Meet San Francisco-Based Artist Bernadette Cody-Carstensen

BERNADETTE CODY-CARSTENSEN is a San Francisco-based artist and illustrator. (www.bernadettecarstensen.com)

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION (CAC): Where are you from originally?

BERNADETTE CODY-CARSTENSEN (BCC): I grew up in rural Ohio.  I lived there until my husband and I were married, and we moved to his home state California.

CAC: What do you see as your personal mission as a Catholic working in the arts? Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?

BCC: I am a practicing Catholic, and nearly all of my commissions are Catholic in subject.  My hope is to do a small part in bringing truth to people through beauty.  I have always found support in my parish, and friends and community, even after joining a new parish in California. 

CAC: Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?

BCC: I have been a member of the Catholic Illustrators Guild, and recently joined the Catholic Artists Directory.  Often other artists will send a message of appreciation for my work.

CAC: How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?

BCC: Commissioning artists and craftspeople to make new works is the best way for the Church to welcome artists.  I have seen a lot of great new work being done in churches, people really laboring to restore the beauty that was stripped away.  And new churches being built in classical styles.  

CAC: Do you recommend any particular parishes in San Francisco for their sacramental life, beauty, and/or community?

BCC: I love our parish, Mary Star of the Sea on Geary Blvd.  The liturgy is the most beautiful and reverent of any I have found in the city, and the choir is wonderful.  St. Dominic’s is another equally wonderful parish, though a far more beautiful gothic church.  

CAC: Where do you go to get inspired?

BCC: One thing I love to do is drive around and look at all the gorgeous architecture in the city.  It is truly a feast for the eyes and always inspiring.  

CAC: What is your daily artistic practice?

BCC: My first job is being a mother, and so I don’t get to paint everyday.  To sustain my artist soul I surround myself with artwork I love, beautiful furniture, and other crafted things.  I also love to make things for my children, sewing dresses or building cardboard houses.

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

BCC: Recently I was completing a painting for a project in Ireland, a self-portrait in watercolor which will be used for a postcard.  I had spent the morning doing chores and tending to the two babies, then I picked up my daughter from school, came home, put the little ones in bed, put a movie on for the other, made cup of coffee, and sat down to work. I felt that even though artist comes second to being mom, it is still just as important, and getting to finish up that painting was a little taste of heaven for me.

CAC: How do you afford housing as an artist?

BCC: It is extraordinarily difficult to afford housing in San Francisco.  My husband is the breadwinner in our family and I can’t imagine trying to make it here on just a freelance income.  To be 100% honest, I wouldn’t recommend moving to the city.  I think that rural living is more desirable, and our country needs families to move back into little towns.  

CAC: What are your top pieces of advice for Catholic illustrators?

BCC: It is necessary to have a portfolio online.  Use tons of reference photos or draw from life, and don’t ever try to make stuff up from memory. Good drawing is the most important skill to have.