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August 22, 2023, Florissant, Missouri – Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, received the Fra Angelico Award for her artistic gifts in weaving and quilting and generosity in sharing those gifts. 

The Fra Angelico Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Dominican Institute for the Arts (DIA), an organization of Dominican Friars, Sisters, Associates, and Laity who are involved in or appreciate the arts. The award is named for the great Dominican artist of the Renaissance, noted for paintings, sculptures, and other artwork that often depicted scenes from Scripture. 

The award presentation occurred during the opening session of the DIA’s 25th-anniversary gathering, Silver Weavings from Gifted Hands, held July 25-28, 2023, at the Pallottine Retreat and Conference Center in Florissant, Missouri. 

Sister Nancyann, unable to attend the DIA Gathering in person, watched the opening session on Zoom with the encouragement of Sisters Kathleen Voss, OP, Joella Miller, OP, and Joanne Peters, OP. “I was really surprised when it happened,” Sister Nancyann said. “The award is a reminder of how much preaching and how much good one can do through the arts. We can use music, poetry, creative writing, drama, the visual arts to inspire, to rally spirit, to pray, to celebrate, and to grieve.”  

Sister Nancyann said she loves printmaking and graphic arts but has focused on weaving and quilting from her time in ministry in Appalachia. “These art forms combine materials, threads, and yarns to make a new whole,” she said. “They are both very contemplative, prayerful endeavors.” She has shared these creations with her family, making quilt comforters for 14 of her nieces and nephews – with four to go. 

One of Sister Nancyann Turner’s weavings is exhibited at the INAI art gallery.

Like other members of the DIA, Sister Nancyann sees art as a form of preaching, helping people to pray, contemplate, celebrate, and lament, “to be open to the love, the care and the creation, and the creativity of our God.”

Sister Nancyann also sees art as very therapeutic. She has worked with people in art therapy in psychiatric wards and rural settings where people tend to be non-verbal. “Art is a safe place to integrate your feelings,” she explained. “I believe that if all of us stirred our creativity, we would have a much more peaceful and compassionate world. Putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes helps you feel compassion.”

For years, she worked with the children in the Rosa Parks Children’s Program at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, helping the students to create art as an outlet for their emotions and a form of therapy. 

“I absolutely saw a difference in the children,” she said. “You can see them walk in angry from some after-school event, and they might put layers and layers of some color, and you see the anger lessen and the mood move from purples and blacks to brighter, more joyful colors.”

Art also connects people to God. “I think many of us pray through the arts,” Sister Nancyann said. “A color or a poem or a story or a piece of music or a symbol or ritual are all wonderful, nonverbal ways of praying.”  

Sister Nancyann has been a member of the DIA throughout the 25 years of its existence. “I believe the DIA has done a lot to strengthen the concept of preaching through the arts, to uplift somebody’s spirits,” she said. The organization has also connected the men’s provinces and the congregations of Dominican Sisters throughout the world. It has “also offered support to Sisters and Friars who might have been the only artist in their congregation or province,” she added. 
 

August 22, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – Many Sisters continue their formal Jubilee celebration – marking milestone anniversaries of religious life – with less formal gatherings with family members and friends. But Sister Marie Geraldine Brownell, OP, who celebrated 75 years of religious life this year, found a special place to continue her celebration: in Heaven.

Sister Geraldine suffered from failing health and at times came close to death’s door – but she lived just long enough to celebrate and fully enjoy the Congregation’s formal celebration of the lives of 38 Jubilarians – with Mass and a special dinner in late June. During that night, however, she died – taking her joyful Jubilee celebration to Heaven, to the wonder and joy of many Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, friends, and Co-workers.

Sister Judy Friedel, OP, her Chapter Prioress, recalled the earlier months when Sister Geraldine was suffering from illness – and her sudden rally in time for the Jubilee celebration. “It was the most astounding rallying I had ever heard about,” Sister Judy said. “Her heart was so into it, and she was so determined [to celebrate her Jubilee]. She spent a couple days celebrating her Jubilee. She enjoyed it. She was wide awake and as engaged as she could be.” 

Sister Mary Anne Yanz, OP, who had befriended Sister Geraldine and often coaxed her into enjoying social events and pizza parties, also witnessed her rally. Sister Mary Anne took Sister Geraldine to the Mass in her wheelchair and shared the Jubilee dinner with her. “She looked so nice, especially with a nice wig” rather than the turban she had habitually worn, Sister Mary Anne recalled. “Marie Geraldine enjoyed her meal. [She] was a good friend. She will be missed by many.”

Sister Mary Anne had a hint of what was to come when, later in the day of the Jubilee celebration, she checked in with Sister Geraldine only to learn that Sister Geraldine was quarantined with a sore throat. Sister Mary Anne learned the next morning about her friend’s entrance into Heaven.  

Even in her time of illness, Sister Geraldine brought joy into the hearts of others. “I loved conversing with her,” Sister Judy said. “She was a grateful, joyful woman, even in the circumstances. I never heard a complaint from her. She was a happy person and she ended her life on a really high, happy note – the way she lived.”

Sister Judy emphasized the belief of many of Sister Geraldine’s friends that she would never survive to celebrate her Jubilee. “It was a grace, a gift, but she was open to it,” she said. “Nobody would have placed bets on that, that she would even make it through the events of Jubilee. She got herself there. She had a good preparation for Heaven. She stepped into it – it must have been glorious.” 

However Sister Marie Geraldine experienced her entrance into Heaven, she left members of the Motherhouse community in awe and in joy, in spite of the sadness of losing her daily presence. Read more about her life on her In Memoriam page.

Feature photo at top:  Sister Marie Geraldine Brownell, OP, right, enjoys her Jubilee dinner with, from left, Sisters Mary Anne Yanz, OP, and Myra Jackson, OP.