Seminarian seeks to support Catholic artists with display at congress, directory

OWENSBORO, Ky. (OSV News) -- Sacred art is not only "a piece of us and our culture," but also "something we pray with; it's in our homes," said Hunter Dickens, a seminarian of the Diocese of Owensboro, who designed an art display for the July 17-21 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.

"I took the four directions of the (National Eucharistic Pilgrimage) routes, and took the idea in designing the art of the northern, southern, eastern and western corners of the United States," said Dickens, who participated in the pilgrimage when the St. Juan Diego southern route came to the Diocese of Owensboro June 30-July 3.

Dickens, whose home parish is St. Thomas More in Paducah, has an extensive background in liturgical and sacred art.

He encountered sacred art when studying engineering for his undergraduate degree, and over time learned more about the artistic and theological purposes of sacred art. He worked in the liturgical art scene for a few years -- including consultation work and supporting sacred artists -- before discerning a call to the diocesan priesthood.

When Dickens learned about the congress, he contacted Bishop Andrew H. Cozzen of Crookston, Minnesota, board chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress Inc., "to see if there was anything I could do to help," said Dickens.

In an interview with The Western Kentucky Catholic, Owensboro’s diocesan newspaper, he said Bishop Cozzens was "really receptive and helpful" about Dickens' idea of an art display at the congress.

Art was then commissioned by the congress to initially be displayed during the five-day gathering, with the plan to move the pieces to their new permanent homes afterward.

The display included a painting for Our Lady of Champion Shrine in Wisconsin by Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs, of the mid-1800s apparition of Our Lady to Adele Brise (representing the northern route); a painting of St. Monica for St. Monica Parish in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, by Ann Schmalstieg-Barrett (representing the eastern route); and scale models from a section of a decorated doorway, depicting Marian imagery, by Andrew Wilson Smith and created for Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma (representing the western route).

And to represent the southern route, as a nod to his home diocese, Dickens included a rendering of a stained-glass window to be made for Resurrection Church in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, which is currently being rebuilt after historic tornadoes destroyed it in 2021.

"I have worked in lots of Catholic art initiatives," Dickens said, "and I try to support Catholic artists at the local level."

This grew into his creation of the catholicartistsdirectory.com, which features an option to connect people with Catholic artists and even explore opportunities for commissions with these artists.

Dickens said a goal of that is to take art from being seen as mere museum pieces, "and putting it back in the lives of the people," said Dickens. He said he wants to "help people see how to commission art again."

"There's a human artist at the other end of this," he said. "Seeing the work of their hands, and realizing that they have a family to support too," enhances the connection between artists and those viewing their art.

Dickens hoped that congress attendees who saw the art display would recognize this, and maybe even consider supporting real-life, local Catholic artists.

"God attracts us through the beautiful," he said. "And this can start to reconnect our culture -- and everything we do -- to God."