Meet Ohio-based Artist Marcie Stammen

Marcie Stammen is a painter and mixed media artist based in North Star, Ohio. You can find out more about her on her website and Instagram.

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to your current city?

MARCIE STAMMEN: I grew up in North Star, Ohio and have always called this area home. My husband and I raised our eight children here, surrounded by faith, family, and community. The quiet beauty of rural life deeply informs my creative process.

How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist?

I see my vocation as an invitation to create spaces where others can encounter the presence of God through beauty. My work blends layers of paint, collage, and sacred hymn fragments to reflect the mystery of transformation, healing, and divine love. Each piece begins in prayer and unfolds as a dialogue with the Holy Spirit. My Catholic faith is the foundation of everything I create. It shapes not only my subject matter but the heart behind my work: to awaken peace, inspire contemplation, and help others experience God’s love through art.

Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?

Retreat centers, Catholic galleries, and parish communities have been wonderful places of encouragement for me. Recently, potential opportunities like a Stations of the Cross commission and several Sacred Art Workshops at the Maria Stein Retreat Center have shown me how much the Church hungers for beauty that points back to Christ.

How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?

By inviting artists to the table early in parish and diocesan projects—seeing them not just as decorators but as collaborators in evangelization and prayer. Beauty speaks where words fall short, and artists can help open hearts in ways that theology alone cannot.

How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?

In my experience, the mainstream art world doesn’t have much space for artists of faith right now. But I don’t see that as discouraging—I see it as an opportunity. The more the world drifts from faith, the more powerful a witness beauty becomes. Artists of faith remind others that truth, goodness, and hope still exist.

Where in your city do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?

I attend St. Louis Catholic Church in North Star, Ohio, where I’m an active member of the St. Anne’s Sodality and have served over the years as a lector, Eucharistic minister, baptismal instructor, and parish council member. Our parish is vibrant and prayerful, surrounded by a network of thriving faith communities and the Maria Stein Retreat Center. I feel especially blessed to live just ten minutes from the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics, a place of deep peace and inspiration. (Highly recommend a visit to both.)

What is your daily artistic practice?

I paint almost every day, even if only for an hour. My process is very layered—collage, spray paint, inks, oils, and gold leaf—building a surface that feels luminous and sacred. I also spend time documenting and sharing my creative journey online as a way to connect faith and art with others.

Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist.

During a recent live painting event and fundraiser for St. John the Baptist Church after its devastating fire, I experienced my vocation as an artist most fully. As I painted, parishioners came forward with tears in their eyes, deeply moved by the image—a tribute to their beloved church as it was before the fire. In that moment, I felt in awe of God’s goodness in using my hands and heart to bring comfort, healing, and a sense of hope to others through art.

Any words of encouragement for our community?

I do want to remind everyone that has a dream of becoming an artist: It’s never too late to follow the call God placed on your heart. After raising eight children, I’m rediscovering my artistic vocation in a new season of life—and I’ve seen firsthand how He makes all things new.