Catholic Arts Exhibition returns to Saint Vincent College
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Nationwide Juried Catholic Arts Competition and Exhibition will return to Saint Vincent College in October, continuing an opportunity for artists inspired by religious subject matter to exhibit their works.
The biennial competition in Latrobe was founded and organized by Brother Nathan Cochran until his untimely death in July 2014. Plans for the 2014 show had already been underway and it was held as scheduled that fall. A commitment by the college and funding from an anonymous donor ensured the 2016 competition.
Jordan Hainsey, who worked with Brother Nathan on several previous competitions, is the exhibition manager for the 2018 competition, the seventh. The college tapped him to take on the show, from planning to installation, when he recently returned to the campus. He is a seminarian for the Diocese of Covington, Ken., who is studying at Saint Vincent Seminary. He is also an artist whose work has been juried into past competitions.
Brother Nathan, who was chair of the college Department of Fine Arts and director of The Saint Vincent Gallery, initiated the competition in 2001 with the hope of providing a venue for church officials and artists to meet, dialogue and perhaps create new original artworks for churches and liturgical spaces.
Mr. Hainsey said that he intends to stay true to Brother Nathan’s vision. That includes maintaining the competition’s identity as Catholic, which is also that of the college.
“There are many Christian art exhibitions but few Catholic. We want to cultivate the best of what there is and have it submitted [here],” he said. “The college has been really supportive, along with the archabbey, both in memory of Brother Nathan and because of the exhibition’s importance to the school.”
The competition, which offers $3,250 in cash awards, is donorfunded for the first time, and Mr. Hainsey is seeking sponsors. Online submission is another first. Entries must be postmarked by Aug. 3 or electronically submitted by 11:59 p.m. Aug. 3. For details, visit http://gallery.stvincent.edu or call 724-805-2107.
The juror is Elizabeth Lev, an American-born art historian who specializes in Christian art and architecture, Baroque painting and sculpture and High Renaissance art. She is professor of art and architecture for the Italian campuses of Christendom College and Duquesne University, and a licensed guide for the city of Rome and the Vatican Museums. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in art history from the University of Bologna.
She has served as a Vatican analyst for NBC and has appeared on “Today,” “Nightline” and “60 Minutes.” She has spoken about the arts and humanities at the United Nations and in a TED talk.
“She’s very dynamic, very enthusiastic,” Mr. Hainsey said. “She has a lot of energy.”
Ms. Lev is open to contemporary expressions as well as traditional, he said. “She gets to the heart of the work, to that pumping vessel.”
Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., founder of Saint Vincent Archabbey, College and Seminary, once said: “Religion and art must cooperate to give our liturgy an outward splendor, great dignity, and even grandeur, to render it dear to the people.”
Such sentiments were the “impetus and catalyst for Brother Nathan to create this competition and exhibition,” Mr. Hainsey said.