Loretto art education: bringing ‘the healing spirit of God into our world’

The Sisters and Co-members of Loretto “strive to bring the healing spirit of God into our world.“ As our readers know, there are many ways Loretto hopes to do this. One of the ways is through education.

Loretto members have been dedicated to teaching since the congregation’s founding in 1812: Music, drama and art have always been incorporated into the Loretto curriculum. 

Florence Wolff SL wrote in her “History Sampler” in 1986, “From the beginning, the Sisters of Loretto engaged in teaching as the primary focus of their apostolate. In 1834 they began establishing not only elementary schools, but also academies, which were the popular mode of higher education for women during the entire 19th and early 20th centuries. These academies offered a broad liberal arts curriculum which included history, science, languages, philosophy, religion, art, music and plain and fancy sewing.” 

This art focus extended to the colleges Loretto founded, Webster College in St. Louis and Loretto Heights College in Denver, where many of the Sisters received their degrees and went on to teach and create art.  

The Loretto Community continues to support art education through various programs and initiatives, ensuring that art remains a vital part of the Community’s educational mission.

Discovery, curiosity and creativity are more than key words describing art education. Each of those words represents a way to establish a just and inclusive environment for the student, the artist, the seeker of new ideas and the lover of art to share insights into their emotional response to a piece of art, a vision of a work and a creative piece that expresses something beautiful.

Art education includes dance, drama, music, literature, poetry, story-telling, painting, design, crafts and photography. What media do you choose to spend time with? What opens your heart to beauty? Does an Olympic gymnast inspire you to grab your camera? Or a ride through the Colorado mountains? Or saying to a child, “What a beautiful tree you have drawn?”  In all of these experiences, you join us in bringing “the healing spirit of God into our world.”

This week’s Loretto Facebook page focuses on how our members have brought the healing spirit of God into our world through art education.