Arts

Labor of Love: Sylvania Franciscan Sister Jane Sorosiak finds joy creating religious ceramic mural

Sr. Jane Mary Sorosiak is an 89-year-old Sister of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio, who has spent her life creating works of art. Her specialty is ceramic murals that decorate churches, schools, and libraries around northwest Ohio and beyond.

BY ANNIE LUST

Long before she was creating commissioned murals, Sr. Jane Mary Sorosiak was honing her skills. She created her first mural in second grade at St. Hedwig School in Toledo. “I did all the drawing and the other students colored it in,” Sr. Sorosiak explained, laughing at the fond memory. The nuns at St. Hedwig recognized her talent and encouraged it. In junior high, Sorosiak created a six-foot tall figure of Jesus for a school play.

Years later, a religious community was encouraging Sr. Sorosiak to create artwork. She had joined the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania. The community had always had a passion for the arts. “Mother Adelaide, the founder of our community, was always interested in art and she encouraged us to do artwork,” Sr. Sorosiak said. When the Franciscan Center in Sylvania was being built, there was a long blank wall - 83 feet to be precise - that needed decoration. “Sr. Patrice, the superior at the time, said ‘Sr. Jane Mary will put a mural there’,” Sorosiak recalled. It was settled. Sr. Sorosiak worked with two other sisters in her community, one of whom has a degree in ceramics. Together, they created a ceramic mural to span the 83-foot expanse. It was the first of many.

Over the years, Sr. Jane Mary Sorosiak has stayed busy with commissions despite never having advertised her skills. “One commission has led to another,” she explains with a wave of her hand. In total, there are nearly one hundred commissions, some of which consist of multiple individual pieces, such as the Stations of the Cross. Many of the pieces are in Northwest Ohio. Lourdes campus has several and other pieces have been commissioned in Toledo, Perrysburg, Findlay and Sandusky (to name a few). More commissioned pieces are in California and Texas. Her process is fine-tuned by now. After meeting with the client initially, she creates a full color, very detailed model. “Sometimes that takes longer than anything else,” she emphasizes. “Most people think of ceramic murals as bathroom tiles,” she laughs. Her model aims to show that this is not the case. Unlike most murals, Sr. Sorosiak does not use square tiles.

Sister Jane Mary points to a concept drawing for a mural she designed. The mural was installed in the Cobo Center in Detroit in 2017.

“I like curves,” she says, decisively. She tries to convey movement. Once the design is approved, Sr. Sorosiak has to enlarge it and correct any little mistakes. Once she is satisfied, the design goes on to tracing paper. From there, the tracing paper is laid out in sections on sheets of wet clay. With a ceramic knife, each piece is cut out and numbered on the back. After drying thoroughly, the piece is fired in the kiln, glazed 3-4 times with Sr. Sorosiak’s glazes, then refired. The finished pieces are shipped to the location and Sorosiak oversees the installation. Each piece is special and personal to Sr. Sorosiak. “Every piece is my favorite,” she says, “I want the person who commissioned it to be happy, but I have to be happy with it,” she said. While she has had commercial offers throughout her career, she has turned them down. “I wanted to do religious art,” she explained simply. Perhaps it is because of the lasting effect she wants her art to have. “I want my art to be an inspiration, to be uplifting, to give people joy, to give them peace...something that will inspire people to prayer.”