Spring exhibits

Two special exhibitions at the IU Art Museum will open tomorrow, examining one artist close to home and one art form a little farther away in origin.\nThe first exhibition, “Shallow Creek: Thomas Hart Benton and American Waterways,” features several paintings by the artist famous for controversial murals in several buildings on the IU campus. The exhibit will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the murals. More than 30 paintings share a theme of American waterways and the people along them, with the painting “Shallow Creek,” completed in 1938, as the focal point of the exhibit. “Shallow Creek” will be in the Special Exhibitions Gallery. \nThe second exhibition includes 19 ritual designs from the foothills of the Himalayas. “Sacred Hearth: Aepan – Painted Prayers to Himalayan Deities” examines the designs, called aepan, which are drawn on thresholds, courtyards and floors as offerings and invocations to the gods. The aepan in the exhibit, from the collection of Prema and William Popkin, will feature works on paper, cloth, canvas and other media. “Sacred Hearth” will be in the Hexagon Gallery, located within the Special Exhibitions Gallery.\nAlong with the exhibits, the museum will host several related programs and noon talks for each exhibit. \nThe spring exhibits will be open March 18 to May 18. For more information, visit www.artmuseum.iu.edu.