Arts Center exhibition organized by the Phoenix Art Museum will make amends. Running from March 2 through June 12, Guardian of the Flame: Art of Sri Lanka presents more than 40 works from the pear-shaped island off India’s south coast. Assembled from private collections, they span two millennia, from the Anuradhapura period (269 B.C. to A.D. 933) to the final British conquest in 1815 of the land the colonists renamed Ceylon.
The exhibit focuses on sculptures that demonstrate Sri Lanka’s major role in spreading Buddhism, and the art it inspired, to Southeast Asia. Complementing the display of gilt bronze Buddhas are rare palm-leaf manuscripts and manuscript covers, crystal reliquaries, and a richly symbolic image of the Hindu deity Shiva performing his dance cycle that destroys and recreates the universe.
Birds in the Hand
It sounds unlikely, but a flock of tropical South American parrots—cherry-headed conures, or Aratinga erythrogenys—lives freely in San Francisco, remnants of a time when it was legal to import them as pets. Just as unlikely is the story of the homeless bohemian who first noticed the feathery escapees on Telegraph Hill in 1990. Mark Bittner was so intrigued he began feeding the birds and recording his daily observations. In time, the flock of 26 would eat out of his hand. He learned to recognize each one, gave them fitting names—Olive, Pushkin, Mingus—and saw his life transformed.
Now Judy Irving, a graduate of Stanford’s film program, has made The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. The 83-minute documentary is currently playing in art-house theaters across the country, released in tandem with Bittner’s memoir. Irving, MA ’73, has said it’s her best work—and she’s an Emmy winner for Dark Circle, a documentary on nuclear dangers. “It is that rare documentary that has romance, comedy and a surprise ending that makes you feel as if you could fly out of the theater,” wrote Bruce Newman in the San Jose Mercury News.
