Art by Contemporary Jesuits

Art begins with vision, but it cannot end there. In Stephen Sondheim's musical, "Sunday in the Park with George," artist Georges Seurat protests that if a vision stays in the artist's head, it is "as good as dead"; to be art, to be, "it has to come to light."

There are Jesuit artists who, in a variety of media, bring their vision to light in their work of creation. They continue the Lord's work of bringing from nothing--or rather from pure vision--something that in color and light and form and substance helps others to see.

We present here sampler from the Winter 1995 print edition of Company. For a copy of "Art," Company's Winter issue, send a 9" x 12" self-addressed envelope with $1 for postage and handling to Company, 3441 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago IL 60657.

To expedite the loading of the images, the collection has been broken up into several parts.

Part 1 of 4.

Kneeling Figure in the Light

Oil on canvas

Mr. Robert Gilroy, SJ, is in his third year of studies at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass. He sculpts layers of paint with a palette knife. "It's really as if the image is there in the underpainting and the overlaid color, and all I do is bring it out and highlight it."

The Black Madonna

Fr. William McNichols, SJ, created this rendition of a nineteenth-century Russian icon. Since 1990 he has been studying and painting icons in Albuquerque and has created well over 50 of them on a variety of religious themes.

Teepees and Trailer

Fr. Thomas Rochford, SJ, director of communications for the Jesuit Conference in Washington, D.C., graduated with a degree in graphic design from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He took this photo at a pow-wow near St. Ignatius, Mont.

Columbine

Fr. Theodore Thepe, SJ, has been teaching chemistry since 1961 and photography since 1972 at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He developed a course that combined the two disciplines: The Chemistry and Physics of Photography. He specializes in close-ups and portraits of flowers and night photography.

Go to Part 2.

Go to Part 3.

Go to Part 4.

	Kneeling Figure in the Light Oil on canvas Mr. Robert Gilroy, SJ, is in his third year of studies at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass. He sculpts layers of paint with a palette knife. "It's really as if the image is there in the underpainting and the overlaid color, and all I do is bring it out and highlight it."

The Black Madonna Fr. William McNichols, SJ, created this rendition of a nineteenth-century Russian icon. Since 1990 he has been studying and painting icons in Albuquerque and has created well over 50 of them on a variety of religious themes.

	Teepees and Trailer Fr. Thomas Rochford, SJ, director of communications for the Jesuit Conference in Washington, D.C., graduated with a degree in graphic design from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He took this photo at a pow-wow near St. Ignatius, Mont.

Columbine Fr. Theodore Thepe, SJ, has been teaching chemistry since 1961 and photography since 1972 at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He developed a course that combined the two disciplines: The Chemistry and Physics of Photography. He specializes in close-ups and portraits of flowers and night photography.