Meet St. Louis Artist Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs

Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs is a visual artist and oil painter living in St. Louis, Missouri. Visit her website and shop.

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to St. Louis?

GWYNETH THOMPSON-BRIGGS: My hometown is Denver, but I've lived in six states. I moved to St. Louis from California three years ago because the cheaper cost of living made it more realistic to live off of painting, and for a great parish.

How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist?

I always wanted to paint pictures for churches, but I didn't believe Our Lord's parable about the birds of the air that neither reap nor sow, yet their heavenly Father feeds them, so I relegated painting to a hobby and became an engineer instead. It was only when I finally threw all caution to the wind and started painting full-time that I found my life fall into place spiritually, personally, and professionally.

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

I have been blessed to work with many patrons-clerical, religious, and lay-who recognize that art is important for glorifying God and fostering prayer. Many people know intuitively, from experience, or through education, that beauty matters. There is a thirst for it. We can expect more support for authentic art in the coming decades.

St. Pedro Calungsod, available in Gwyneth’s shop

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

I've been very blessed to help establish a network with other artists working to restore the Western tradition, the Catholic Artists Directory.

How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?

By commissioning art that gives glory to God and helps people to pray. This happens here and there, usually on a small scale. But there is still a lot of confusion about what art is, perhaps especially among people with advanced degrees, and by historical standards, the Church spends almost nothing on art these days. What is necessary is for those who control the material resources of the Church to understand what art really is and why it's important, and second--and this is much more difficult--to have good taste themselves. The problem of developing good taste in patrons of the arts is fundamental inside and outside the Church, and will time. In Mexico they have a saying: It takes five generations to make a lady. I suspect it's the same with good taste.

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

The reconciliation between art and faith can only really begin when the art world ceases to be controlled by well-funded atheistic materialists who have completely erroneous ideas about what art is. Art isn't nihilistic self-expression or deconstructionism; it's participating in Christ's restoration of Creation by showing the beauty of Creation. You can only do that when you study Creation carefully, especially through direct observation and translation into an artistic form.

Christ Child at Play with St. Joseph

Where in St. Louis do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?

The center of my life is St. Francis de Sales Parish, the so-called Cathedral of the South Side. It's a cavernous old neo-Gothic church built by poor Germans who had faith but very poor taste. The traditional Roman Rite is observed there with greater care and lavishness than anywhere else I've found this side of the Atlantic. We're an apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a society of apostolic life with a special focus on the beauty of liturgy. Like most Latin Mass parishes, it's full of eccentrics from all places and walks of life--especially those who haven't learned to walk at all yet.

Where in St. Louis do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?

First and foremost, at my parish, which keeps alive the ancient rite coming down from antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Baroque, and has an excellent music program to boot. Since all of Western civilization either converged in or grew out of the old Roman Rite, there's no better source for an artist working in the Western tradition. St. Louis also has a fine (free!) art museum and classical music scene, and some lovely parks and architecture.

How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist in St. Louis?

St. Louis has a vibrant community of Catholic young adults across several parishes. I'm not a young adult anymore, but they tolerate me talking at them about the importance of art and beauty. They also keep me supplied in cheap models.

Christ in the House of Mary and Martha

What is your daily spiritual practice?

My husband and I trade off going to daily Mass in the morning and say a (sleepy) rosary with the kids each night. I also find profit from reading spiritual classics, especially about Our Lady. I particularly recommend the City of God by Ven. Maria de Agreda, a Spanish mystic from the 17th century.

What is your daily artistic practice?

Michelangelo famously told one of his pupils, "Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, and do not waste time." That's the best advice for any artist. I'm blessed to be able to paint in my studio 4-5 times a week, but even when I'm not there, there's always time to draw, to look through art books, and to really look at the world around me.

How do you afford housing as an artist?

First, by living in St. Louis, rather than a place with better art or weather. Second, by recognizing that a one-bedroom apartment with two large closets and a pantry is really a four bedroom rooming house. Third, by always keeping up with invoicing clients.

How do you financially support yourself as an artist?

Thanks be to God, for the last three years, my husband and I have supported ourselves and our two (then three, now four) kids exclusively from my painting. I think part of the equation is realizing that making a living as an artist means setting aside about half of your work time for business (website, proposals, contracts, media, purchases, shipping, invoices, accounts, etc.).

What other practical resources would you recommend to a Catholic artist living in St. Louis?

Go to the St. Louis Art Museum all the time; it's free and even the special exhibits are free for residents on Fridays. Residents can also access the Botanical Gardens free Wednesday and Saturday mornings.

Also, spend the money sometime to canoe around Post-Dispatch Lake and the Water Basin in Forest Park; it's magical.

Because cheese is the most expensive protein artists can afford: try Melo's Pizza in Benton Park, Red Oven Pizza in Old Town Florissant, and Global Foods in Kirkwood for the cheapest Parmigiano-Reggiano on the planet.

St. Peter Damian

What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists post-graduation?

1. Spend as much time as you can in Europe.

2. Develop good business practices. There is probably a market for what you do somewhere, but you are probably the one who needs to find it and develop it. Don't expect the market to come to you, or someone else to manage the business side of things.

3. No matter your discipline, copying the masters is the best way to develop your own style. Start by submitting yourself to the forms of others; only then will forms of your own that are of lasting value gradually emerge.

Anything else?

A few readings I recommend to all Catholic artists and art lovers:

• Josef Pieper, Leisure the Basis of Culture;

• Plato, Symposium & Phaedrus;

• Joseph Ratzinger, "The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty";

• Isak Dinesen, "Babette's Feast";

• Vasari's Lives, esp. of Michelangelo;

• Michelangelo's own writings;

• Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite;

• Plotinus, Ennead 7;

• Martin Mosebach, The Heresy of Formlessness