The Record Online

Spring/Summer 2001

Protestant Artist in a Catholic World

The irony of a Jesuit school commissioning a Protestant artist to create a Catholic work of art is not lost on sculptor Steve Heilmer. He welcomed the challenge that came four years ago from Seattle University.

When Protestants split from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century, more than a millennium’s worth of art seemed lost. Protestants viewed many of the Catholic religious icons — namely sculptures, paintings and stained glass windows — as idolatrous, and saw to the destruction of such works within their own religious circles.

This “iconoclasm” created an artistic void in the Protestant realm, and further widened the chasm between Protestants and Catholics. Only in the 20th century have Protestants begun to rediscover art and, coincidentally, also joined their Catholic brethren in attempts at reconciliation.

Heilmer, associate professor of art at Greenville College, saw this project as a unique opportunity to bridge the dichotomies of art and religion, and also of Catholicism and Protestantism, while at the same time blurring theological and aesthetic boundaries. He has also participated in the healing that has started between two traditions of faith that worship the same God.

Heilmer was commissioned in 1997 by the Jesuit institution Seattle University, a sister school to St. Louis University, to carve a “Marian Shrine” — a representation of the Virgin Mary to guide Christians through times of crisis — for the university’s new St. Ignatius Chapel. The chapel, named after the founder of the Jesuit order, was designed by famed architect Stephen Hall. It has quickly become the second-most popular architectural attraction in Seattle.

Heilmer had already established himself as a creator of religious art, having a sculpture on permanent display at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art at St. Louis University, the only interfaith art museum in the world. The curator of that museum, Father Terry Dempsey, recommended Heilmer for the Seattle University project.

Before this experience, Heilmer had never invested himself fully in Roman Catholic art, which, unlike Protestant art, has evolved virtually unfettered for more than 1,700 years. “It was fun to step into that river of art history,” he said.

— by Nathaniel West ’98
Excerpted from The Greenville Advocate
Reprinted by permission

Last updated: July 17, 2001