 Hello there, and welcome to this special edition of Painting Journeys. My name is Kitty Lynn Klisch, and I'm here today with the principal of St. John the Baptist School in Plymouth, Wisconsin, Mrs. Amy Nelson. Hi, Amy. I'm very grateful to have the honor of being on Kitty's show today. Thank you. I cannot believe that after all this time, and it was a short time, you know, since we first met, it was a short period of time, but it seemed to me like it has been ages that this process of bringing this painting to life, of bringing your dream to life has taken. And do you remember how we first met? Barbara Steinacker, a mom of one of my students, knew that I was pursuing the possibility of having an artist come on site to do a painting of St. John the Baptist. And Barbara introduced Kitty to me. Me? Yes, introduced you to me, and then the journey began, and it has been an absolute beautiful journey. I've been a member here at St. John the Baptist School for 21 years. This was my, just completed my third year as principal, and obviously, being a Procule school, we are faith-centered. And part of our mission at St. John the Baptist School is to share the faith with our students. And so I truly believe that your painting tells a story for our students and is going to be telling a story to our students for many years to come. I really truly feel that besides the beautiful presence that it's going to have in our school, I think that just the story behind it is meaningful as well. I really felt that our school was missing something. Being that our name is St. John the Baptist really did not have much in the way of St. John the Baptist symbolism in the building itself. And so having you create this beautiful painting telling the story of the baptism of Christ is definitely, definitely a treasure for our school today and for many years to come. Thank you. I know that I wasn't your first choice, or I wasn't the first person that was recommended to you. Tell me about that. I've always wondered. I would say beginning of the school year, I really started to pursue this dream of mine more seriously. I think I've been thinking about adding something to the school in the way of art since I'm a firm believer that art is what truly makes an individual well-rounded. So I was very interested in having a painting or a mosaic or a mural of some sort created for our hallway. And so I started pursuing it a little bit more seriously this past fall and Barbara Steinacker, one of my students' parents as I mentioned before, mentioned a couple different artists that she knew that could come in and do some measuring and give me some quotes for cost purposes and so forth. Was your first initial plan to have an actual painting on canvas or were you talking about mural at first? Because when you first talked to me, you talked about mural on the wall. Originally I did think it would be a wonderful idea to have a mural and actually even before having different artists give ideas and suggestions to me, I had thought that our teacher herself along with the students could perhaps do some type of St. John the Baptist mural or mosaic. And then when I was introduced to Barbara's idea of having some artists come in and give me some different ideas of what they would like to do, I really felt like an original painting of some sort would be best because I knew that if we ever wanted to perhaps move the painting somewhere else or if we remodeled or added on to the school at some point, I wanted something that would be able to be moved. And so having you do this on canvas and make it a painting is even that more special because I know that it's going to be much easier in the future to move it if we would need to. Right, right. Well back to the artist, the first artist. May I ask, you know, as the artist myself, I'm just curious why I was chosen rather than the first artist that you met. I think from the first day that I was introduced to you, Kitty, I just felt a special connection. You could almost feel your love of art just in the way you described what you were thinking about doing. And hearing somebody say how very special and what an honor it would be for them to actually do a painting of Jesus Christ meant a lot to me because I think it takes a special individual to be able to capture and to be able to make the picture as realistic as I was hoping for it to be. And the painting is truly a treasure. You really have brought out the realistic features that I was hoping for. And I wanted it also to be, since St. John the Baptist can also be seen as being somewhat rough and tough, I wanted it to also be somewhat soft to a degree as well. I needed, you know, just seeing some of your samples and things I really could tell from the start that you were going to capture exactly what I was looking for. The thing that I felt the kids would be able to better relate to, nothing scary but something a little bit softer with your paint colors and your choice of the background. I felt that you were totally capturing exactly what I was hoping for. Well that really makes me feel good because for me this painting is my legacy painting. This is the last big project for any community type situation that I will be taking on. And I have dreamt about painting Jesus for years now, you know, ever since I got into portraiture. And, you know, it's such a daunting subject to go into because painting Jesus is, you know, everyone has their own idea, their own inside them, inside their head lives the Jesus that they pray to. And, you know, so I'm telling you the truth now when I say that for the first, you know, before I started Jesus I worked for seven hours just on Jesus' face one day. And before I worked on his face I had prayed and dreamt about him. He came to me in my dreams for the four nights before. And so then when I worked the seven hours that one day, you know, this is what came out. And then I got some feedback from some artist friends of mine that said don't change a thing, you know. And for me this project, you know, to me it's my legacy because it's what I leave to all the children that are going to be coming to this school and going through this school. Long after I'm gone there's going to be children that this is affecting. And so as an artist I feel that this is the highest point in my career as an artist. I truly do. Thank you. I'm very happy that you are able to fulfill one of your dreams, really, too, in a sense. And, you know, being that we're a Catholic school, oftentimes, you know, obviously throughout our lessons and throughout different activities that we do, we very much try to empower the students to be reflective and to think in terms of what their dreams are and how Jesus can be part of their dreams or can come out through them, whether it's through service projects or so forth. I think that this particular scene that you chose to do is probably the most well-known with St. John the Baptist in terms of the baptism. And I feel that it's very powerful and it very much goes with a theme that we had a few years ago where the spirit makes a difference. And just looking at this dove coming down, ascending down, I feel like it really does kind of make me and hopefully the students will as well reflect on that the spirit does make a difference and that Jesus Christ is very powerful and is the Messiah. And your painting definitely makes me reflect in that sense, too. Well, you know, what I really wanted to show in the painting was, you know, it says in the Bible that John was in a verdant part of the Jordan River when he baptized, when he was doing his baptizing. And so I researched a little bit about that. And the Jordan River is kind of a brown river like we have here in Wisconsin. And, you know, the greens and reflections are kind of a brownish green and so it's all soft in the background and the trees, olive trees and things like that. But I wanted, for the family that is in the painting, the family, I wanted them in there as witnesses, the traditional family, the mother, the father, the mother holding the baby, the sister and the brother. I wanted a portrayal of a traditional family there watching this. And what this is really portraying is an exact moment in time when, because even though John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins, John did not know that Jesus was the Messiah. He knew that he was a prophet, I think, but he did not realize he was the actual the Messiah. And so when Jesus came into the water and John put him under the water to baptize him, and then when he came up, he brought him up and he's holding him with one arm behind him. At that moment, you know, God's voice comes down out of the sky saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and a dove descended. So at that very second, that very tiny moment in time was when John the Baptist realized that he was holding Jesus, the Messiah. And that's what this whole thing is supposed to be about, is it's not a painting, I mean, it's not supposed to be a depiction of a period of time. It's supposed to be a depiction of a moment in time, one of the most important moments in time that there ever was. And that's what I set out to capture, that's what was so important to me with this particular project. I love this project. John was so much fun to paint. I mean, to put all the curls in his hair and his camel hair cold and all that, and that kind of like half little bit of a wild look in his eyes of it, but not enough to scare the children because I kept thinking, you know, the little ones are going to come up to this. The little preschoolers and kindergartners are going to come up to this and we want them to feel safe, you know, and not scared. Yeah, so it was just such an awesome project, it really was. And I'm almost sorry to see it end. Let's see, we started working together in, I think it was a couple of months ago, and then we had a little brief period where I couldn't make it, but then I think I seriously started painting the last week. So I've been painting for five weeks now, working on it for five weeks. And I think also, just as the dove is descending, how the dove is also looking at Jesus, just like St. John the Baptist almost has that surprised look on his face. Right, exactly. Is just breathtaking when you first look at the picture too. It's very noticeable. Yeah, well that's where all of the, I mean, everything else has sort of a pastoral look to it. It's all right in here is where the energy is, you know, the dove coming down looking at Jesus. Jesus is looking at the dove, but if you look at his eyes, Amy, he's also looking at you. You see that? But anyway, he's looking up, and then the wing comes behind John, of which includes him in this energy, in this force, and John is looking at Jesus with the realization of who he is, and the dove is looking at Jesus. And I almost wonder if the spirit is saying, I hope you're ready, kiddo. I hope you're ready for this. I mean, that's making light of it, but you know, not to be too serious, but yeah, this is where all of the energy, the interplay of John and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and then all the action down below. And to me, the action down below of the water and the bubbles in the water, that's like the result. That is all of the change that Jesus brought about. That's what that represents to me, you know? And very exciting for us here at St. John the Baptist School is this painting will be hung in one of our longer hallways. So when you are walking down the hallway from one end to go towards the picture, it's going to appear as if you could almost walk right into the Jordan River. And I think for our students, being that this picture is so big, this painting is so big, it's just going to even bring it to life even more for them. And it's almost as if you can, the detail that you put into the picture, into the painting, pardon me, makes it almost 3D. It's almost as if you could really feel St. John the Baptist curls in his hair. And I think you said it best when you say that that is very representative. The water below Jesus and St. John the Baptist representative of the changes that Jesus made. I was thinking too, just in the changes that life can throw your way sometimes. So that's one of my favorite things about art in general is the fact that you can take a look at art and you can really appreciate so many different things about one painting. I came in here just the other day to see how far you were and I can remember standing and looking at it and noticing something I hadn't noticed before. And I think that that's what's going to be neat for our students too, to be able to look at this picture and to be able to talk with the art teacher and talk with their classroom teachers, maybe talk with each other or have you come in and talk to the students perhaps at some point so that they can really also hear what you've shared just now of what different parts of the painting mean to you or what you were trying to maybe present in the painting. Even though I know that everybody kind of has their own unique way of looking at art and I know that as I said even just things that I'm noticing about the picture that I maybe didn't notice a few days ago. So I think in time I will probably be able to share many more things that I really, this painting has really brought out to me. I appreciate the fact too, Kitty, that you were so willing to research this particular neck of the woods so to speak so that it could be very realistic for our students in a sense that if they didn't know very much about the Jordan River or they didn't know very much about what a typical family of that time would have worn for clothing or maybe would have looked like that you tried to capture some of those demographics as well. Thank you. And we need to talk about where this was done. Right now it was the old gymnasium of the school of which was turned into the Performing Arts Center. And so the canvas, because it's six and a half by seven feet tall, it had to be built right here on site. And so the canvas was built and then we put it on the stage and then I've done the whole painting right here on site of which was very nice because in the beginning when the children would come in, they were when school was still in and the children would come in the different classes and they would ask them questions and things. It was such a teaching moment for me. I enjoyed it so much. I really did. It was really great. So this has been a nice place, a nice, you know, I mean I hear the bells, the church bells, every hour, noon, you do the little melody and everything. This has been such a wonderful, peace-filled environment to create in. And I thank you so much for having this available to me as an artist to create. And I know, you know, I can also say to you thank you because I know that not just my teachers but the students as well definitely benefited from being able to have a professional artist in the building, one in which that they can be inspired by, look up to. I do know that some of my students were on your website looking at some of your artwork and were very excited to get back to the classroom and try their hand at painting also. Great. And, you know, I think that part of our programming here at St. John the Baptist is to make sure that we keep some of these fine arts such as art itself and art appreciation and the allowing of the creativity and craftsmanship that art can help to present to students and help the students become more well-rounded. And so having an artist in the building has been an absolute joy. And as I said, it's been an absolute honor having you here at St. John the Baptist. Thank you so much. Well, I'll tell you what. Do you know what the time is? It's time for me to sign the painting. I can't believe it. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take off my mic and I'm going to go over and I'm going to sign it right down there in the right hand corner. And if you want to talk to me, you can. We'll get ready for the unveiling, which will take place in August. Yes, tell them about the unveiling. We will be doing an unveiling on August 27th and August 28th following our mass times. And Kitty will be unveiling her painting at that time. And I think it's very important that I know that our Christian women here at St. John the Baptist School have funded this beautiful project. So a huge thank you must go out to the St. John the Baptist Christian women for allowing us to have this wonderful opportunity. Here we go. All right. I think we're going to call it a wrap. And a beautiful wrap it is. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Amy, for being my guest on Painting Journeys today. Thank you for all the kind things that you've said. And thank you for being my support. You and your staff have been my support and have kept me lifted up because for me personally, this has been quite a journey. Sometimes of doubt, sometimes of wondering if I had the ability to do what I had in my heart that I wanted to do. And you all have kept me lifted up with your support and have made me my journey a much more even one, secure one, if you know what I'm saying. I do. Thank you so much. Thank you. And once again, this is Kitty Lynn Klisch. This is a special edition of Painting Journeys. And I hope to see you next time. Bye-bye for now.