Dominican Center remembers artist who painted famed mural

At some point in time, many children and adults alike have had the pleasure of enjoying the beautiful works of Tomie dePaola.

DePaola, a popular children’s book author and artist, died on Monday, March 30, in Lebanon, N.H., from complications following surgery after suffering a bad fall. He was 85 years old.

To the world, dePaola was known for popular books such as the 1976 Caldecott Honor Award winner “Strega Nona,” and “26 Fairmount Avenue.” As an artist and illustrator, he created over 260 children’s books and received the Children’s Literature Legacy Award for his lifetime contribution to American children’s literature in 2011.

But to the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna, dePaola was more than that: he was a friend, and the artist who painted the colorful mural in the center’s chapel space in 1958. The center, which offers retreats, workshops and presentations to help attendees enhance their spiritual life, has been a place of “healing and hope” for women and men, though 80 percent of the retreat attendees are women.

DePaola was still an unknown artist when he painted the mural. In fact, it was his first commission.

“As little kids come in they recognize Tomie’s work, they can tell it’s Tomie,” said Sister Susan Zemgulis, OP, administrator for the center. “Or I see parents coming in and going, ‘I read Tomie’s books as a kid, is that Tomie?’”

Between its sheer size and bold colors, the mural is rather striking. It depicts seven female saints: The Virgin Mary, Blessed Jane of Aza, Rose of Lima, Catherine of Siena, Catherine de Ricci, Mary Magdalene and Maria Goretti. Each of the eight-foot-tall figures are painted in bright, vivid colors against a white background, and all of the saints are connected with the Dominican Order with the exception of Maria Goretti.

At the time of the painting, acrylics didn’t exist so dePaola would grind his own pigments and add a type of polymer to create all his own paints that he used for the mural. Over 60 years later and the painting has never been touched up. “We’ve painted around the outside, the white around the background, but we have never touched the colors and they really still are as vibrant as when he painted them,” Zemgulis said.

More than just visually appealing, the mural holds great significance for many women visiting the center. The Dominican Order, the founding congregation for the Dominican Sisters of Peace, was founded “to meet the spiritual needs of women,” Zemgulis said. For that purpose, many attendees find comfort in the painting’s depiction of strong, female saints.

Maria Goretti was the most recently canonized saint when dePaola was working on the mural. Goretti was only 12 when she was murdered during a rape attempt and is thought by many to represent all oppressed women.

“We have retreats for survivors of sexual abuse and we have women who come here looking for healing and hope, so it’s quite appropriate for her to be on the wall with the other women connected with our Dominican congregation,” Zemgulis said. “For us to have a piece of artwork that’s all women, has given the many who come through these doors a sense of connection to somebody who understands.”

Zemgulis added that the women in the mural have served as a “sort of a backdrop to my life.”

“There have been many moments when I have sat in the chapel and just been attracted to one of the saints. It’s kind of like I’m praying with another saint.”

Zemgulis grew up two blocks from the Dominican Center and started volunteering there when she was 12, serving coffee and bringing out plates to the sisters.

“I’ve been familiar with this house for many years,” she said. “I feel like I’ve grown up under the gaze of those women. Both the sisters and the women on the wall.”

Over the years, dePaola had kept in touch with the Dominican sisters, going back to visit the center for its 50th and 60th anniversary celebrations. Last year, he sent Zemgulis the dedication he had written for the mural, a prayer of sorts that he wrote before starting the mural. “It was very touching,” she said.

Much like the rest of the world, the center was hurt by dePaola’s passing. But like his many other works, the impact of his mural will forever be timeless.

“I trust that rather than suffer that he is delighting in God’s presence just like he delighted so many when he was here,” Zemgulis said.