Opening a Window to God: Sister Clairvaux McFarland has found an ...
Opening a Window to God: Sister Clairvaux McFarland has found an ...
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<strong>Opening</strong> a <strong>Window</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>God</strong>: http://www.texnews.com/1998/religion/icons0802.html<br />
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ReporterNews Archives<br />
Sunday, August 2, 1998<br />
<strong>Opening</strong> a <strong>Window</strong> <strong>to</strong><br />
<strong>God</strong>: <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong><br />
<strong>McFarl<strong>an</strong>d</strong> <strong>has</strong> <strong>found</strong> <strong>an</strong><br />
unexpected mission: the<br />
<strong>an</strong>cient art of<br />
iconography<br />
By Clark Morphew / Knight Ridder Newspapers<br />
ROCHESTER, Minn. Icons have not had a deep tradition in the<br />
Catholic church. For centuries, those sternfaced saints were the<br />
sole province of Orthodox religions, with each ethnic tradition<br />
embracing its individual style.<br />
But now there are a h<strong>an</strong>dful of Catholic religious sisters who have<br />
entered in<strong>to</strong> the <strong>an</strong>cient art of iconography (the painting of icons) <strong>to</strong><br />
deepen spirituality.<br />
<strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> <strong>McFarl<strong>an</strong>d</strong>, a <strong>Sister</strong> of St. Fr<strong>an</strong>cis who lives <strong>an</strong>d<br />
works at Assisi Heights Monastery in Rochester, is one of the first in<br />
Minnesota <strong>to</strong> discover the spiritual depth of icons <strong>an</strong>d <strong>to</strong> paint them<br />
with a professional's <strong>to</strong>uch. <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong>'s interest in icons<br />
parallels a growing interest in icons throughout the Catholic church.<br />
"I see icons as the gates from the visible <strong>to</strong> the mystery of the<br />
invisible," <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> said during <strong>an</strong> interview in her studio <strong>an</strong>d<br />
home on the Assisi Heights campus. "They are the windows <strong>to</strong> the<br />
mystery of <strong>God</strong>."<br />
<strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> (named for St. Bernard of <strong>Clairvaux</strong>, a<br />
12thcentury monk) <strong>has</strong> not always been a painter of icons. Now<br />
67, she beg<strong>an</strong> her ministry with the Fr<strong>an</strong>cisc<strong>an</strong>s as a teacher <strong>an</strong>d<br />
later served as a school administra<strong>to</strong>r. But as she worked in<br />
education, her love of art grew personally more import<strong>an</strong>t.<br />
Eventually she beg<strong>an</strong> designing religious greetings, Easter <strong>an</strong>d<br />
Christmas cards <strong>an</strong>d a few basic icons. Then a member of her<br />
community asked her if, for a special occasion, she could paint the<br />
traditional S<strong>an</strong> Dami<strong>an</strong>o cross, which had its origins in the small<br />
Itali<strong>an</strong> church rebuilt by St. Fr<strong>an</strong>cis, the order's <strong>found</strong>er.<br />
The mainten<strong>an</strong>ce crew at Assisi Heights cut out the wooden cross.<br />
Then <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> <strong>to</strong>ok it <strong>to</strong> a remote monastery in Dubuque,<br />
Iowa, <strong>an</strong>d painted the figures on the cross.<br />
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<strong>Opening</strong> a <strong>Window</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>God</strong>: http://www.texnews.com/1998/religion/icons0802.html<br />
Moved by that powerful spiritual experience, she beg<strong>an</strong> <strong>to</strong> consider<br />
a new vocation, one that would take her from education <strong>to</strong> the<br />
depths of holy experiences.<br />
"I needed <strong>to</strong> know if this was what <strong>God</strong> w<strong>an</strong>ted me <strong>to</strong> do," <strong>Sister</strong><br />
<strong>Clairvaux</strong> said. "It was becoming a spiritual vocation."<br />
She decided <strong>to</strong> retreat in<strong>to</strong> the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylv<strong>an</strong>ia,<br />
where her sister owned a vacation cabin. There she worked on icons<br />
<strong>an</strong>d discovered the next step in her development as a religious<br />
artist.<br />
"I heard about Vladislav Andrejev, a Russi<strong>an</strong> iconographer working<br />
in New York City who <strong>to</strong>ok students on Fridays for sevenhour<br />
workshops," <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> said.<br />
She beg<strong>an</strong> taking instruction from Andrejev, whose approach <strong>to</strong><br />
painting icons relied on the pure, Russi<strong>an</strong> style using only natural<br />
ingredients.<br />
"When I was a child, at Christmas someone gave me a watercolor<br />
paint set with little brushes <strong>an</strong>d those squares of paint," <strong>Sister</strong><br />
<strong>Clairvaux</strong> said. "I used it up in one day. I painted pictures of<br />
everyone in the house.<br />
"But I was always drawn <strong>to</strong> icons as a young wom<strong>an</strong>," <strong>Sister</strong><br />
<strong>Clairvaux</strong> said. "There was something different about them. We<br />
have gotten so realistic in the representation of the image that we<br />
have lost sight of the divine."<br />
As <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> studied with Andrejev, she learned about the<br />
features that set icons apart from secular portraits.<br />
"The figures are <strong>an</strong>drogynous. They have thick necks, which signify<br />
the breath of <strong>God</strong>, <strong>an</strong>d a small bump on their foreheads, which will<br />
remind us of the wisdom of <strong>God</strong>."<br />
But those are the mech<strong>an</strong>ics of iconography, not the deeper<br />
religious connection she <strong>has</strong> seen icons produce firsth<strong>an</strong>d.<br />
In 1994, <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> was involved in a serious au<strong>to</strong> accident<br />
that left her with disabilities. As she recuperated over the next<br />
months, there was only one thing she desired.<br />
"The only thing I w<strong>an</strong>ted was the S<strong>an</strong> Dami<strong>an</strong>o cross. I looked at it.<br />
I gave it a prayer of gazing. The icon gazes at you <strong>an</strong>d you gaze at<br />
the icon. We have so m<strong>an</strong>y older sisters who say, 'I'm <strong>to</strong>o old. I<br />
c<strong>an</strong>'t pray <strong>an</strong>ymore.'<br />
"Now I bring <strong>an</strong> icon <strong>to</strong> them <strong>an</strong>d tell them, 'You don't have <strong>to</strong> pray<br />
just gaze at the icon. Just sit before that icon 10 minutes a day.<br />
Soon the icon speaks the spirituality of what the image is the<br />
image of the holy.' "<br />
<strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> is set apart from other Catholic icon painters in the<br />
United States. "I w<strong>an</strong>t <strong>to</strong> do it in the purest form," <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong><br />
says, "the way Orthodox Christi<strong>an</strong>s have done it for hundreds of<br />
years."<br />
She begins with tempera, a paint that <strong>has</strong> been mixed with the yoke<br />
of <strong>an</strong> egg, vinegar <strong>an</strong>d water, which becomes the glue that binds<br />
the paint <strong>to</strong> the board.<br />
A board made of poplar wood, for inst<strong>an</strong>ce, is routed out as a bed<br />
for the icon. The outer frame is the Hebrew scriptures. The inside,<br />
the icon, is the Christi<strong>an</strong> scripture.<br />
She coats the board with rabbitskin glue, then covers it with a<br />
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<strong>Opening</strong> a <strong>Window</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>God</strong>: http://www.texnews.com/1998/religion/icons0802.html<br />
cot<strong>to</strong>n or linen cloth that <strong>has</strong> also been soaked in rabbitskin glue.<br />
After s<strong>an</strong>ding 10 coats of gesso, or a mixture of rabbitskin glue,<br />
champagne <strong>an</strong>d chalk, she places the image on the board <strong>an</strong>d<br />
incises it with <strong>an</strong> edging <strong>to</strong>ol. Then the artist begins work on the<br />
halo that always adorns the sainted figures.<br />
The halo is covered with burnishing clay mixed with fisheye glue.<br />
There are four layers painted on the halo, <strong>an</strong>d each is s<strong>an</strong>ded with<br />
2,000grit s<strong>an</strong>dpaper.<br />
As the gold is about <strong>to</strong> be applied <strong>to</strong> the icon, <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong><br />
breathes on the area "a real heavy, gutsy breath." The gold leaf<br />
then adheres <strong>to</strong> the clay <strong>an</strong>d is smoothed with a burnishing <strong>to</strong>ol.<br />
After the gold leaf is secure, the red line is drawn around the halo.<br />
Finally a mixture of green, brown <strong>an</strong>d black tempera is applied <strong>to</strong><br />
the icon four times.<br />
"The last highlight is creating the uncreated light," <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong><br />
said. "It is the light that gives the image of the depth of holiness <br />
the soul, the radi<strong>an</strong>ce. It's like something spiritual happens. I do it<br />
<strong>an</strong>d yet I don't do it."<br />
After the icon <strong>has</strong> dried, <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> oils the piece with linseed<br />
<strong>an</strong>d other oils. The oil is heated <strong>an</strong>d poured over the icon,<br />
preserving it <strong>to</strong> last for centuries.<br />
Now in the quaint gray cottage on the remote fringe of the Assisi<br />
Heights campus, <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> ponders the me<strong>an</strong>ing of her<br />
vocation.<br />
"My sole purpose in painting <strong>an</strong> icon is <strong>to</strong> offer access through the<br />
gate of the visible <strong>to</strong> the mystery of the invisible, <strong>to</strong> bring out the<br />
spiritual qualities of holiness rather th<strong>an</strong> the outward beauty of the<br />
person portrayed. This presence is reflected by <strong>an</strong> uncreated light<br />
not coming from the art, but from the holy."<br />
Her religious emp<strong>has</strong>is does not preclude a fin<strong>an</strong>cial reality check. If<br />
you w<strong>an</strong>ted <strong>to</strong> purc<strong>has</strong>e one of <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong>'s icons, for<br />
inst<strong>an</strong>ce, the system c<strong>an</strong> be a bit cumbersome.<br />
She is forbidden by tradition from even estimating what <strong>an</strong> icon<br />
might be worth.<br />
Her advice: Think about how much money the object is personally<br />
worth <strong>to</strong> you. But <strong>Sister</strong> <strong>Clairvaux</strong> is no fool.<br />
"When you make <strong>an</strong> offer," she says, "it should probably be lower<br />
th<strong>an</strong> what you intend <strong>to</strong> spend. I will assume that is your intent <strong>an</strong>d<br />
try <strong>to</strong> up the price."<br />
(c) 1998, Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.).<br />
Visit PioneerPl<strong>an</strong>et, the World Wide Web site of the Pioneer Press, at<br />
http://www.pioneerpl<strong>an</strong>et.com/<br />
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.<br />
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