OK, maybe we're not all big art fans here in State College, but in the never-ending months of cold bleakness, it's safe to say that most people could benefit from a touch of the exotic.

That remedy can be found in the Palmer Museum of Art's three-year long exhibit, Devotion and Diversity: South Asian Sculpture from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

With a 2001 grant it received from the Museum Loan Network, the Palmer Museum was able to obtain 18 pieces of South Asian sculpture that, until then, had been stored in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's basement.

But the exhibit won't be around forever. After the fall semester of 2004, Palmer's grant will expire, and the sculptures will have to be returned to their home in Philadelphia.

The 18-piece exhibit represents almost 2,000 years of India's diverse religious expression through its stone and metal sculptural traditions, which span from medieval Hindu temple statuary to devotional Buddhist objects.

Darielle Mason, a curator of Indian and Himalayan Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, wrote in a press release that she supports this type of loan with Penn State.

"It's wonderful to see these works of art, many long hidden in storage due to lack of gallery space, now moving across Pennsylvania as ambassadors for a major world culture," according to Mason in the press release.

As for Joyce Robinson, a Palmer Museum curator, it's the appeal of learning that makes this traveled exhibit so worthwhile.

"This really gives students and faculty the chance to see an art form they may not be familiar with," Robinson said. "Aside from that, it really benefits us all to learn about other cultures and religions."

Robinson also feels the uniqueness of these sculptures sets them apart from most traditional religious art forms.

"These sculptures are very physical, sensual and sexual," Robinson said.

"They celebrate both beauty and the body."

Besides being a source of cultural enlightenment themselves, the sculptures have also given way to a series of educational programs based on the exhibit's South Asian history.

Robin Seymour, a Palmer Museum coordinator, said the museum has done a lot of programming around the exhibition, from an Indian festival complete with mehndi tattoos and authentic rice murals, to a new lecture series beginning in April.

"We're doing the types of programming where people from all ages can take something away from it," Seymour said. "This is only the first in what we hope to be a long-running series at the museum."