Archabbey Library Gallery reopens with exhibit of prints
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Saint Meinrad Archabbey Library Gallery, St. Meinrad, IN, will reopen on October 7 with an exhibit of prints by Saint Louis artist William Frank. The gallery has been closed for renovations since spring 2022. This exhibit, entitled “Via Dolorosa and Drawn Small,” will run from October 7 through December 4, 2023.
This exhibit brings together two bodies of the artist’s work. In his studio practice, Frank creates work designed for a specific site and community as in the “Via Dolorosa” series commissioned for the chapel of SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. “Drawn Small” exemplifies more personal work that involves his immediate family.
The fourteen stations in the “Via Dolorosa” series depict the chief scenes of Christ's suffering and death. Each print combines a scene of Christ with an image sourced from the archives of Saint Louis University and SSM. These include diagnostic medical images such as X-rays. There is a person and a history in each image—a child who falls from a tricycle, a man shot in the spine, a woman losing vision to macular degeneration. In this way, the local community and its afflictions become the landscape in which Christ’s suffering and sacrifice unfolds. To the patients and caregivers who visit the hospital chapel, these stations provide a reminder that anyone suffering is united with Christ.
“Drawn Small” is an ongoing, collaborative project with Frank’s wife and children. Frank says, “Making art functions like a kind of ‘braille,’ in which our family feels, reads, and experiences the natural world and its Creator. It is an exploration of place, imagination, and memory.”
Frank is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist and designer and is co-founder of Studio Totus, a design and consulting firm specializing in liturgical art and architecture. Recent commissions include “Via Dolorosa,” a site-specific installation for SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital in Saint Louis, MO. The project earned a 2020 IFRAA Religious Art: Visual Arts Honor Award. Frank was formerly principal designer for Emil Frei, Inc., where he was the lead designer for roughly thirty major stained glass and mosaic commissions.
For library hours, call (812) 357-6401 or (800) 987-7311, or visit the Archabbey Library’s website: www.saintmeinrad.edu/library/hours/.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Those wishing to view the exhibit may want to arrive at least 30 minutes before closing time.