Meet Kansas City-based Artist Mattie Karr
Mattie Karr is a painter, teacher, and visual artist based in Kansas City, Kansas. She recently completed two triptychs in her home parish, Holy Name of Jesus in Kansas City. You can find out more about Mattie on Instagram and on her website.
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to your current city?
MATTIE KARR: I was born and raised in Kansas City and never left! I always thought I'd move away to Hollywood after graduating from the University of Kansas, but now I realize that I cannot take community for granted. Kansas City is my home and really affords me to freedom to take risks like being a full time artist!
How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist?
My mission as a Catholic artist is to help Jesus heal hearts through beauty. The way to combat the ugliness in our world (especially pornography, lust, depression, purposelessness, etc.) is not by white-knuckling it through temptation and beating people over the head with truth, but offering something more beautiful and enticing to awaken our deep hunger for God. Our souls need beauty to remind us of just how wonderful the Lord is. He is the real meal that we hunger for. In my own work, I recognize that the Holy Spirit has someone particular in mind with every piece I paint. My paintings are love letters from the Bridegroom to His beloved — who are tempted to choose "mudpies over a holiday at the sea" as C.S. Lewis would say.
Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?
I'm so grateful to my parish for entrusting me with the task of painting massive triptychs to help liven up the beige walls. My priest and fellow parishioners all volunteered as craftsmen, models, manual labor, and inspiration.
How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?
Include beautification and art in the yearly budgets and fundraising efforts! Art is as vital as (and perhaps even more than) new boilers and air conditioning units. Without beauty, I predict churches will experience an even deeper decline in attendance and involvement.
Where in your city do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?
I only need to step into my parish—Holy Name of Jesus Church—for spiritual fulfillment! We are a small but Spirit-filled parish and everyone knows why they're there. My favorite ministry is the ecumenical relational healing program called Living Waters through Desert Stream Ministries. Going through this program changed my life and cleared the way for me to embrace my femininity and a full-time art career. Now I'm a volunteer small group leader, helping others bring their shame and brokenness to Jesus' Divine Mercy.
How do you financially support yourself as an artist?
I am a full time artist with a part time job teaching 2-3 art classes a week at Chesterton Academy (a Catholic classical high school). My full time business includes a variety of income streams like commissions at different price points, live wedding painting, and prints on Etsy. I've found it's helpful to have a foundation of simple and easy to buy product offerings while also being open to ideas outside of these offerings.
Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist.
This year, the inaugural senior class at the high school I teach at commissioned me to paint a piece for their senior gift. We began the commission in front of the Blessed Sacrament, praying for an image from the Holy Spirit. The girls each received "a piece of the puzzle" and they came up with an image of Mary at the foot of the cross. I spent the year doing color studies, gathering models, and finalizing the design.
Just a few weeks before graduation, I was finishing up the final oil painting and it was looking great. I had about one more day of work on it and decided to set it out in the sun to quicken the drying pace. Unfortunately I failed to look at the weather forecast and a huge rainstorm came through that night. The next morning I came to my studio to find the entire piece ruined! The foundational gesso layer had been compromised and water bubbles were spread throughout the painting. Devastated, I decided to scrap it and work on a new version.
A few days later, the mom in charge of the commission came by my studio. I confessed what happened and she couldn't stop looking at the ruined piece. She expressed how much the textures moved her and pointed out that the only part that wasn't ruined was Jesus' face. We kept talking and realized that though this seemed like an utter failure, the Lord could bring something beautiful out of it. Similarly, the crucifixion itself seemed like an utter failure but turned out to be the world's greatest victory. We decided that was the message the high school students needed to be reminded of. So with her encouragement, I finished the ruined piece and we titled it "Love's Unfailing Victory".
We presented the painting at the graduation ceremony and it received a standing ovation! Our deacon blessed the painting, expressing that God Himself had "baptized" the painting with the rain! I loved that! And though the foundation layer might be compromised, we prayed in faith that the Holy Spirit would keep the painting from deteriorating over time.
I have never created a piece that was this Providentially guided and will remember this experience throughout the rest of my art career.