More about the artists . . . .

Like Sisters Karlyn Cauley, S.D.S. and Doris Klein, C.S.A. (see "More inspired images"), Salesian Sister Clarice Steinfeldt, S.D.S. is a member of Milwaukee’s Art Studio. “I believe I respond to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as I create various art forms,” Steinfeldt says. “I participate in the creative powers of God by trying to bring beauty and joy into people’s lives. Each piece I do is an original and the spectrum includes papercuttings, candles, baskets, and Christmas ornaments.” She is a member of the Guild of American Papercutters.

SISTER CLARICE Steinfeldt, S.D.S.

BROTHER CLETUS Behlmann, S.M.

Brother Cletus Behlmann, S.M. works in both watercolor and acrylic painting. “My artwork and my vocation are one and the same,” says the Marianist brother. “Both have been a gift from God and a blessing for each day. My art is a way to touch people in a visual way rather than using the spoken word.”

SISTER MARGUERITE Niesen, P.H.J.C.

After 50 years of teaching, Sister Marguerite Niesen, P.H.J.C. discovered her love and talent for nature photography. She now enjoys some new ministries, including being a photographer for the Lindenwood Retreat and Conference Center and the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ Ministry Center in Donaldson, Indiana.

Sister Patricia Reid, R.S.C.J. studied drawing, design, and lettering at Manhattanville College. In 1985 she began studying iconography and since 1987 she has been accepting commissions from both churches and individuals. For her icons, Reid uses the “puddle” method in which the egg tempera paint is kept very liquid and requires that the gessoed (plaster-painted) wood panels be kept completely level. She applies the paint in many thin washes.

“I paint icons as a service to the church,” she says. “I hope to kindle in the viewers a renewed faith in God’s incarnation as Christ and, by extension, his saints. I hope, too, that creating icons for Christians of various denominations contributes in some small way to the unity of Christ’s church.”

SISTER MARY Southard, C.S.J.

“It was in l978 after a significant retreat . . . that I first realized that art could be a real ministry, one to which I was being called,” says Sister Mary Southard, C.S.J. “Some months later I requested that I be allowed to explore how art might be my ‘full time ministry,’ although I didn’t know what that might mean. The response from my leadership was 'yes.' Being a contemplative at heart, my paintings and sculptures explore and give expression to the journey of the soul within our intimate, evolutionary existence, with all its beauty and longing, its passion and mystery.

“In recent months the realization has come again, and strongly—that my artistic gift and the contemplative space it requires is a sacred trust, the core gift through which I am meant be present in the world.”

SISTER JOSEPHINE Pate, C.S.J.P.

“Some say my pen and ink sketches have a calming effect which gives another purpose to my work,” says Sister of St. Joseph of Peace Josephine Pate, C.S.J.P. Admissions coordinator for one of her community’s sponsored ministries, St. Ann’s Home, a skilled nursing facility located in Jersey City, New Jersey, Pate says she has “also dabbled in clay, metal, jewelry, glassblowing, painting, and weaving. These latter works were done more for my own pleasure and creative nature than anything else. I do feel that at times, mine and anyone else’s creative bent should be nurtured/explored for the benefits of a well-grounded/-rounded person.”

SISTER MARIA Liebeck, D.C.

As a young design student hoping to become a fashion illustrator, Sister Maria Liebeck, D.C. attended a retreat at a community of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. When she saw their wing-like habits, she thought, “Look at those lines. Maybe God’s calling me here.”

Over the past 50 years she has taught painting, drawing, and art history as well as serving in a variety of ministries from assistant directress for postulants to classroom teacher and parish work. She has created designs for banners, prayer cards, note cards, drawings of meeting highlights, program designs and covers, and prints of much of her work. (Many of these can be viewed on her website.)

ICON WRITER Sister Jeana Visel, O.S.B. (Holy Family) icon

SISTER THOMA Swanson, O.P. (The Dominican Family Under Mary’s Mantle)

FRIAR VINCENT Petersen, O.F.M. Conv. (Hidden Prayer)

CALLIGRAPHER BROTHER Michael Marcotte, O.S.B.

SISTER ALMA Mary Anderson, C.S.C. (Seeker)

BROTHER JOHN O’Hara, S.A. (Jacob’s Ladder)

PHOTOGRAPHER BROTHER John Lemker, S.M. (Mountain Reflections)

PAINTING BY Sister Maria Marcela Machicote, S.N.D.

SISTER CATHERINE Salani, D.C. (Woman at the Well from the Well’s Perspective)

FATHER FRANK Sabatté, C.S.P. (Ruth)

SISTER NANCY Raboin, P.H.J.C. (The Visitation)