"Cum eo eram ut artifex: delectatio eius per singulos dies, ludens coram eo omni tempore, ludens in orbe terrarum, et deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum." —Proverbs 8:30-31 (Nova Vulgata)

"I was with him as an artist: I was daily his delight, playing before him at all times, playing throughout the whole world, and my delight was to be with the sons of men." 

Sacred Scripture speaks of the vocation of the artist: bringing the delight of Creation and the Incarnation to all people so that they may contemplate the beauty of divine and human love. 

Art harmonizes the "finite with the infinite, the temporal with the eternal, man with God" and helps us articulate that "spiritual feeling" which is "a language that all peoples can understand" (Pope Pius XII, The Function of Art). 

Art as a spiritual intersection of integral ecology and human development 

Hi, brothers and sisters! I'm Clement, and it's a pleasure to welcome you to my digital art gallery. I am a twenty-six year-old Trappist monk, an historian of the Ancient Near East, a blossoming gardener, a life-long student in the school of love, and an outsider artist from Columbus, Georgia, a vibrant city with a soul for the arts.

I've loved making art since I was four years-old—and probably since before then, though I can't say I remember those years too well! But what I do remember is the love of art instilled in me by my family and their constant encouragement for me to live a life deeply rooted in creativity. Consequently, my art is often a reflection of interior spiritual themes, and I tend to incorporate plants and other objects found in nature into my work to express the importance of an integral ecology in which human beings can—and must—coexist in harmony with one another and with the natural world. My art is not a passive observation of nature; I am an active collaborator with nature, entwined in a synergistic slow dance with the spirit of life. 

In some small way, I want to capture the soul of things.

I like to think that my art is an invitation to contemplation, a movement of the heart beyond perceptible things and a radiant blossoming of the soul in living color. My art gives voice to the deep affective experiences inarticulable by traditional religious iconography, the wild and wondrous whimsy of the Spirit who cannot be contained yet still orders all things sweetly (Proverbs 8:1). 

Art as a spiritual intersection of integral ecology and human development