Della Francesca 1475—2011

Wes Sherman's abstract work, inspired in part by Olivier Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord), is on exhibit at Grace Church in Newark, New Jersey. In January this piece of art was rearticulated musically, as organists Joseph Arndt and Michael Hey played Messiaen's work and invited the audience to engage both visually and musically. Sherman's collaboration with Grace Church is one in a growing number of cross-genre collaborations taking place in arts and faith communities. Sherman's nativity scene is informed by Piero della Francesca's The Nativity (1475) but rendered in an abstract and contemporary vision—something like Messiaen's music, which gives traditional musical forms contemporary and mystical expression.

—Lil Copan