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A New Zealand artist who once dismissed sacred icons as unattractive paintings by people with no artistic talent doesn’t seem like a likely choice to design sacred art.
“I just thought Mary always looked so sad, this is done by people who really don’t know how to paint, the perspective’s all out …,” Sr Josephine Marie says.
That changed about 10 years ago when Michael Pervan, the director of the Studio of John the Baptist in Auckland, invited her to be his apprentice.’
Since then, Josephine – a religious sister of the Brisbane-based Sisters of Mary Morning Star – has produced dozens of exquisite icons using pure gold leaf and other natural materials and has taught the ancient technique of iconography.
When Brisbane’s Campion College wanted someone to design a stained-glass window skylight for its new library, they chose Josephine.
She describes the endeavour as an intensive but rewarding labour of love.
The Campion Board wanted 15 pictorial panels, surrounded by an additional 20 panels containing phrases in Latin and English, under the heading ‘Fides et Ratio’ (Faith and Reason) – the overarching theme of the window.
“Normally we don’t take on such big projects, due to the fact that they take so long, and because we live a monastic life we can only give so much time to this kind of work. That’s been a big learning curve – to just give it the time that I can when I can.
“The artistic process is something I really enjoy, but it is very consuming in the sense that a project like this inhabits you, so when you finally get to the stage where it’s outside of yourself, it’s already like a release.”
Josephine – who, with three other sisters, joined the Brisbane convent on 12 September, says she was given the creative freedom to design the overall image.
“I wanted to have Christ as the Truth, and from him begins a vine, so the saints are like the branches, all bearing fruit with Christ as the source and centre,” she says.
Each saint is depicted with a different fruit, symbolically linked to his or her ministry, character, or history.
Each panel features a native Australian flower or plant.
“The skylight is divided into three columns, so we have the river of life with little fish in the centre, depicting students who enter Campion seeking the truth as they swim upriver to Christ, who is the source, with Our Lady Seat of Wisdom above as Christ’s first disciple.”
The two side columns are both green, symbolising “the trees that grow alongside the banks of the river of life”.
Founded in 2014 in Spain, the Sisters of Mary, Morning Star have 250 Sisters worldwide in 20 priories.
The non-cloistered, contemplative community consists of a life of silent prayer, study of scripture, philosophy and theology, and manual labour to meet their living expenses.
They begin and end their day with an hour of Eucharistic adoration and open their convents to offer formation in philosophy and theology, Bible studies and spiritual direction.
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