The Saint Vincent Gallery presenting artwork by four Benedictine monks as its first exhibition of the 2015-16 academic year. “Monk-Artists of Saint Vincent” will include works in a variety of media and styles.
The featured artists are Father Vincent de Paul Crosby, O.S.B., Brother Mark Floreanini, O.S.B., Brother Etienne Huard, O.S.B., and Father Robert Keffer, O.S.B.
The exhibition continues through Sunday, October 4. Gallery hours are from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays and at other times by appointment. The Gallery is closed on Mondays.
The Saint Vincent Gallery is located on the third floor of the Robert S. Carey Student Center, on the campus of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
Father Vincent, a native of Buffalo, is a 1962 graduate of the Buffalo Diocesan Preparatory Seminary. He received a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy in 1966 from Saint John Vianney Seminary and a master of divinity degree in 1972 from Saint Vincent Seminary. He did further studies at Tyler School of Art at Temple University, earning a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1974. That was followed by a year of independent art studies in Rome. Specializing in fabric art, he earned a master of fine arts degree from The Catholic University of America in 1976. He has been a member of the monastic community at Saint Vincent Archabbey since 1967 and was ordained a priest in 1972.
The Archabbey consultant for monastic environment and art, Father Vincent has lectured widely on art and the environment for worship and serves as liturgical consultant to churches that are undergoing renovation. He also works as an artist in the Archabbey community, specializing in the design and execution of vestments for the Liturgy, and has been director of the Archabbey Studios since 1991. His work has been commissioned by parishes, religious communities, organizations and individuals around the world, including His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II. In addition, Father Vincent has created two sets of altar linens that will be used by His Holiness Pope Francis at each of the Masses he will be celebrating when he visits Philadelphia in September. Father Vincent has overseen the successful restoration and renovation of the Archabbey Basilica, the monastic refectory and, most recently, the Basilica Crypt. He is also coordinator of the Archabbey’s ongoing renovations. He served as artistic consultant for construction of the Catholic Chapel at Penn State University in 2012 and as artistic consultant for the Mary, Mother of Mercy, Mausoleum Chapel at Saint Vincent Cemetery in 2013.
Brother Mark, a native of Alliance, Ohio, is a 1974 graduate of West Branch High School in Beloit, Ohio. He received an associate degree in fine art from Sinclair Community College in 1987. He earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Saint Vincent College in 2001, a master of arts degree from Saint Vincent Seminary in 2003, and a master of fine arts degree from the Savannah College of Arts and Design in 2005. He has been a member of the monastic community at Saint Vincent Archabbey since 1997.
After completing his master of fine arts degree, Brother Mark was appointed to the Saint Vincent College Department of Visual Arts and is now a tenured faculty member. He creates stained glass windows, paints and works in various other media including spinning wool and crocheting. He began working for the monastery in stained glass in 1996 and founded Archabbey Stained Glass. He is a member of the Greensburg Art Center, Pittsburgh Fiber Arts Guild, and the Loyalhannon Spinning Guild.
Brother Etienne, of Conception Abbey, Missouri, is a graduate of Bishop Carroll Catholic High School in Wichita, Kansas. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Conception Seminary College in 2009. Brother Etienne’s early interest in photography developed further while he was with Lawrence Photography in Wichita in 2003, working both in photographic sales and an on-site art gallery. Contact there with professional photographers and artists prompted him to pursue his own art and photographic studies. Brother Etienne entered Conception Abbey as a novice in August 2009 and took monastic vows in August 2010. He worked as Admissions Director for Conception Seminary College and assistant vocations director for Conception Abbey from 2010 through 2013. Brother Etienne began graduate theological studies at Saint Vincent Seminary in 2013; he is currently pursuing a masters of divinity and a masters of arts in systematic theology.
Father Robert, a Connellsville native, first studied art at the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, with an emphasis on painting. Years later he continued his art education at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, studying graphic design and advertising. He entered the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank in Sparta, Washington, in 1989 and was ordained a priest in 1995. He studied Biblical exogenesis and philosophy at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and the Angelicum in Rome, Italy. His monastic formation took place at the Abbey of Hauterive in Switzerland.
During his years as a Cistercian monk, Father Robert took workshops at the Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia with the internationally acclaimed portraitist Nelson Shanks and his team. He has had private lessons with Philip Salamone, a graduate of the Grand Central Academy in New York City, and Peggy Baumgaertner, a nationally known portraitist. Father Robert concentrates on oil painting utilizing traditional techniques, combined with nostalgic and surrealist subject matter. He currently has a small studio on the Saint Vincent campus where he paints in his free time. He has exhibited in Saint Vincent’s Juried Catholic Art Competition and Exhibition and the Fred Rogers Juried Art Show. Most recently he has concentrated on allegorical portraiture. He is also working on a written presentation on the religious art of Salvador Dali that he hopes to present to the campus this fall. Father Robert works as a hospital chaplain at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital and as campus minister at Seton Hill University.
For more information, contact the Saint Vincent Gallery at 724-805-2197.
Photo: Father Vincent de Paul Crosby, O.S.B., Brother Mark Floreanini, O.S.B., Brother Etienne Huard, O.S.B., and Father Robert Keffer, O.S.B.
