Catholic artists use creative talents to evangelize through beauty
George Capps once heard it said that beauty is to truth as deliciousness is to food.
“What we call ‘beauty’ is sensing the goodness of what is actually there, and what is true about this world and about its Creator,” he said.
He and his sister Polly work to bring beauty into the world through the sacred art they create in their studio, Goretti Fine Art. They were among the 20 featured artists at the Catholic Art Festival held Oct. 1 at Epiphany of Our Lord Parish.
Beauty is an important tool in drawing people to God, who Himself is goodness and truth, Epiphany pastor Father Michael Rennier said at the festival.
“Beauty is inherently evangelistic,” Father Rennier said. “All of this is a reflection of God’s beauty, and it all leads back to God.”
By using their imagination and honing their talents, artists participate in the creative work of God, making His presence visible in the world in a special way. In St. John Paul II’s 1999 “Letter to Artists,” he wrote, “None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of His hands.”
“May your art help to affirm that true beauty which, as a glimmer of the Spirit of God, will transfigure matter, opening the human soul to the sense of the eternal,” St. John Paul II wrote.
Rachel Stinehart, the festival’s founder, said she hopes that the artists’ work is a “little glimpse into what the beauty of heaven will be.”
“I hope people come away with a renewed and revitalized idea of how gorgeous our God’s creativity can be,” she said. “We’re just tapping a little bit into the beauty that we can’t understand yet. To see it in its entirety, someday — it’ll just be mind-blowing.”
‘The source of the good’
George and Polly Capps launched Goretti Fine Art a little more than a year ago, specializing in custom murals, paintings and altarpieces.
“We thought this was a way that we could meet a need and glorify God through the talents that He’s given us,” George said. “On a personal level, we both feel incredibly fulfilled by creating artwork to evangelize and to glorify God. We’re both practicing Catholics — it’s a huge part of our life, so being able to translate that into our work is wonderful.”
Growing up in St. Anselm Parish in west St. Louis County as two of eight children, Polly remembers pretending to paint with a dry brush while George, 12 years her senior, worked on his first oil paintings.
“We were the two siblings in our family who were really interested in art, so we got to share that when we were young, and then now to have the studio together — it’s really special,” Polly said.
“The Apotheosis of John Paul the Great” is one of their favorite projects to date. The epic-scale, 5-foot-by-6-foot painting depicting St. John Paul II arriving in heaven, welcomed by the Blessed Mother and several saints, took the duo about five months to complete.
“A lot of people find that looking at sacred images can really help to foster a prayer life and meditation,” George said. “I have a very vivid imagination. I really appreciate how this uniquely human ability to imagine what doesn’t exist can help to foster a spiritual understanding of the world and appreciation for what God does when He envisions the world.”
The majority of their work comes through commissions, and both siblings are involved with the process from concept development through the actual painting work and completion of each piece. Ultimately, they aim to use their art to convey truth through beauty, leading others to wonder and awe of God’s goodness.
“In our Catholic Christian worldview, creation is fundamentally good, even if it’s sometimes broken and fallen,” George said. “Our artwork affirms the goodness of the material creation, but tries to point beyond that to the source of the good. So, even when occasionally we’re producing something that’s not explicitly religious, we’re always trying to point the viewer to the divine source of the goodness that we see in the visible world around us.”
“God is beauty, so when you see something that is truly beautiful, you in some way are seeing a piece of God,” Polly added.
Giving thanks, planting seeds
In the summer of 2020, Adelaide Cole — like many, in the midst of the pandemic — found herself with extra time on her hands.
A graphic designer with a background in painting and drawing, Cole started illustrating Bible verses, using Adobe Fresco on her iPad, and sharing them on Instagram.
“I wanted to do something for God because of all the blessings He’s given me in my life, and I wanted to do something that would reach people and provide encouragement,” she said. “It can be as simple as ‘Give thanks to the Lord, give thanks always’ from First Thessolonians. The verses about praising God resonate with me the most.”
Cole, a parishioner at St. Mary Magdalen in Brentwood, named her project The Designs of His Heart after reading Psalm 33: “The plan of the Lord stands forever, the designs of His heart through all generations.”
“It resonated with me thinking of God as a designer and a creator,” Cole said. “I love that the verse says the designs come from His heart, because for me that evokes that His plans come from a place of love and care for us.”
The creative work of illustration became a form of visio divina for her, she said.
“I pray with (the verse) and ask myself what it means to me and what it might mean to other people,” she said. “We all have moments when we’re happy, we’re sad, we’re confused, we’re waiting, we’re striving to be more virtuous — all of those things are touched on in the verses that I’ve illustrated.”
In addition to sharing her work on Instagram, Cole also creates prints, cards and stickers with Bible verse illustrations and other digital artwork. She hopes that the outward beauty of her artwork can help attract people to the deeper truths within.
“Some of my secular friends like my posts on Instagram — whether they read them, I don’t know, but they always tell me they liked this particular illustration or that one,” she said. “And so whether or not they’re getting the message, it’s planting a seed, and if it impacts at least one person in a positive way, then I’ve done my job.”
Masterpieces to be worn
Terri Fowler, a parishioner at the Oratory of Sts. Gregory and Augustine and mother of seven children ages 14-1, was having trouble finding dresses for her daughters that were both beautiful and practical. So, she decided to create them herself.
In June, Fowler launched Our Lady’s Closet, an online store selling dresses she describes as modest, simple and Catholic. Using fabric with designs created by Catholic artists such as The Little Rose Shop, Fowler sews dresses that make it possible to literally wear your faith on your sleeve.
“It’s very much twofold: You have the artwork that draws somebody in by expressing our faith through beautiful images, and at the same time, it’s showing that something modest can be really beautiful,” Fowler said. “Both are a testament to our Catholic faith.”
Fabric patterns include the St. Therese, a print of roses with “St. Therese, pray for us” written in small, winding script; several Marian-inspired designs including Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Immaculate Heart; a “hidden Rosary” floral print and several others. In October, Our Lady’s Closet started offering women’s sizes in addition to girls’ — and yes, the dresses have pockets.
“A lot of the designs that I choose have something that is outwardly Catholic but kind of in a subtle way,” Fowler said. “I’m hoping that by being choosy about the artwork I use for my dresses, somebody who might not know about the Immaculate Heart, for example, might think it’s a cool design and start asking questions about it.”
The artwork might also be a source of inspiration for the one wearing the dress, Fowler said. “If a girl is literally wearing the Hail Mary, it might remind her to pray; it might remind others to pray.”
Although sewing is not always seen as art in a traditional sense, Fowler believes she is similarly creating beautiful things that point people to God.
“Through The Little Rose Shop and other artists, they are providing me with a skill that I don’t have — I can’t draw — and I combine that with the talent that I do have,” she said. “And it creates a masterpiece that can be worn and seen out in the world. When you think about painted artwork that’s maybe hung on a wall, you think of a product to look at — and that’s what this is, a product that is not just stationary, it’s spreading that joy to others.”
>> Find the artists online
George and Polly Capps, Goretti Fine Art: gorettifineart.com
Adelaide Cole, The Designs of His Heart: adelaidecole.com or on Instagram @thedesignsofhisheart
Terri Fowler, Our Lady’s Closet: ourladyscloset.com
