Art for Enjoyment, Inspiration, and Knowledge
Last week I wrote a post about music, one of the fine arts. This week my focus is art.
A Special Painting
Art on the wall of my apartment needed to be shifted since my office things are being relocated. This particular piece has an interesting history. Taking a course at the Cleveland Diocesan Seminary, I learned that a priest living there who was an artist gave the residents his paintings for their rooms. At the time, Sr. Megan Dull, an artist, was my suitemate at Notre Dame College. When I told her what the priest artist did, she invited me to her studio to select one of her paintings for my room.
This is the painting I’ve had hanging in the various convents where I lived. The piece came about somewhat by accident. Sister explained that as she painted a picture on an easel, her paintbrush would collect blobs of paint. She would clean them off by brushing them onto a blank canvas next to the one she was working on. When the project was finished, she took her brush and swirled around the blobs on that extra canvas, creating the painting I have. I love its colors and movement.
Art in My Life
I grew up with art: fingerpainting, oil painting by number kits, coloring books using Crayola crayons (beginning with 8 colors and graduating to 64), and a box of blackline flowers to color. In the fifth grade, our teacher stole time from other subjects to have us create large murals for the big bulletin boards in the halls. These were done in crayon, pressing hard.
When I was in the eighth grade, for Halloween the businesses on Superior Avenue held a contest. Students from neighboring schools were invited to paint a Halloween scene on their windows. My two friends and I painted a fantastic one on the large bank window. Although a judge during a break assured us that ours would be a winner, sadly, it wasn’t. But what fun!
As a grade school teacher, I loved teaching art. Sister Claudette, a master teacher, gave me a slew of ideas for projects that I used with first, third, and eighth grade children. Some of these I later included in my book Jumbo Book of Art Ideas. For that book I asked the Sisters to provide samples of the various art activities. These appear in color in my book. Here are two pages from it:
I’ve done artwork for some of my books. Our Sister Marisa Lilley paints as her full-time ministry. You can see her beautiful work on her blog: https://gracetopaint.org/
She painted St. Peter’s wife for the cover of my book The Fisherman’s Wife: St. Peter’s Spouse:
Famous Artwork
Museums are fascinating places. I love browsing in Cleveland’s Art Museum and soaking in the masterpieces displayed there. On the Internet I can find ones not in its collection.
Who doesn’t love Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”?
Who isn’t moved by Salvador Dali’s crucifixion?
Mary Cassatt’s “Child’s Bath”?
Claude Monet ‘s “Water Lilies?”
To be honest, I don’t understand most of modern art. I prefer realistic art like Norman Rockwell’s.
Art and the Gospel
I think I mentioned this before, but every day a priest emails a piece of art related to the day’s Gospel along with a reflection on both. You can subscribe for this at https://christian.art/
You and Art
Today adult coloring books are popular. You might work in one if you don’t already. Did you know that coloring is calming, reduces stress, aids in sleeping, sharpens the brain, improves motor skills, and provides a meditative experience? It’s worth trying.
You might even register for an art class somewhere.
Or watch a YouTube video teaching art. There are dozens of them. Here is one:
• What is your favorite piece of art, a painting, sculpture, photograph?
• Do you have art hanging or standing in your home? If so, what is it?
• What would you title Sr. Megan’s painting? Why?
Music for Ears, Heart, and Brain
Music has always been a part of my life. To wake me up, my mother sang (usually “Lazy Mary, Will You Get Up?” and “You Are My Sunshine”). At age five I fell in love with the piano and then took lessons. Then as a teenager, I sang along with all the popular songs and bought Hit Parader magazines. For three years I was privileged to usher for the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. Now I’ve been playing the piano every Sunday at Notre Dame Village, where I live, and organize concerts with other musicians for entertainment and singalongs.
I also sing soprano in our community choir.
Fortunately, God gave us humans (but not other creatures except birds in a very limited way) the gift of being able to produce music. We can sing, hum, and whistle. There are myriad instruments and a wide variety of musical genres from polkas and waltzes to jazz and rock.
My Summer Experiences
This summer I’ve been treated to several musical performances. Last Saturday, I was delighted to attend a band concert in Chesterland park. Forty-five musicians in the Geauga Fair Band played sundry numbers. Among them was Rick, our Notre Dame Village baker. After practicing with me for hours for our Village programs, he regained his skills on the clarinet, which he had played in high school.
The week prior to that I saw the musical The School of Rock, in which adults and many children sang, danced, and played instruments. You can catch its highlights by clicking on the link.
Before that I attended a concert at Blossom Music Center presenting Mozart’s violin concerto starring a remarkable violinist whose fingers flew over her instrument for 50 minutes.
In addition, at a July meeting in Columbus for Sisters of Notre Dame in the United States, the entertainment was karaoke. We also had brought along our kazoos!
Music’s Benefits
The National Geographic recently carried an article about music. It said that after age 40 our brains lose about 5% of their volume every decade, which means it’s harder to remember details. Learning to play a musical instrument counteracts and even reverses this. It stimulates memory, coordination and problem-solving as it builds new neurons and pathways. So take piano lessons or pick up your guitar.
Listening to music also has advantages. It is soothing and relaxing, or it can energize us. We sleep to music and dance to it. YouTube has a variety of numbers from classical to jazz that you can click on and listen to.
Music is enjoyable. It makes us clap our hands and tap our feet. Moreover, it is a vehicle for praising God. Composers past and present have set Masses to music and have written hymns. Men have serenaded their loved ones. One memorable experience for me was going to an opera and hearing a soprano hit a high note that shimmered in the air for a long time. That sound was eerie and mystical.
Music is usually a communal event. People sing together at birthday parties and in church. There are marvelous choirs like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and musicians play together as in the famed Cleveland Orchestra, creating magnificent sound. To me this unity is a symbol of heaven.
Music and Jesus
No doubt Mary sang lullabies to baby Jesus and taught him the songs of their people.
His ancestor King David played the harp as a youth and later was responsible for organizing the singers and musicians in the Temple. The 150 psalms (prayer-songs) is attributed to David. After the Last Supper Jesus and the apostles sang a psalm, something done at the end of a Passover meal. (See Matthew 26:30) I wonder if he sang tenor, baritone or bass.
It could be that at weddings like the one at Cana and at worship services Jesus danced with the other men, as was the custom. Psalm 149:3 says, “Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.”
An Ad
In case you missed it, here is my latest book. It explains the sacraments for children ages 8–11, though “children” of all ages would benefit from the text. 32 pages, $2.95 from Twenty-Third Publications
• What is your favorite kind of music?
• Did you have a musical experience this summer?
• What instrument do you play? Would you like to play?
Two Samples
Here are two of my favorite pieces that I learned to play on the piano: “Claire de Lune” played by its composer Debussy himself and “Bohemian Rhapsody” that one of our chefs introduced me to. That is not me at the piano!
Glorious Heavens Viewed from Earth
“The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). They certainly do. Witnessing the red Sturgeon full moon hanging like a jewel in the sky two nights this week, prompts me to write about the phenomena above Earth.
The Moon
The moon has always fascinated people. Its appearance changes as it goes through phases from a delicate crescent sliver to a bright, full disk. And it disappears during a lunar eclipse. Each month’s full moon has a name. The closest celestial body to Earth, the moon causes tides and some say, affects our brains! We sing songs about it like “Moon River” and “Shine on Harvest Moon.”
We speak of the man in the moon, while Japanese see a rabbit formed by the dark areas. Can you see it here?
If you were fortunate, you watched the first lunar landing live. If you missed it, here is a fascinating video of it.
The Sun
The sun, which Earth circles every year, is our source of life as it travels across the sky 93 million miles away. Days when the sun shines perk up our spirits. Our solar system is zooming around the Milky Way Galaxy at about 450,000 miles an hour! Last year we were treated to see a solar eclipse, when the moon passed between the Earth and the sun.
Sunrises and sunsets are arguably the most beautiful sights on Earth.
The Planets
This past Sunday six planets aligned, forming an arc. Four of them could be seen with the naked eye right before dawn. (I forgot to look!) Venus, the planet closest to Earth, can be spotted as the Morning Star or Evening Star.
Gustav Holst composed The Planets. Each of its seven movements is named for a planet. Here is the one called “Jupiter” that expresses abundance of life and vitality. Its seven minutes long.
Stars
Riding across Texas land unlit by electrical lights, I saw a spectacular expanse of stars. What a gift in the night sky! Different cultures discern constellations and create stories to accompany them. There are 88 modern constellations. Arguably the most familiar are the Big and Little Dippers. I can usually spot Orion the hunter because of the three stars that form his belt and Cassiopeia the queen whose stars form a wide “W”.
Meteors
On Monday through Wednesday of this week the Perseid meteor shower peaks. “Falling stars” like these are a sight to behold. Actually they are small rocks or other matter glowing from being heated by speeding through Earth’s atmosphere.
In June a meteorite crashed into a Georgia home. Scientists say it was about 20 million years older than earth.
Aurora Borealis
These colorful northern lights occur when charged particles from the sun collide with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere. This past year the aurora borealis was visible more south and some lucky people in Ohio saw it. There is a southern borealis too, but it is not as accessible.
Comets
Comets are bright bodies that orbit the sun. They are mainly composed of ice, dust, and frozen gases and may develop long tails. Of course, the most famous comet is Halley’s comet, which will be visible from Earth in 2061. It takes 76 years to circle the sun.
Rainbows
Who isn’t excited to see a rainbow shimmering in the sky? The dispersion of sunlight in water droplets creates a spectrum of color. Sometimes a second rainbow is formed. Several times while flying I’ve seen a pilot’s halo. That is a rainbow encircling the shadow of the plane on top of clouds. It flies along beside the plane.
Clouds
Clouds are masses of tiny drops, ice crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere. There are ten basic kinds. Most of them created by the Supreme Artist add breathtaking beauty to the sky.
Even threatening dark clouds are attractive.
Lightning
Bolts of lightning streaking through a dark sky are awesome. Lightning is a giant spark of electricity caused by negatively and positively charged regions interacting within a cloud, between clouds, or from cloud to earth. Then its heat makes air molecules explode, resulting in a flash and thunder.
• What is the most glorious sky you have seen?
Creation Speaks of God and for Him
Creation is one powerful way God speaks to us. In 1987, my book Voices: Messages in Gospel Symbols came out the same time as my book Leading Students into Scripture. (The publisher said I made history because it was the first time they published two books by the same author in the same publishing season.) Because of our current focus on the environment and Pope Francis’s Laudato si’ , the book Voices is even more relevant today. I republished it myself as Voices: God Speaking in Creation in 2017.
Creation’s Messages in Literature
We pray in Psalm 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God,
The vault of heaven proclaims his handiwork . . . .
No utterance at all, no speech,
No sound that anyone can hear;
yet their voice goes out through all the world.
And author Nikos Kazantzakis wrote:
I said to the almond tree
“Sister speak to me of God.”
And the almond tree blossomed.
Creation in My Slice of the World
A man in our ND Village often walks around outside visiting the Mary shrine, our cemetery, and large statue of Mary. For hours he can sit on one of the benches, soaking in the landscape. His explanation: “The property is so beautiful, I want to take advantage of it.” He is right. Our land here in the country is a kind of Paradise. I combed through photos I have of nature at our Province Center, and I share them with you now.
• What facets of creation near you do you cherish?
• When do you take time to drink in the marvels of nature and listen to what they say?
Hymn about Creation and the Creator
For your enjoyment and inspiration, here is a jazzy hymn with a potent message:
Mother Mary Images with Meaning
Mother Mary is the woman most portrayed in art. No doubt, you have your favorite image of her. Today I present three of my favorites.
Mother Mary’s Looks
In the first century, cameras were not yet invented, so we don’t know what Mary looked like. Because she lived in first-century Israel, a Middle Eastern country, we can assume that she most likely had tan skin, brown eyes, brown or black hair and was short—5-feet tall or less. (This description contradicts modern images of pale, blond, blue-eyed Mary.) Visionaries described Mary as beautiful in her apparitions on earth. In these cases she takes on the looks of the nation where she is appearing. For example, Our Lady of Guadalupe came as a pregnant Aztec woman.
Mary’s Statue at Our Convent
At the entrance to the Sisters of Notre Dame property in Chardon, stands a bronze statue of Mary as the Immaculate Conception. Her foot is treading the serpent, symbol of Satan, whom her Son conquered. She gazes down at the viewer with open hands, as though she is welcoming us, preparing to embrace us, or ready to respond to our pleas.
I have an affinity to this statue because long ago we were united. As I took my geometry test at the end of my sophomore year at Notre Dame Academy, Sister David called me away. I was to be photographed standing with this statue, which at the time stood at the Notre Dame provincial center on Ansel Road in Cleveland. This photo was published in our diocesan newspaper along with the article about the Sisters relocating to Chardon. Later, I was pleased to discover that this statue made the move too. Nowadays each evening, weather permitting, I take a walk to it.
My Statue of Mary
When I became diocesan vocation co-director, my office downtown needed a statue of Mary, I decided to find one with Jesus. After all, our Blessed Mother became the most powerful woman in the world because of him. At a conference at Regina High School, on a religious goods table there was a beautiful statue of Mary that conveyed her purity, humility, and tenderness. I fell in love with it at first sight.
However, the statue was of her alone. No Jesus. Besides, it was also too expensive for me. Fortunately, at the end of the day, a sign on the table read, “ Everything half price.” “This statue too?” I asked. “Yes, and you get the clergy discount.” I purchased it, rationalizing that Mary was pregnant with Jesus. The statue now stands in my bedroom. A tiny terra cotta Baby Jesus figurine is next to is.
Mother Mary’s Icon
I usually do not care for icons (“windows into heaven”), but Our Lady of Perpetual Help is an exception. This 15th century picture does show Mary with Jesus, but she is not looking at him. Instead, she is looking directly at us, her other children. She is always ready to help with whatever concern we have in our heart just as she was always there for Jesus.
History of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Supposedly a merchant who stole this icon from a church in Crete brought it to Rome, claiming that it was miraculous. Mother Mary appeared to a girl and asked that the image be placed in the Church of St. Matthew the Apostle, saying, “So that all who seek my help will receive it.” During the war the icon was taken away for safety and disappeared. It was recovered, given to the Redemptorists, and now is displayed in the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome. In the 1990s it was restored.
The Child Jesus
Jesus is not looking at you or his mother. He is frightened because he knows his future depicted above him. Archangels hold the instruments of his crucifixion. Saint Michael has the spear and wine-soaked sponge, while Gabriel carries the cross and nails. Jesus finds refuge in his mother. He grasps her thumb. Notice that he has run to her for comfort so quickly that his sandal falls off and dangles at the bottom of the picture.
The icon’s message is that Mary is a mother to you too. Whenever you are in need, she lovingly invites you to come to her for comfort and help. She will intercede for you with her Son.
Theology of Mother Mary
Click on the link to view a short video summarizing what we Catholics believe about Mary.
• What is your favorite image or images or the Blessed Virgin Mary?
* Where do you display an image of Mary?
Here is arguably the most famous Marian hymn:
