Tag Archives: Sister Mary James Ann BVM

Transitions

April 5, 2011 Michele Walfred Leave a comment

I was going through my archives the other day – gee I have stuff downloaded at work, and on two different home computers-and I found another image of my aunt. Reading about the history of the BVM order, the changes that came with Vatican II, I am struck how my aunt’s appearance changed along with her artwork. I think she was always creative, and a progressive, free thinker, but as her habit became less severe, and habit changed to wardrobe, her artwork seems to have taken on the same freedoms. Coincidence?

If anyone has any pictures of James Ann, Miss Ann Walsh, or Sister Mary James Ann, I would love to have a copy!
I can’t imagine what it was like to have worn this every day of my life:

Clarke College 1960 — Her habit was more traditional, less boxy in 1960

Clarke, 1966 or 67 — My Aunt at Clarke, probably around 1966 or 1967, before she left for California

Ann Walsh, approx 1968 — This is the only photo where she looks a little bit like my mother. Taken for a faculty position in California. Note the scarf!

Ann Walsh_photo_Fall_1969 — 1969. I just love this scarf! This appears to be her own hair. I see immense contentment in her face!

Ann Walsh_photo_1970 — 1970. I think she was wearing a wig here. Faculty picture courtesy of West Valley Com. College, Saratoga, Ca.

Europe, Missing Work, Work mentioned in articles

European Tour

March 21, 2011 Michele Walfred Leave a comment

According to the BVM Vista article”Join a Sister Artist” my aunt and a group of her students traveled to Europe to conduct a sketching tour. This trip inspired many of her most commented on work – paintings I have been unable to locate.

They are represented here in black and white PDF scans as:Medieval Gothic abbey in Dijon, Forest of candles at Chartres,

gothic2 — Two excerpts from the the scan of a photocopy of an article!

Hills of Assis, Street festival in Brussels and Canal in Amsterdam. I am not sure if these are the actual titles or just captioned as such for this publication. I know they have to exist somewhere!

Click on the hyperlink above to view the whole article.

1950s, catholic art, Ink, Iowa art, Missing Work, Oils, Religious art

Do you have a painting by a nun?

October 31, 2010 Michele Walfred Leave a comment

Gee, you might and not even know it! If you live in Iowa, particularly Dubuque Iowa, and are an art aficionado with a modern painting on your wall, you just might!

For my family’s benefit, I’ve been posting what I am finding on Flickr. This gallery is public. Until I get this blog tweaked the way I want, you can view the whole shebang here and get a sense of her oeuvre, or what I know of it, as of March, 2011.

I am reaching out to the Word Wide Web, trying to track down watercolors, sketches, pen and inks, oils and acrylics that my aunt, Sister Mary James Ann, B.V.M. painted in the 1940s through 1970s. Her earlier work started off modern traditional, and typically religious in subject, her later work was much more modern abstract and secular, or so it would appear.

Some of the titles I am looking for are referenced in the article below written in Feb. 1960:

Pioneer Angelus (large mural) religious
Mont St. Michaels (oil) religious
Candles of Chartres (oil) religious
Night-West Berlin (ink) secular