Spiritual and Earthly Pleasures
February 2007
By Barbara Petty

Chapel Hill is the host for two exhibits this month, and each is entertaining and stimulating in its own right.

Alexander Julian’s specially commissioned sports uniforms for Charlotte Hornets, UNC Tarheels, and NASCAR Racing.

On the materialistic side (literally), The Chapel Hill Museum has on display through March 25, 2007, Alexandar Julian: Retrospective, 30 Years of Uncommon Threads. Mr. Julian is a native, born in Chapel Hill, and was practically raised in his father’s clothing store. Julian managed the store until he opened up his own shop when he was only 21, aptly named Alexander’s Ambition.

Not content with local notoriety, Julian moved to New York in 1975 where in just two years he proceeded to win the prestigious Coty Award, an accolade he would hold four more times. He would accumulate additional awards including the Cutty Sark Menswear Award and the prestigious CDFA Fashion Critics Award.

Alexander Julian is best known for breaking the mold for appropriate or acceptable menswear attire. Julian gave men the freedom to start wearing color – color combinations and intricate textures and weaves that Julian himself manufactured – another first for an American fashion designer. Not content to confine himself to one genre, Julian applied his unmistakable design flair to women’s clothing, house wares, textile design, furniture and even wine!

Alexander Julian was the first fashion designer to conquer the world of sports. Most notable are his uniform designs for the Charlotte Hornets and the UNC Tar Heels. (Julian also carries the banner of unofficial courtside clothier for Roy Williams. The suit that Williams wore during the NCAA championship is part of the exhibit along with the basketball uniforms.) Julian also created uniforms for the Andretti team among other driving crews.

Julian’s list of celebrities he has dressed over the years include Mick Jagger, Harry Connick, Jr., Tim Robbins, Paul Newman and Michael J. Fox.
All of these aspects of Alexander Julian’s career make for a very interesting exhibit, and one in which the attendees are encouraged to “touch” the displays! His opulent fabrics, intricate weaves, and sophisticated use of color all play a part in his success story. According to Traci Davenport, Museum Director, Julian was very involved in the development and actual arrangement of the display – all of which is in anticipation of a permanent installation to follow.

The Chapel Hill Museum is located at 523 Franklin Street, on the corner of Franklin and North Boundary Street. For museum hours, admission, and other information you can go online at www.chapelhillmuseum.org or call 919.967.1400.

Tamil Nadu, Kaveri Delta region, Krishna/Saint Sambandar, ca. late twelfth or early thirteenth century CE; bronze. Gift of Clara T. and Gilbert J. Yager in honor of Charles Millard. Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Fashioning the Divine: Now I couldn’t have made up a better segue than that, but that is actually the name of the newest temporary exhibit at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill. Culled from the Museum’s own permanent collection, this project is a collaboration between Carolyn Wood, Executive Educator for The Ackland, and Pika Ghosh, lead scholar and editor with the UNC Department of Art. The show coincides with the publication of a catalogue of the same name. One of the many advantages of being an art museum that is part of a University – all of the learning opportunities associated with any of the exhibits.

Fashioning the Divine: South Asian Sculpture is a collection of religious sculptures and bas reliefs (in some examples, fragments from building facades) from the second through the thirteenth centuries, many of which have never been on display.

The variety and complexity of the works are wonderful examples of Indian sculpture that flourished during that time. There are common themes that reverberate throughout the show: a concern for the actual worship space – the interaction between human and divine; the personification of the divine; and the depiction of these spiritual leaders at important historical junctures.
The exhibition is organized into three themes. The Significance of Early South Asian Sculpture examines the technical capabilities of these early artists. Reintegrating the Cosmos: North Indic Temple Fragments explains how the artists originally intended their sculpture to be used, not just symbolically but physically. As with early Christian cathedrals, the devotion space is planned meticulously to enhance the total worship experience. South Indian Sculpture - The objects in this section are arranged by region, allowing the viewer to understand technical considerations such as available materials.

Just outside the exhibit hall in the main foyer is a smaller, related exhibit. Atul Dodiya: Selections from The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Robe. Dodiya is one of India’s most notable contemporary artists. The Wet Sleeves of My Paper Robe is the artist’s interpretation of a famous Indian Epic, The Ramayana. This is a tale of a woman named Sabari who has waited her entire life to be blessed by the crown prince Rama, an incarnation of Indian deity Vishnu. The juxtaposition of the modern art style in Dodiya’s lithographs and collages with a story heaped in tradition and religious meaning makes for a powerful, albeit small, exhibition.

Renee Wright is a freelance writer living in North Carolina.