A new exhibition “Starting Over: From Death Comes New Life” opens Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) at Saint John’s University.

Starting Over introduces visitors to the liturgical calendar through two distinct series of events in a somewhat inverted order: the end of one liturgical year, with reminders of our own mortality; and the start of a new year with the promise of new life. Dual themes of farewell and welcome, death and birth, as well as memory and expectation, emerge through art, text and even music.

The exhibition is free and open to the public in HMML’s Reading Room now through Jan. 31 2019. The HMML entrance is located on the lower level of Alcuin Library on the SJU campus; the Reading Room is open during Alcuin Library open hours (https://www.csbsju.edu/libraries/about-us/hours).

“While we live in a world of multiple calendars with various religious, political, economic and cultural roots, many Christians follow a calendar in which they re-live the history of salvation, year after year, through the stories of the Bible,” says curator of the exhibition, Matthew Heintzelman. “Beginning with Advent (usually in late November or early December), this “liturgical” calendar continues through Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ordinary Time and ends with the feast of Christ the King in late November.”

In drawing from the different collections at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, the exhibition offers visitors a chance to view works by famous artists like Albrecht Dürer, Eric Gill, Barry Moser, Sadao Watanabe and Rudolf Koch. In addition, there are selections from medieval manuscripts and early printed books from the 15th to the 17th centuries, as well as an Ethiopian Psalter and an African woodcarving depicting the Nativity.

Those wanting more information about visiting HMML and viewing the exhibition should visit www.hmml.org or call 320-363-3514.