In April, artist Janet McKenzie will pack up several of the luminous, sometimes haunting paintings of holy people that she is renowned for, and drive them down from her home in Vermont’s “Northern Kingdom” to Arlington where they’ll go on display at the Order of St. Anne's Bethany Convent and Bethany House of Prayer.

McKenzie’s work will be part of the April 10 music and art retreat she is leading along with singer and composer Ellen Oak.  The retreat is part of the Order of St. Anne's centennial celebration this year and shared ministry with the Bethany House of Prayer (for information about signing up go to www.BethanyHouseArlington.org or call 781-648-2433).  The retreat blooms from the order's roots:  the first mother superior of the order, Etheldred Breeze Barry, was an artist and illustrator of children's books, and the connections between art, community and worship are still strong among the sisters and their companions in ministry.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in and around New York City, Janet McKenzie studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Art Students League.  Her painting “Jesus of the People” was the controversial winner of the National Catholic Reporter’s “Jesus 2000” international competition.

The recently published book, Holiness and the Feminine Spirit—The Art of Janet McKenzie (available for sale and signing at the retreat), contains 28 images with reflections written by leading writers and theologians, including the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori.  McKenzie's solo show of the same title will be at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Aug. 25, 2010-Jan. 2, 2011.

McKenzie graciously took time for a  pre-show interview.

Can you give us a preview?  What are some of the paintings that will be making the trip to Arlington with you?
I plan to bring an assortment of original art, and at this point three large paintings are making the ride with me, as well as a large, framed reproduction of “Jesus of the People.”  I will decide which others in a short while.

I am looking forward to sharing the three large, original paintings, as each speaks with a slightly different voice. All three are close to my heart. 

"Mary and Jesus with the papel picado” by Janet McKenzie (36” x 48” oil on canvas) www.janetmckenzie.com “Mary and Jesus with the papel picado” is a tender work that speaks of the loving connection between Mary and Jesus, something I know as a mother to my own beautiful son, Simeon.  I have Mary looking out of the canvas to us, incorporating the viewer into the expanse of her love.  The papel picado—in my painting they are large and black—are tissue paper Mexican decorations used for a variety of celebrations.

In 2007 the Loyola School in New York commissioned me to paint an inclusive interpretation of the holy family for their Loyola Chapel.  I was honored to do this.  I realized after completing it that I had yet another version within me that wanted to come forward.  In this work [“Holy Family II”] the child Jesus stands on his own, holding a lamb, symbolic of his purity and reflecting the love he already has for his flock.  This new work has never been exhibited before.

“The Prayer”—I am thrilled to be sharing this new painting for the first time at the Bethany House of Prayer.  This work reflects that very personal conversation with God that is at once unique to the individual and universal.  My work is about harmony and balance; one figure reaches out to the viewer and the other, with closed eyes, draws her longing and prayerful energy deeply within.

What led you to start painting sacred images?
I started painting sacred imagery about 1994 out of a longing for a deeper and more honest visual statement, one that reflects my personal search for relevance and meaning.  About the same time my work evolved in terms of racial diversity, initially because my then 10-year-old nephew, who is African-American, could not find his own beautiful dark face reflected back in my work.  I thought it was important that he see himself in what I was doing.  The more inclusive and expansive my work becomes, the more satisfaction and joy I experience.

Why are the eyes of your women often closed, and the children's eyes open?  And, are there any male figures you would like to paint?
More and more I close the eyes of my subjects, usually women, but not always.  I feel the women are within themselves, more than the children, because they have lived long enough to long for conversation with God.  Suffering plays a role.  Children, pure beings that they are, live more in the present.  They carry the voice of unfettered hope and innocent purity.  Closing the eyes invites viewers past the human form, which is what I strive for.

“The Holy Family II” by Janet McKenzie (36” x 48” oil on canvas) www.janetmckenzie.com As far as painting men, I adore Joseph and have painted him now quite a few times and plan to continue.  I always paint him strong, handsome and connected to Mary and Jesus, not as he has been traditionally interpreted, i.e., set apart, older.  I think of him as a hero, an earthly man who was called upon to do an incomprehensible thing.  I want my images of Joseph to serve as contemporary and relevant visual role models for boys, in particular.

You've written that you see the mother of God in women of all races and ages.  What are the qualities that reveal Mary to you in women you encounter?
The people who become my models seem to have similar traits regardless of age or race. They are in the present wholly, they reflect goodness—I can see it right away—and I feel an instant, and often, ongoing, connection to them.  In terms of Mary, the women who are my subjects adore their children in an especially obvious and profound way.  They are dedicated beyond rational reason.  As the single figure of Mary, my subjects are iconic, courageous and interior, able to visually reflect the aspect of prayer and, to varying degrees, their own private search for meaning.

Some people are challenged by your non-traditional and multi-ethnic portrayals of holy people; others of us recognize ourselves or people we know in them and feel recognized in return.  What's going on in this exchange between painting and viewer?  Is it your intention to be provocative?
I am always surprised when the word “provocative” surfaces with regard to my work.  My work is about connections to God, experienced deeply within, and the longing for interior peace, to continually be able to view one’s life as worth living, a life that is not simply a veil of tears and suffering. 

That my subjects are often darker, this is at once very important and not important at all, because the real voice of the work goes far deeper than the race of the subject.  Yet it is important because people of color have traditionally been marginalized and left out of iconic imagery, as though they do not need to see themselves celebrated in sacred art, and of course they do.  Women too, we have been relegated to not even daring to think we were part of Jesus in a physical way.  And we do need this, of course. 

I have noticed what a person brings to viewing “Jesus of the People,” my dark interpretation of Christ, modeled from a woman, will be reflected back to them.  If they bring hate and prejudice, they will hate, resent and detest the image even more—and many do—yet if they bring love and acceptance, they will profoundly and deeply adore it more so, and many do.  I have been told, often, that “Jesus of the People” looks like someone the viewer loves, but in reality that person looks physically nothing like the image on the canvas.  Clearly they are seeing with their heart and not their eyes, and that is the power of this painting, and what I strive for with all of my work.  I never think about putting work into the world as a gesture of provocation, all my work comes from my heart, as I want it to, and what others bring to it is their own journey.

Do you see your paintings as portraits or icons?
My work is a kind of roadmap reflecting the interior journey.  Some people view my art as icons, and perhaps they are.  Are my paintings portraits?  No.  True icons are limited to the use of pure, unmixed colors, and the gold background is a reflection of the light and grace of God.  My colors are mixed like crazy and I do not use gold.  Yet, icons are also the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, so perhaps on this level my art, in a small way, could be viewed as an icon.  My goal is never to replicate a person, although sometimes my images look a lot like the subject I am painting, then again, sometimes not.  The subject invites the viewer to a deeper level, to a universal place of hope and to prayer.

--Tracy J. Sukraw

•  Music and Art Retreat featuring Janet McKenzie and Ellen Oak:  Saturday, April 10, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
•  "Catch the Vision" centennial book launch:  Sunday, April 11, 2-4:40 p.m., program, reception with the Rev. Dr. Charles Hefling, Erica Gelser and other book contributors, followed by Evening Prayer
For information on registering go to www.BethanyHouseArlington.org or call 781-648-2433.