Can religious sisters be visual artists?

[Shana]

I’m 19 and studying art with a minor in education. I’m trying to be open to where God wants to take me and even though I still desire a husband one day, the religious life has some appeal to me. I say this because I love to learn about my faith, I love to study theology, apologetics and my hope as an artist is to engage with the culture in a way that is redeeming and points to God. My faith is very central to me and the driving force of my life and interests. I just don’t know what sisters are able to do and don’t know where to get specific information. For instance my favorite subject is people and I’d like to know if a sister would not be allowed to work from nude models. Does anyone know of any good online resources where I could get good information?

 

[LilyM]

Well nothing against being a visual artist per se - Fra Angelico, a friar, is a very noted artist, some of his work is exquisite.

Read John Paul II’s inspiring ‘Letter to Artists’ - vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_23041999_artists_en.html - he applauds art as a worthy vocation, as long as artists keep in mind the end point of art - not expression for its own sake but for the glory of God.

Which I have no doubt you would, judging by your post

As for working from nude models? Michelangelo not only did so, but painted those same nudes on the very ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And in his letter, JP2 commends (I think it’s in par. 12) the way in which Michelangelo ‘represents the beauty of the human body in his painting and sculpture’. This in part resulted from the fact that he saw enough nudes to know how to accurately represent it, no?

So no, working with nude models is unlikely to be a problem, unless it’s some sort of occasion of or temptation to sin for you. Although it IS something you might wish to discuss with a trusted spiritual advisor, just to put your mind at ease.

 

[jrabs]

Your superior will tell you what you can and cannot do if that is the route you should decide to take.

As with many things, you may be called to give it up in a religious order. If obedience in a religious order is what you choose, be prepared. Then again - who knows.

 

[CatholicChica]

I thin the nude models is highly unlikely for a religious person. Remember, as a consecrated person, you not only have to avoid falling into temptations but also not being a mater of scandal. The nude models can be a something of scandal for the vocations and Church in general. Somebody mentioned Michelangelo’s paintings and the like…but none of them were consecrated religious. And although many famous paintings are very important to our Church’s history, you need to remember that the people that painted them were lay and were artists that maybe did them for many reasons and not necessarily because of personal devotion. Remember, many artists wanted to just paint for a pay so the end of the art was maybe the only thing that mattered to them. But again, only God knows this…anyway, you need to contact a moral theologian for a better answer to this question. EWTN can help you in that.

I know of a good cloistered cister nun named Madre Isabel Guerra. Her works are amazing!!

 

[RP_Sisters]

I would like all of you to know about the “Project” to form a new community of Sisters in the Archdiocese of Chicago that will use the Sacred Fine Arts to catechize and evangelize the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and to teach our Catholic faith, through performances, presentations, dinners, etc. We will be called"The Sisters of The Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ" and Sister and I are going through a formation process now for foundresses with the Vicar for Religious in the Archdiocese. We hope to take one or two more women to start at Founding Sisters and we will take more women in a year when we fully establish our convent. We will be monastic/active which means we will spend at least four hours in prayer, adoration and at Holy Mass everyday. We will pray the entire Divine Office and celebrate both accepted forms of the Holy Mass. We want women who are already gifted in the arts (fine arts, music, drama, writing, acting, singing, architechture and even culinary). But, we also want women who will help us to make it all happen, administration, producers, directors, event workers, and of course to run our convent. We hope to go to schools, events, conferences and put on our own events to teach the faith. We will wear a tradional habit which will be long & black and with a long white or black veil. We will be willing to accept all ages and women with some physical disabilities as long as they can care for themselves. Contact: Sister Kathleen Marie at 1-773-984-8725 or write to P.O. Box 587 Summit, IL 60501
God Bless You all and Pray for us!

 

[Joannm]

I’m 19 and studying art with a minor in education. I’m trying to be open to where God wants to take me and even though I still desire a husband one day, the religious life has some appeal to me. I say this because I love to learn about my faith, I love to study theology, apologetics and my hope as an artist is to engage with the culture in a way that is redeeming and points to God. My faith is very central to me and the driving force of my life and interests. I just don’t know what sisters are able to do and don’t know where to get specific information. For instance my favorite subject is people and I’d like to know if a sister would not be allowed to work from nude models. Does anyone know of any good online resources where I could get good information?

Istudied art education as an undergrad and there was a sister in my classes and yes we used nudes in class (This also was a Catholic University).

 

[sallybranwyn]

You may want to explore the Daughters of St. Paul (pauline.org)). There are artists, writers, etc. and they have a publishing house. Many of the sisters are currently continuing their educations (masters and phds) in a variety of disciplines.

Good luck!

 

[bpbasilphx]

And iconography has always been a ministry of Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic nuns.

 

[Barzillai]

I was surprised to learn that icons are painted by Sister Aloysius McVeigh of the Sisters of Mercy in Derry, Ireland, who is a founding member of the Association of Iconographers of Ireland.

Gordon Galleries, Ireland, “hosted an exhibition of the work of Sr. Aloysius McVeigh, Sisters of Mercy, in 1993.”

I heard about 84-year-old Sr. Aloysius McVeigh recently on an EWTN Catholic Ireland TV program — my ears perked up because an icon-painting sister is indeed unusual. She was delightful in the interview. A living icon!

One of her icons was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Icon was used in a vocations program in Ireland.

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[1234]

Sr. Corita of the Srs Immaculate Heart of Mary in Los Angeles was a famous artist. Unfortunately, Cardinal MacIntyre suppressed her congregation, which survives today as a lay congregation, with the surviving religious remnant on the verge of extinction.

Aside from the new congregation( Real Presence) described, I think that your best bets would be in researching so-called ‘updated’ Benedictine and Dominican orders. The reasons why are that these orders are filled with highly professional and well-trained people who have taught at the college level, and/or been trained in the health sciences, and would have a tolerant and encouraging attitude towards art training and practice, including life drawing and art based on the nude. Many of these communities include practicing artists. A number of these orders still teach at the university level. If you read the sisters’ biographies on their websites, you’ll get an idea of what their backgrounds are, and can go from there.

I can list some specific orders if you’re interested.

 

[odubhghail]

Actually, 1234, to be clear, Cardinal McIntyre did not ‘suppress’ Corita Kent’s congregation. The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Los Angeles were, and remain, an institute of pontifical right, which means the only one who could suppress it was the pope. Corita Kent had left the congregation two years before the events that led to its division into a lay association and the remnant of the congregation which still exists in Los Angeles at present. There is also an offshoot of the congregation which exists as an institute of diocesan right in Witchita, Kansas. Finally, the Spanish congregation from which the Los Angeles community branched off now has a province in the U.S. southwest.

 

[1234]

Actually, 1234, to be clear, Cardinal McIntyre did not ‘suppress’ Corita Kent’s congregation. The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Los Angeles were, and remain, an institute of pontifical right, which means the only one who could suppress it was the pope. Corita Kent had left the congregation two years before the events that led to its division into a lay association and the remnant of the congregation which still exists in Los Angeles at present. There is also an offshoot of the congregation which exists as an institute of diocesan right in Witchita, Kansas. Finally, the Spanish congregation from which the Los Angeles community branched off now has a province in the U.S. southwest.

No, technically McIntyre didn’t suppress it. But he was upset at the post Vat II experimentation going on and demanded that it cease. The nuns rebelled and a large percentage of the best and brightest left. The remainder persisted, and are now down to 5 nuns living on the original beautiful and very expensive property. There are the other branches as described. The breakoff group formed the Immaculate Heart Community, which is lay, ecumenical and includes families. They appear to be doing well. The cardinal after McIntyre tried to get the nuns to come back to teach in the schools they had left; they said no dice.

I don’t think that any other prelate in the US tried to control a community of nuns in his diocese the way McIntyre did. It was a great pity; this congregation included some of the brightest, best educated and most talented nuns in the US. Without McIntyre’s interference, the order may have become one of the large, aging ‘updated’ orders that one sees now, or maybe not, but we’ll never know.

 

[ServusDomini]

When I was a child I studied painting from a religious sister. She painted beautiful images and specialized in woodcarved coat of arms which she made for many New England bishops.