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August 13, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Jeanne Stickling, OP, (Adrian) received the Fra Angelico Award, the highest honor bestowed by the DIA, during the closing Liturgy of the Dominican Institute for the Arts (DIA) gathering, July 22-25, 2024, at Weber Retreat and Conference Center in Adrian. Named after the great Dominican artist, Fra Angelico (1395-1455), the award is given to a DIA member who “exemplifies Fra Angelico’s dedication to furthering the Holy Preaching through art.”

Sister Jeanne, a sculptor and potter, also taught pottery classes. Her sculptures can be found throughout the country. A long-time, active member of the DIA, she has served on the DIA Board and on planning committees.

“I believe that working with clay can bring you into contact with the sacred,” she wrote in her DIA profile. “Your hands touch and grasp all four of the essential elements of Creation: earth, water, air, fire. For a Dominican artist, working with clay becomes a tactile centering prayer.”

Sister Catherine Anderson, OP (Grand Rapids), received the 2024 Spirit Award in recognition of her many years of service to the DIA. Most recent of her many services was her leading a workshop on bookmarks. 

Sister Catherine uses her experience of painting as an opportunity for contemplation. “The last few years I have been more aware how art can influence people in our culture in reference to the needs of the times especially in the area of justice and healing,” she wrote in her profile on the DIA website. “I continue to learn daily.”

About 50 DIA members attended the annual gathering, under the theme, Artists for the Earth. 

Begun more than 25 years ago, the DIA is a grassroots organization of Friars, Sisters, Nuns, Laity, and Associates who preach through the arts. Members range from painters, sculptors, and photographers to musicians, poets, dancers, filmmakers, dramatists, and appreciators of the arts.

Sister Joye Gros, OP (Peace), began her keynote address on the morning of July 23 by affirming the gifts that artists bring to the world. Their gift of seeing and feeling requires attention and intention, she said. “As an artist, your gift is to help others see. You see things others don’t see, and that’s what Jesus did …. We are given gifts that we might share them.”  

Sister Joye, who spent 13 years in leadership positions for the Dominican Sisters of Kentucky, played a key role in the formation of the Dominican Sisters of Peace. She co-directed the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate (CDN) for eight years and now helps congregations of women religious as they plan for their future. 

She spent much of her talk on the theme of the conference, drawing from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ prophetic encyclical on the environment. “This conference calls you not only to respect Earth, but to praise and honor God through your art.” 

Sister Joye challenged the artists to connect to Laudato Si’ through their artistic gifts. “As artists of the Earth, you stay close to the Earth,” she said. “Your eyes and ears, your nose, all your senses can bring you close to the Earth.” She encouraged them to “stay close to the ground to hear the cry of humanity and the cry of Earth.”

While artists focus much of their work on beauty, Sister Joye said, they also need to be connected to the suffering of the world. “The cry of the Earth is the cry of beauty and joy, but it’s also a cry of devastation and pain,” she said. She made reference to Hildegard of Bingen’s image of the need to fly with two wings: joy and suffering. “Trying to fly with one wing will leave us Earthbound and unfulfilled,” Sister Joye noted. She gave specific examples of artists who were transformed by suffering and pain and who used their new gifts to reach out to others in pain. 

Finally, Sister Joye spoke of the need for artists to find healing and comfort from the devastation that they have witnessed and experienced. She held up gratitude as one way to find grace. “Gratefulness allows us to nurture a keen eye that no longer passes the small moments that make up the greater part of our lives,” she said. 

Members of the DIA can also bring encouragement and support to one another in facing times of devastation and struggle. “You artists are part of the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1),” she said. “We are surrounded by great company.” 

Throughout the afternoon of July 23, participants had the opportunity to attend workshops that helped them to experience other forms of art: from liturgical movement and watercolor painting to percussion and other musical instruments and the creation of bookmarks. In recognition of the conference theme, they were also invited to visit the Permaculture area of the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian.

Activities on July 24 included a business meeting and a presentation by Sister Mary Navarre, OP (Grand Rapids), a writer, poet, and storyteller, on the archiving of works of art.

The closing Liturgy continued the participants’ celebration of the arts, with upbeat music and liturgical dance. Sister Nancyann Turner, OP (Adrian), a weaver, preached on the Gospel, focusing on the sower and the seeds. “Jesus invites us to plant seeds and to be very careful where we plant them,” Sister Nancyann said. “We do this by our preaching, our relationships, our shared values, and our ability to disagree without doing violence.”

As artists and sowers, Sister Nancyann said, “we must preach far and wide for the healthcare of our Mother Earth. Speaking out for creation will not just be an activity but a conversion.”

The celebration of the arts continued with dinner and a gala of art, music, and song.

The DIA is open to any Dominican who is dedicated to preaching through the arts or who appreciates the arts. For information on membership or on the organization, visit https://www.diartsop.org.
 

November 9, 2021, Adrian, Michigan – Archivists from a variety of U.S. congregations of Dominican Sisters gathered virtually October 19-21, 2021, to discuss best practices and common issues and to learn from speakers in related fields. Participating were Sister Beverly Bobola, OP, Assistant Archivist, and other members of Dominican Archivists for a Common Repository (DARC), as well as professional archivists and historians from related organizations. 

About 30 people attended the entire summit, while another 20 or so – including leaders of Dominican Congregations – joined the gathering when possible. 

Lisa Schell

Lisa Schell, Archivist for the Adrian Dominican Sisters and a member of the planning committee, said this year’s summit brought in speakers from a variety of fields and from organizations such as the Detroit Institute of Art, the Queens (New York) Memory Project, and the City of Chicago. “We wanted to look outside ourselves,” Lisa explained. “The idea was to collaborate outside of our comfort zone and be inspired.”

Archivists who work in organizations outside of congregations for women religious have much to teach the Dominican archivists, Lisa said. “We could still get the benefit of sharing best practices of archives and get a perspective of what’s possible.”

One keynote speaker – Eileen Markey, journalist and Assistant Professor at City University of New York Herbert H. Lehman College – noted the importance of archivists of women’s religious congregations. “She spoke of how important it is for archivists to understand that much of American history is patriarchal, centered in the male,” Lisa recalled. The archives of women’s religious communities are treasures that can profoundly influence the understanding of the role of women in U.S. history, Lisa added.     

Another speaker, Katie Gordon, is Co-founder and National Director of Nuns and Nones, which brings Catholic Sisters together with young Millennial spiritual seekers to share community, faith, and experiences. “She had a lot to say about Sister stories and how important they are, making them accessible and available to people of younger generations,” Lisa said.

For her part, Lisa especially loves the opportunity to tell the history and stories of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. A lover of history, she taught high school history for 15 years before changing course. She earned a Master of Library and Information Science degree with certificates in Archival Administration and Records Management from Wayne State University in Detroit and worked for eight years as a corporate archivist before coming to work for the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 2018. 
 
A year later, Lisa hosted the Dominican Archivists Summit in Adrian. The focus then, she said, was on standardizing the archival collections of the U.S. Dominican congregations. Participants at the 2019 Summit worked together to bring consistency to their collections and to the vocabulary they use for those collections in preparation for the time when they might be in a common repository.

Hopes are that the 2023 Summit will be in person. However, Lisa said, she is stepping away from planning the Dominican Archivists Summits after being elected Vice President and President-Elect of the Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious (ACWR), a professional organization of about 350 archivists serving congregations of Sisters in the United States.  

Whether working with Sister Beverly at the Adrian Dominican Motherhouse, with archivists of other Dominican congregations, or with Colleagues from the ACWR, Lisa relishes her work. “I love Sisters’ history and the Sisters here,” she said. “It’s so exciting to be part of a community that is in alignment with things I believe in … It’s a rare opportunity to be a professional woman and surrounded by women.”
 

Feature photo: Katie Gordon, Co-founder and National Organizer of Nuns and Nones – an alliance of Catholic Sisters and diverse spirituality seekers – offers a presentation on programming and outreach engagement during the summit of Dominican Archivists.