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From pencil-sketched crosses to snapshots of children in other countries, the art exhibited at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Albany last week represented the diversity and future of the parish, parishioners said.

More than 60 parishioners of all ages contributed mixed media pieces, including sculpture, fabric, watercolor and poetry, to an art exhibit commemorating the parish's 125th anniversary.

Coordinators said the idea hailed from the Catholic Church's roots as a patron of artists like Michelangelo and Raphael.

"We don't hear about things like this," said Karene Faul, event coordinator and chairperson of the art department at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, explaining that the contemporary Church doesn't place the same emphasis on the arts.

The exhibit at St. Vincent's, which followed an energetic choir performance, inspired the emergence of community talent and perhaps a renaissance of interest in art.

"Art shows diversity, the love of people, the joy, the color, the love of nature," JoAnn Bisogno said.

Her entry, a photograph of a nine-year-old boy from Panama holding a chick, was taken during a group visit to St. Vincent's sister parish. She recalled village children scaling palm trees while carrying machetes to slice fronds for a chicken coop.

Her photograph hung near a shot of Uighur girls skipping in bright clothing before a drab desert in the lost city of Jiahe, China, in 1997. Katherine Malle Sipos, who took that shot, recalled her thoughts when she spotted the juxtaposition: "As much as we're different, we're all the same."

Several of the artists applied deep meanings to their work. In 1977, for instance, Betty Brzezowski crafted an etching from a photograph of an alley between old houses in Montreal. The piece reminded her of transformation from past to present and struck her as symbolic of the parish community.

"We can really be more than what we are now," Ms. Brzezowski told The Evangelist.

Debra Trees entered an afghan in the art show, adorned with colorful pansies and spun from wool from a sheep farm in the Hudson Valley. She also photographed a fisherwoman surfcasting at sunrise in Wildwood Crest, N.J., last year.

She called the latter "majestic. I almost feel as though she's pulling the sun out of the sky."

One piece that turned many heads was an assemblage featuring a cross fashioned from model train track pieces.

"It's intended to be the Way of the Cross," said Rene Molineaux, artist of that piece, titled "Good Friday."

Embedded into the background of shredded paper and plaster lay patches of rawhide - symbolizing sacrifice, said the artist - as well as bamboo, puzzle pieces and glow-in-the-dark plastic stars.

One star, trapped behind a piece of metal, is a "bright shining star in a cage," Mr. Molineaux said, making a comparison to Jesus.

The Lombardis, three sisters who attend the Academy of the Holy Names in Albany, turned in a variety of pieces for the exhibit: a drawing of a tiger; a ceramic container featuring miniature faces of the trio, their parents and objects that define them; and a sketch of rosary beads, a cross, a seashell and an ictus.

Eleventh-grader Stephanie Lombardi explained her inspiration for the latter piece: "Religion is a big part of my life."

Other entries included a geometric vase decorated with Native American designs by Diana Bangert-Drowns; a charcoal-and-pencil seascape by award-winning eight-year-old artist Jack Googins; a painting of Jesus at His crucifixion by Raymond Liszewski; a poem about the history of the parish by Kathy Schongar; and a dress made of newspaper and duct tape by Lilianna Maxwell, a middle-schooler.

Parishioners struggled to choose favorites. But Joan Connolly, the great-niece of St. Vincent's first pastor and a parishioner since her baptism 80 years ago, said the exhibit was an ideal way to celebrate the history of the parish.

"This is just magnificent," she declared.

(10/07/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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