Love and Criticism
“When we face criticism of our work we must discern which type of criticism it is.” Jesus once told us, His followers, that the greatest commandment is to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind. And the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. JesusContinue Reading
Elements of A Gothic Style: Dividing the Space
“borders… are just as important within the composition to help the viewer understand the work.” Continuing in a series of posts intended to offer guidelines in renewing the Gothic style, let us consider the division spaces within the composition. While sacred art draws us into sacred time, the imageContinue Reading
The Creative Evangelist
“Christianity is based on timeless truths, truths that speak to all people of all times. But to get the people to listen, we have to be creative.” Barnabas and Paul The apostles Barnabas and Paul, followed a pattern as they travelled from city to city. Most likely they would startContinue Reading
Elements of a Gothic Style: Borders and Thresholds
“The border around sacred art … alerts us that we are crossing over into something special, something sacred.” Following the example of the Iconographic, if we want to revive Gothic as a living tradition we need to start offering some rules or conventions to guide artists who wish to workContinue Reading
The Artist as Shepherd
“the gift of artistic ability, … places those so gifted in a unique position to protect, and encourage and empower the people of God.” The First Shepherd Why do we refer to Peter as the first “Pope? When Jesus was arrested and taken before the Jewish leaders, Peter followed behindContinue Reading
Divine Mercy and the Role of the Artist
“Not in the beauty of the color, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace.” The Divine Mercy Image On April 30, 2000 Pope John Paul II recognized Mary Faustyna Kowalska as a saint, numbered among the souls in heaven. At the same timeContinue Reading
The Nature of the Christian Artist
“The nature of the Christian artist is to sacrifice” Made in the Image and Likeness of God There has been much discussion and spilled ink on the topic of what defines a “Christian Artist.” Artists themselves generally dislike the label for a number of reasons. First of all, in theContinue Reading
Fear, Beauty, and the Artist
“What we do not understand, we fear. What we fear, we grow to hate. What we hate, we try to destroy.” The Beginning John Paul II began his papacy with the words “do not be afraid.” Throughout his time pope he continued to return to this theme. “Do not abandonContinue Reading
Trust, God, and the Artists’ Struggle
“His goal is to make us into the person He created us to be.” A Question of Trust It has been said that mankind has only ever had one problem; we want to be like God. Which is another way of saying we have trust issues. We do not trustContinue Reading
Forget the Past, Live for the Future
“A Christian always looks at the present and the future, not the past. We do not forget the past but use it as a guide for our future.” The Past Fools Us In the 2012 remake of the movie “Total Recall,” Douglas Quaid is fighting to recall who he trulyContinue Reading