WASHINGTON — The Institute for American Indian Studies is presenting a special temporary exhibit of works by Father John B. Giuliani. The exhibit, called “Windows Into The Sacred: The Work of Father John B. Giuliani,” features a collection of traditional iconography that celebrates the soul of the Native American as the original spiritual presence on this continent.

Father Giuliani is an internationally recognized artist, a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, and lives the monastic life at the Benedictine Grange in West Redding. He has been painting religious icons as Native Americans since 1990.

Traditional iconography gives witness to the human face of the sacred. Father Giuliani’s icons of the Christ figure, the Virgin, and other biblical figures, are portrayed as America’s indigenous peoples.

He began with the faces of North American indigenous peoples, but has since begun to include those from Central and South America as well. The works are painted in acrylic on gessoed wood panels.

The collection of works will be in the IAIS George A. G. Darlow Exhibit Hall through May 26. A public reception will be held on Saturday, April 29, from 2 to 4 pm, and Father Giuliani will present a “gallery walk” that afternoon at 3 pm.

The exhibit can be viewed Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm, and Sunday from noon to 4 pm. It is included in the regular IAIS admission fee of $4 for adults, $2 for children ages 6 through 16. For additional information call 860/868-0518 extension 3.