Meet Oakland, CA-based Artist Carrie Lee McClish
CARRIE LEE McCLISH is a writer, photographer, sketch artist and cartoonist living in Oakland, California. Visit her Linktree for contact info, website and more.
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to Oakland?
CARRIE LEE McCLISH: Except for the first weeks of life spent in the state of New Jersey, I have lived all my life in California.
Do you call yourself a Catholic artist?
Do I call myself a “Catholic artist”? Never have I ever. When I see those two words together I think “devotional art,” and names like Michelangelo and Blessed Fra Angelico come to mind. So while I am a Catholic — and I’m working every day on being a good one — I see myself as a lifelong student of the arts, just grateful that God had given me opportunities to explore my artistic side.
Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?
I found much support from members of my parish and surrounding community when I worked as a staff writer for the diocesan newspaper. In addition to the encouragement, I received a good number of tips and story suggestions. Occasionally, my editors allowed me to use my creativity in other ways, which resulted in my drawing cartoons and illustrations to accompany articles that I wrote.
Self-portrait by Carrie Lee McClish
I also found support for my journey in the visual arts after I was laid off in May 2020. While I was looking for work, my pastor took a liking to a logo for a mask that I designed, like others had done following the pandemic, and the discussion we had resulted in my being compensated for the parish’s use of the image. In addition to the masks that were produced, the design has been used on a banner, and most recently, on t-shirts. I can’t tell you what that did for my spirit during these challenging times.
As an Associate of the Sisters of the Holy Names (SNJM), I have also received much support in my creative endeavors from the vowed, Associate and Lay Consecrated members of the SNJM community. Often when I post my artwork on social media, for example, I have received thumbs up, cheerful emojis and other positive responses from this group, which also includes a number of marvelous artists.
How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?
I have found both spiritual guidance and encouragement from the writings of several popes who have addressed the artistic community in recent years. In remarks at the closing of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in 1965, Pope Paul VI wrote:
“This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair.”
Years later, Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have added to the conversation.
Perhaps this group, Catholic Artist Connection, can periodically reprint some or parts of these addresses with some commentary or with reflections from current or emerging members of the artistic community. Perhaps a Catholic organization could start an online community - or publicize an existing community - for Catholic artists on Discord or ClubHouse or Patreon or some other kind of social media platform.
Where in Oakland do you find spiritual fulfillment?
Surprisingly, I experienced a kind of spiritual awakening at the start of the pandemic, when governments urged us to protect others and ourselves by masking up and keeping our distance from one another, by taking short walks in and around my neighborhood. Much of this came about for me through a free course I took during this time, offered by then-Global Catholic Climate Movement, now called the Laudato Si Movement. Named after Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical, the Laudato Si Movement speaks about the moral and spiritual challenges of the worldwide environmental crisis. Not only was did I read an encyclical for the very first time ever, I gained a deeper appreciation for the beauty of God’s creation around us and the need to care for our common home and for all creatures.
As a lector, reading those familiar first passages from the Book of Genesis during the Easter Vigil service, and the often repeated phrase, “God saw how good it was,” never fails to touch my heart. In addition to prayer and spiritual readings, I have become actively involved in the new “green team” at my parish and on working to care for God’s creation in the community.
Where in Oakland do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?
Before the pandemic forced us to end regular in-person gatherings, I participated in weekly get togethers with a group of artists who belonged to the Urban Sketcher movement. The sketchers would meet at a local site and draw — sometimes the location was a historic building or neighborhood or a museum, a garden, a church or other place of significance. When the weather turned cold, participants started to meet in cafes or diners and draw one another, other diners or the food they planned to eat. Some sketchers just liked to draw and talk. At the end of these sessions the sketchers shared what they drew. I have met and befriended some wonderful artistic people at these gatherings and I learned a lot about art as well as art tools.
As COVID restrictions begin to lift and warmer and longer days return, I am looking forward to a return to urban sketching with local sketchers. There are urban sketcher groups across not only the US, but around the world.
What is your daily spiritual practice?
I attend daily Mass at my parish where I serve as a lector and, in the days before COVID, as a Eucharistic Minister.
What is your daily artistic practice?
My daily goal is to draw in a little sketchbook that I carry in my purse or backpack. These sketches offer sweet moments of respite when waiting for appointments at medical offices, or in line at a store, or just when I have some alone time while out for a walk, when I see and wish to capture an interesting flower or tree or a creature in my sketchbook.
How do you afford housing as an artist, and how do you financially support yourself as an artist?
I inherited and live in the house I grew up in. I work part time in the office at my parish and I am always searching for opportunities to supplement that with earnings from freelance writing, special projects, and art commissions.
Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist.
A few months back I joined several local Urban Sketchers for an afternoon of sketching at the Gardens of Lake Merritt here in Oakland. We were all masked and practiced social distancing. It was a marvelous gathering for two reasons: one, I had not seen nor spent time with the group for a while, and it was great to be with them. Two, it was a glorious, sun-kissed day for sketching.
We spent most of our time in the bonsai garden section, and the setting was lovely. Drawing the intricate shapes is itself a meditation, and gazing on such beauty is food for the soul.