Artists Ann Marie Cosgrove and Christopher Santer recently talked about the upcoming “Art-A-Whirl” event at more than 70 locations in Northeast Minneapolis May 19-21 — and how their faith plays into their work — with “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley.
Cosgrove — an artist, photographer and previous Art-A-Whirl contributor — said her work as a photographer allows her to zero in on “the extraordinary in the ordinary of everything, and it’s all of God, really. It’s a gift.”
Her shift to photography came after prayer during her retirement. “I was in education for 28 years and I retired from that, and I was like, ‘Now what do I do, God?’ And he’s like, ‘Get a camera.’ Oh, I did.”
Cosgrove said art can encourage reflection on faith. “I think it drives us closer to God. … When you look at art, for me, it’s like the sense of drawing closer to him.”
Santer, meanwhile, is a visual artist who has primarily worked drawing and painting in the Twin Cities since the mid-90s. He described his work as “a mix of contemporary art and sacred art.”
“At Art-A-Whirl, I’ll have primarily my prints of sacred art there, of which I’ve done a series of over 100 saints’ portraits and other various full color paintings,” Santer said.
He described a recent project — an 11-foot crucifixion painting — as being “on my heart for many years.”
“I was actually commissioned by a place in the Twin Cities to do a painting on that scale, which was really a thrill, maybe the best painting I’ve ever done,” Santer said.
Santer recalled how viewing sacred art affects him: “It doesn’t happen very often, but just the imagery coming alive to me and in that moment of the life of Christ or of a saint — that has moved me to tears.”
Both Cosgrove and Santer will be exhibiting their work at St. Clement in Northeast Minneapolis, which is also Cosgrove’s parish.
Learn more about Cosgrove’s work at cosannmphotography.com and Santer’s work at christophersanter.com. More information about Art-A-Whirl can be found online at nemaa.org/art-a-whirl.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes an interview with Father Francis Hoffman, “Father Rocky,” chairman and CEO of Relevant Radio, who gives an inside look at what makes a worldwide Catholic radio network tick; and Lake City couple Paul and Sara Freid who talk about living their beliefs, including those that are core to the Catholic Worker Movement.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
