There’s a great peace that comes from that. It takes the ego out,” he said of his new artistic work.Ībove all, life at the abbey hilltop for Brother André and his fellow monks revolves around the tolling of the bells for prayer: “It makes it simple to be in the moment. I’m using the geometry, the colors and techniques that had been established in a canon hundreds of years ago. He’s also the curator of the abbey museum and is tasked to care for the bell tower. He’s also influenced by the French Nabis movement, including Maurice Denis who, as a Catholic painter, felt it “necessary to celebrate all the miracles of Christianity” in his work.īetween praying five times a day with his fellow monks and fulfilling other duties, Brother André manages to devote only 20 minutes a day to painting religious art and writing icons. “The Symbolists tried to paint grace as if it was something tangible and not just something unseen,” he said. What happens as a result is really quite astounding, as you’ve seen with Brother André.”Īs an artist, Brother André draws much inspiration from the Symbolist movement. One of Brother André’s instructors, Kathy Sievers, has watched Brother André’s growth as an iconographer over the years: “As an iconographer, you take all your skills and lay them at the service of the Church and the Tradition. They can be viewed on the Mount Angel Abbey website ( ), along with his religious paintings. The icons include the Mother of Perpetual Help and Sts. He writes icons and paints religious art for the abbey, as well as for churches and individuals. Today, he’s the abbey’s junior iconographer. There’s a self-emptying that’s necessary, which is a great experience as well, because it crosses over into my formation as a monk,” he said. “I basically had to let go of everything I knew about drawing and painting. “He’s a good monk, very hardworking and very faithful,” Father Recker remarked.Įarly on in his monastic formation, Brother André began taking icon-writing courses at the Iconographic Arts Institute in Mount Angel, Ore., upon the abbot’s advice. Last September, when now-Brother André made his final vows, he knew he was where he was supposed to be: “There was a great sense of relief after I made my vows, just being able to relax and to try to be the best monk I can be each day.” Today, he’s as clean-cut as everybody else at the monastery, save for the tattoos that had to stay, mainly for practical reasons. His application to the monastery simply authenticated his desire for God and his ability to enter and live in a monastic context,” Father Recker said. “He was well on his way by the time he came here. Riding his BMW motorcycle, the leather-clad Love cut a novel figure in a community of clean-cut monks and seminarians with his pierced ears, dreadlocks and tattoos. “Hey, I’m just one of the monks here, nothing special,” he says in frustration over being singled out for something skin deep. He’s now Brother André Love, named after St. Love made his final profession as a Benedictine monk at Mount Angel Abbey in Saint Benedict, Ore., last September, after five years of monastic formation. “‘Who’s this monk that has the tattoos? What’s his story?’ people ask,” Benedictine Father Odo Recker, Mount Angel Abbey’s vocations director, remarked. Her work can be found in many private and public collections including: Bank of Ireland, the OPW, Glanbia, St James's Hospital, Carlow Institute of Technology, the EPA, John De Vere, the Haverty Trust and the Department of Education.Tattoo artist Bobby Love had no clue he would some day become a Benedictine monk and an iconographer. She has won numerous awards and was selected for the Zurich Portrait Prize Exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2015. Carlow, Catherine Barron studied at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. How we tell the story also conveys how we feel about it, how we understand it."īorn in Co. The stories we tell can relay something that has happened, something that is happening, but also something we imagine or hope for. You can view more information on Kathy Barron below. "When we want to say something, we pick out and articulate specific details to communicate an experience or a particular meaning. On record we show 70 phone numbers associated with Kathy in area codes such as 215, 801, 859, 606, 707, and 30 other area codes. The imagery is on the one hand situational - with a series of studio-based self-portraits and work drawing on an archive of family photos dating back to the 1950s - and on the other allegorical, as the artist leads us on a confessional and intensely emotional journey through her life.įor Barron, stories are fluid, with no definitive beginning, middle or end - rather they hang within the scaffolding of our existence. The work charts the artist's own, very personal story. In recent years, Catherine Barron has painted on salvaged metal plates, 12-inch Bakelite records, old book covers and vintage photographs, incorporating elements of the surface support into the finished paintings.
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