EXHIBIT: Witnessing Martyrdom: The Dramatic Art of Jan Luyken: Home

EXHIBIT OPENING AND RECEPTION

Remarks by Dr. David Weaver-Zercher

Monday, Oct. 31 – 7 p.m. in the Musselman Library Reading Room

*** ARTS & LECTURE CREDIT AVAILABLE ***

This event marks the opening of the “Witnessing Martyrdom: The Dramatic Art of Jan Luyken” exhibit, featuring Jan Luyken’s original copper etching plate illustrating the story of Jacques D’Auchy in the 1685 Martyrs Mirror, together with other materials which contain Luyken illustrations.  The exhibit is comprised of materials from Bluffton’s Mennonite Historical Collections and items given on loan from Bluffton constituents.

Dr. David Weaver-Zercher, author of the recently published "Martyrs Mirror: A Social History" and our November 1 forum speaker, will headline the event.  Weaver-Zercher will reflect on the lasting significance of the story and related images of Dirk Willems, the Anabaptist martyr who rescued his pursuer from a fall through ice. An exhibit of Dirk Willems- related materials will be on display in the Reading Room, and visitors will be able to tour the larger “Witnessing Martyrdom” exhibit in the archives and special collections space following Weaver-Zercher’s remarks. 

The exhibit continues Nov. 1-22 on the Archives and Special Collections floor of Musselman Library, and it will be open to the public MWF 2-4 p.m. or by appointment.

EXHIBIT CATALOGUE PRESENTATION

Sunday, Nov. 13 – 7 p.m. in the Musselman Library Reading Room

*** ARTS & LECTURE CREDIT AVAILABLE ***

Carrie Phillips, curator of the “Witnessing Martyrdom: The Dramatic Art of Jan Luyken” exhibit, will lead guests through an in-depth examination of the exhibit’s contents, featuring Jan Luyken’s original copper etching plate illustrating the story of Jacques D’Auchy in the 1685 Martyrs Mirror, together with other materials which contain Luyken illustrations.  Phillips will discuss the exhibit contents in detail, with attention to construction and creation, unique characteristics, provenance, and historic significance.  Guests will leave the event with an understanding of how Luyken created the etchings appearing in the exhibit, which includes some of the most beautiful and somewhat hidden collections of Musselman Library.  Visitors will have the opportunity to examine the exhibit for themselves following Phillips’s remarks.

FORUM

Humanizing Martyrdom: “Martyrs Mirror” and the Artwork of Jan Luyken

Dr. David Weaver-Zercher

Tuesday, Nov. 1 – 11 a.m. in Yoder Recital Hall

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READERS THEATRE

I Have Not Forsaken the Word of God: Jacques D’Auchy’s Confessional Struggle

Written by Carrie and Gerald Mast; Directed by Melissa Friesen

Sunday, Nov. 20 – 7 p.m. in Ramseyer Auditorium, College Hall

Carrie and Gerald Mast adapted for readers theatre the story of Jacques D'Auchy, one of the Anabaptist Martyr stories illustrated by a Jan Luyken etching, in 2014.  Melissa Friesen, professor of theatre and communication, will direct a cast of Bluffton students in a production of the Masts' script.  Read more about the script's creation here and here.