Community of Saints: Artists' Statements
Dana Ellyn
My portrait of the Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre came about after I read a biography of five extraordinary female painters of the 20th Century, “Ninth Street Women.” I learned that Existentialism appealed to the Abstract Expressionists who were creating in New York during the post-World War II era.
The other two paintings in the exhibition were created on actual book pages. Being an avid reader, my studio is overflowing with books. Some cross over from being reading material to becoming art supplies. I noticed that poet Sylvia Plath was not included on the index pages of the “Greatest Books of the Western World” so I made this contribution to correct history. On the index page of “Great Ideas,” the concept of happiness simply seemed to fit the smiling image of Teddy Roosevelt, someone I’ve painted many times over the years and whose actions as a conservationist and naturalist I enjoy learning about.
In addition to my love of painting, I am also passionate about reading, cooking, eating, and exercising.
Elise Ritter
An artist and a Christian, I am honored to have my paintings in St. Michael’s anniversary exhibition.
It is through St. Michael’s Arts & Faith Ministry that I met Christine Valters Paintner. Christine is one of the world’s most acclaimed Christian contemplative teachers and authors. She has written many inspirational books and curates a Website called Abbey of the Arts (https://abbeyofthearts.com), based in Galway, Ireland.
Christine selected a painting of mine to appear on the cover of her latest book, “The Love of Thousands: Angels, Saints and Ancestors.” The paintings I submitted for St. Michael’s —“Messenger,” “Community,” and “St. Rose" — reflect the theme both of Christine’s book and St. Michael’s exhibit.
I love the title of Christine’s book, “The Love of Thousands: Angels, Saints and Ancestors.” And doesn’t the art exhibition reflect this same topic? There are angels all around us, and they minister to us. People who are caring and loving are saints in our lives. And supportive family members, both those living and those not, nurture us.
The minister and congregation of St. Michael’s are saints, and it is fitting and right that this exhibition honor them.
Christopher Santer
“The Portraits of Saints” series began as a commission for St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2008, and I have continued to add to the collection since completing the initial commission of 75 portraits in the year 2015. (The current series total is 115.) I had created a smaller series of saints in charcoal a few years before the seminary commission but for the new series, I decided to begin in black-colored pencil to achieve greater detail. My goal for all the saints is to make them appear as real as possible (which they were, or are), to depict them as if you could meet them on the street (which people certainly did, and sometimes still do, in each saint’s lifetime). Depending on the saint, I also try to infuse each with a sense of joy, humility, or a “knowing look” rooted in the saint’s deep relationship with Jesus.
I research each saint and his or her traditions, looking to iconography and earlier depictions to decide on “essential” qualities or elements to include, such as important symbols the saint holds, period clothing, ethnicity, hair style, age, etc. For saints who lived after the emergence of photography, I simply choose my favorite photo of each and work from that. The challenge for these latter is different from the earlier saints in that I am drawing from very familiar photos and thus need to capture the likeness rather precisely.
It has been an honor and a humbling experience to build this series, reflecting on the saints’ lives and knowing that we still can meet them on the street.
Kathleen Stark
Saint Barnabas is the patron saint of, as well as the name of, my home church, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Annandale, Virginia.
When I began thinking of what to paint for St. Michael’s exhibit, St. Barnabas immediately came to mind. I thought about what kind of man he was, and why he played such an important role in the entire “Book of Acts.” If Barnabas had not listened to God’s voice, Paul might have stayed in Tarsus. Peter and James might have continued to believe that Jesus was only for the Jews. Christianity would have spread more slowly throughout the world, if at all.
Today, there are many people who carry on St. Barnabas’s work as diplomats, reconcilers, teachers, and role models for what a “true Christian” should be. They do not only speak God’s words but try to live by God’s words. These modern St. Barnabases are the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus in this world. They are St. Barnabas today.
Kreg Yingst
In prayer and stillness, before icons, we see the incarnational light.
~ Linette Martin
I began creating icons, or portraits of faith, at the beginning of 2013. Initially, I made these as a New Year’s resolution: a means of confronting the darkness I was seeing around me and, more specifically, as a direct response to the Sandy Hook School shootings. Through art, I wanted to bring light and healing: something that could be seen and touched, with prayers that could be spoken often by those who read them.
My spiritual devotion became this: Find a prayer — one per week — meditate on it, draw it, carve it, print it, and paint it. Each image would feature the saint, mystic, or poet who spoke it. By the end of the year, I had completed 52 prints.
For the next few years, I’d occasionally complete a new print. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, it became another opportunity to focus on this essential spiritual discipline.
These sacred art prints, like those of my “Psalms” series, allow me to slow down, be silent, and pray.
George Ziobro
A chemist, I experiment. No two of my icons are the same because I constantly experiment with materials, colors, and painting styles. As do all experiments, some of mine succeed and others, well . . . The one thing constant in my work is that I try to stay true to Eastern churches’ canon for iconography.
Painting icons is a form of prayer. One cannot work on an image for 20 hours to 100 hours without reflecting on the scene or the saint and the saint’s importance to the Christian faith community. Each brush stroke in an icon incorporates not only my own hopes, joys, and sorrows but also those of the people who ask me to pray for them.
