Become an Apprentice at a Unique Catholic Art School: the Stabat Mater Studio

The new Stabat Mater Studio in Tyler, Texas, is dedicated to training the next generation of liturgical artists.

Over the last 30 years, there has been a proliferation of ateliers and small independent schools in the United states which teach classical naturalism through the academic method of drawing and painting. While it is important that the basic skills of drawing and painting be taught to a high level, typically, these schools are secular in outlook and teach a philosophy of art that undermines the Faith.  

The Stabat Mater Studio, on the other hand, is an authentically Catholic environment that offers the five core disciplines of traditional Catholic artistic training (as described in my book The Way of Beauty). 

Under the guidance of Master Artist Robert Puschautz, students are immersed in the academic method that was developed by the great artist of the Renaissance. This is not just art instruction, but a holistic formation, integrating faith, prayer and artistic practice.

I met Robert 15 years ago and have maintained contact over the years. He came to the Scala Foundation conference last year in Princeton, New Jersey, where he met renowned iconographers Aidan Hart and Jonathan Pageau and was impressed by their description of the way that Byzantine iconography training aims at forming the whole person. He has now adapted that approach to the more naturalistic Western tradition.

The unique and uniquely Catholic curriculum combines drawing and painting fundamentals with sacred geometry and design principles in harmony with Catholic theology and philosophy. Students will copy masterworks, work from life, and actively participate in real church commissions, using an apprenticeship approach that was the norm for artists before the modern age.

In an increasingly secular world, Stabat Mater stands apart by unapologetically championing sacred aesthetics and craftsmanship in service of the Church.

To find out more and to apply, go to www.stabatmater.org/study.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

St Mark, cast drawing

Still Life

The Immaculate Heart of Mary

St Joseph and the Child Jesus, after Ribera

Master Copy: from the Coronation of the Virgin by Velazquez

Ecce Homo, after Ribera

Join an Online Discussion with Iconographer Jonathan Pageau, Jan 30th.

The Scala Foundation is inviting you to their next online interactive discussion, featuring the iconographer Jonathan Pageau on January 30, from 12-1 PM ET; You can RSVP by following this link; the event is free of charge. Jonathan is one of today’s leading iconographers and a widely-sought after public speaker who excels at plumbing Scripture and tradition to explore the rich symbolism of Christianity, including that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. I certainly plan on attending!

Images of the Virgin Mary abound in nearly every Christian culture. To understand Her role in salvation, scholars often refer to Scriptural images such as the burning bush in Exodus. Why are there so many symbols that reflect on the meaning of Mary’s life? How is it that one woman has been so influential in the individual identity of so many people, the formation of the church, and the memory of nations? What does it mean to say that reality is veiled through symbols? How does Marian imagery reveal universal archetypes—that is, models of a life of faith?   

Scala’s Executive Director Margarita Mooney Clayton will serve as the host of this interactive conversation. As a sociologist and contextual theologian, Mooney Clayton has written on and taught about Marian devotion among Italian, Haitian and Mexican immigrants to the United States as well as African-Americans. This online event will be structured as a seminar—a guided discussion in which the audience may interact with the hostess and guest speaker. Mr Pageau will further explore the symbolic meanings of Scripture at his keynote address at Scala’s conference on Art, the Sacred and the Common Good on the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary, April 21-22.

If you RSVP here, Scala Foundation will send the link for participation to anyone who registers. And if you haven’t done so already, register to join Margarita and me in-person or via livestream for Scala’s annual conference from April 21-22, 2023, featuring artists such as Mr Pageau and my old teacher Aidan Hart!

Christianity’s Neglected Cultural Weapons - Signs and Symbols

I recently interviewed the accomplished artist and teacher of icon carving, Jonathan Pageau. He is also one of the co-founders of the excellent Orthodox Arts Journal. Some will be aware that he has been gaining an increasingly high profile in social media - it doesn’t do any harm when Jordan Peterson regular retweets you! He has been posting movie reviews and talks on his YouTube channel, and they are gaining interest from a wide and increasing audience that includes many non-Christians and even atheists.

I wanted to know why.

What he is doing, he told me, is analyzing the culture, and especially movies, in terms of the symbols of the Christian faith. As an iconographer, he is conversant in traditional symbolism, a field that is called “iconology” (in contrast to “iconography”, the creation of the images.) He explains in the interview that his analyses are based on the premise that traditional Christian symbolism is not arbitrary, but appeals to something that is part of our nature, and which is placed there by God, so that we might have faith and see Him in all that is beautiful and good around us, especially in creation. The interconnectedness of all things forms a network of relationships in the cosmos; this allows us to make the mental leap to grasp the truth that all the created order relates to something greater and uncreated, but invisible, which is, of course, God.

Christian symbolism powerfully stimulates this facility in us, precisely because it participates in the natural symbolism of creation, perceived at the very least as its beauty.

Many successful filmmakers use it, often unknowingly and instinctively, to make a connection with their audiences. If he is right (and I think he is) then what he is explaining is something that could be used consciously and, if done well, even more successfully, both to increase viewing figures for films and to evangelize the culture. While it might be possible to do this cynically, the more that it is distorted or used for wrong purposes, the more its power is undermined. It is like a charism; as soon as we try to misuse it, it disappears. The reason that Jonathan’s message resonates with atheist and believer alike is that they recognize the pattern of interconnectivity as something that reflects an underlying truth. Jonathan’s YouTube channel, called The Symbolic World, is here; I encourage you to investigate.

Two points that will be of interest to NLM readers: he graciously told me that we were the first to feature his work anywhere, and as a result, eight years ago, he obtained a commission from a bishop which was the endorsement that launched his career as an artist. Furthermore, he explained that the inspiration for the Orthodox Arts Journal was the approach to writing about Catholic culture and the liturgy that was being used by the New Liturgical Movement!

Florentine Street Shrines - Will Today’s Della Robbia Please Step Forward?

When I was studying portrait painting in Florence several years ago, I was struck by the charm of the old street shrines that can be seen built into the walls of the narrow streets all over Italy. Many date back to the time of the building itself.

 

 

Not all are still obviously the focus for prayer; many seemed to unnoticed in cities in which Renaissance art abounds, and much of the population has fallen away from the practice of the Faith.

 

Since then, I have wondered from time to time if this is something we could do today, in a time and in places where Catholicism is not the dominant faith and the driving force the culture?

My feeling is we might, in many instances, struggle to persuade local government to go along with such a thing. However, perhaps if done tastefully and discretely on private property that is visible from the public street, it might be possible.

I believe that if such a thing is truly beautiful, even non-believers would want it; and its beauty would to a large degree disarm potential critics by removing their desire to take offense from outward signs of the Faith. I have a friend who runs a menswear shop in the UK, and he always places a small icon of the face of Christ, (of the Mandylion type) low down on the wall behind the counter. While it is not an obviously bold statement of faith, he deliberately places in such a position that when people pay for their clothes, they will see it on the wall behind the till; this gives the impression that they are peeking into his personal space and seeing an image that is there for his private devotion. He says that nobody ever objected, and many asked about it.

Non-Christians (and for that matter many Christians too) are much more likely to be irritated if the art is ugly or sentimental. I have often wondered, for example, if the militant secularists are perhaps doing us a favor by objecting to the kitschy shopping mall Nativity scenes that seem to be standard issue for retailers nowadays. Perhaps they are the unwitting agents of the Holy Spirit? Before my conversion in my early thirties, piped carol music and brightly-colored plastic McChristmasses gave me the impression that Christianity was for saddoes who didn’t even know that they ought to be embarrassed by being associated with this stuff. This did far more to put me off the Church than tales of Popes fathering illegitimate children or the brutality of the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic and the Middle East!

If we did decide to do this, what form should it take?

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Where Can Catholics Learn to Paint or Carve Icons? Go to Hexaemeron.org

I am often asked for recommendations of classes that would be good for Catholics to learn traditional iconography. One place to consider is Hexaemeron.org, which has just announced the first of its icon painting and icon carving courses for 2018. They are now taking students for their “Six Days of Creation” integrated series of workshops for different levels of experience. Go to their site for more details.

Hexaemeron.org a non-profit based in the US, founded in 2003, which offers short courses and workshops in a variety of locations around the world, but has its main focus in North America. It is founded by Orthodox Christians, and is welcoming and respectful to Roman and Byzantine Catholics.

All their classes in painting, carving and embroidery are always of the highest quality, and the work of two of their teachers has been featured in the past on this site. Some readers will be familiar with painter Marek Czarnecki, who is Catholic. I wrote about two icons of Western saints that he painted for Our Lady of the Mountains, in Jasper Georgia, here.

Here is his Saint Cecilia:

Another teacher that readers may be familiar with is the Canadian icon carver, Jonathan Pageau. Here is his icon of Jonah.