[RP TownTalk] Reminder to RSVP ...

[RP Arts Council]

*RPAC Special Event, Feb. 28 at 7 pm*

Riverdale Park Arts Council will hold its annual membership meeting Feb. 28
at 7 pm at Town Hall. A brief business meeting to select board members will
start the program. Annual $5 membership dues for new and renewing members
will be collected. (RPAC members receive discounts on all arts council
events including ArtsFest2012.)



At 8 pm, hometown realism artist Gerald King will present a personal
narrative on the 40-year-long, international effort to recreate the
priceless Minbar of Saladin in the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The nearly
1,000-year-old minbar, similar to a Christian church’s pulpit, was
destroyed in August 1969 when the Mosque was firebombed. His introduction
will be followed by the showing of a 53-minute film titled "Stairway to
Heaven." Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, the film travels from Jerusalem to
London, from Jordan to Syria, from Egypt to Spain to trace the history and
reconstruction of the minbar that required . Significant commentary is made
by H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Mohammed of Jordan.



In October 2009, Mr. King traveled to Amman to teach realism art at the
invitation of Prince Ghazi and his wife, Her Royal Highness Princess Areej.
The actual final

reconstruction that required more than 16,000 hand carved pieces of wood,
ivory and ebony to remake the minbar, took place at the Institute of
Traditional Islamic Art and Architecture at al-Salt- near Amman. While
resisting the characterization of being an “expert” on Islamic art, Mr.
King has a clear understanding of the genre and why it is significant to
understand and appreciate Islamic art.



RPAC members invite all members of the Riverdale Park Business Association,
all members of the Riverdale Lions Club, all members of the Town Council,
and the first 25 Town Talk respondents to this event. Refreshments will be
available. *RSVP must be made no later than noon, Friday, Feb. 24* by
emailing RPArtsCouncil at gmail.com or calling RPAC president Emily Fanning at
301-864-5561.
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