Reflections from a Church Pool
By Casey Murano
Artist Statement
Bubbles dance around my goggles, arms scoop in sequence…the bold line at the bottom of the pool quiets my mind. When tracing the path of my spiritual journey, Our Lady of Nazareth Pool appears as one of my beloved learning grounds. Glowing through many sunny seasons of my memory are rubber duckies, dolphin dives, and fulfilling a dream of coaching a swim team. Summer swim team felt like a spiritual community, and I could see our church just across the parking lot. The church ran the pool and eventually expanded membership to those who were not officially registered as Catholics. A faith community I love enlarged the space of the tent so there is enough shade on the pool deck to welcome ecumenism.
Some images that bear close resemblance to the steady gaze from the bottom of the pool arise as coaches for the Lenten season. First is Barnett Newman’s Stations of the Cross (on display right now at the National Gallery of Art in DC), the other is the Seven Last Words of Christ by Tim Rollins and the Kids of Survival. Both of these paintings have “zips,” or strong passageways moving top to bottom of the canvas that remind me of the dark line at the bottom of the pool, shimmering with sun beams that dance through the transparency that holds me. At first glance, these abstract, minimalist interpretations of Christ’s passion might not read as religious imagery. But in the simplified forms and the open compositions, there’s an invitation to experience the human journey of Jesus still alive today, of Jesus teaching us through abstract stories of parables.. These paintings and swimming reflections remind me to find models of a synodal church within our own memories, and to keep expanding our understanding through both contemplation and fellowship.
About the Artist
Casey Murano grew up surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains in Roanoke, Virginia and is now living on one of those hilltops–just over the West Virginia border at Bethlehem Farm, an intentional Catholic community in Appalachia. Grounded in Bethlehem Farm’s various ministries (such as low-income home repair, gardening, and service retreats) and cornerstones (prayer, simplicity, service, and community), Casey’s art practice reflects the cyclical processes of life in this place and context. She creates works on paper: contemplative maps that explore themes of pilgrimage, placemaking, and displacement. Before Bethlehem Farm, Casey studied art at the University of Richmond and participated in the St. Joseph Worker Program in St. Paul, Minnesota.