6 minute read
Sister Diane Therese Pinchot creates art that speaks of hope and beauty
by mmoran63
By Mary Moran, Director of Marketing and Communications
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Sister Diane at work
“At every stage of my life as an artist, advocate, and teacher, I have been inspired by simple form and the beauty of the natural world. Now at this time of deep concern for the changes taking place in the environment and with the once clear beauty now being degraded with woven bits and pieces of human waste and carelessness, I feel the urgency to create artwork that will speak of hope and beauty and yet make clear the consequences - weakening this beautiful web of life - if changes are not made in the way we live.”
Born and raised in Cleveland Ohio, second oldest of six children, Sister Diane Therese Pinchot always loved “doing stuff” with her hands. “As early as preschool, my mother encouraged us to create and we even took art lessons at that very young age.” Without hesitation, Sister Diane says her biggest inspirations are her mother and her sisters, Delores and Judith Ann. Judith Ann, later known as Sister Miriam Fidelis OSU, passed away earlier this year. “We would sit at the kitchen table for hours drawing, painting – creating.”
Sister Diane entered the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland after graduating from Villa Angela Academy in 1963. She graduated from Ursuline College in 1968 with a BA in Art Education. Over the years in the community she has served as an elementary school teacher, (Saint Ann’s grade school in Cleveland Heights) high school teacher, (Lake Catholic High School in Lake County, Beaumont School in Cleveland Heights) and for 38 years she taught at Ursuline College.
Prior to graduating from Ursuline College in 1968, she won her first art show and repeated the win in 1969. She then pursued graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Institute of Art, and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., in the midst of her teaching career.
Altar El Salvador
Whether her students were in the 6th grade or adults, Sister Diane says those “aha” moments when they recognized their talent were experiences of joy for her. “Those flashes when I would see the face of a student as they realized the gift in themselves were the moments that were the most gratifying for me as a teacher.”
One of the most significant experiences in Sister Diane’s life as an Ursuline Sister and artist was a 1990 visit to El Salvador where she would take on a life-changing challenge. The Diocesan Cleveland Mission Team in El Salvador asked her to design and build an altar on the spot where the bodies of four Catholic missionaries were found after being raped and murdered by members of the El Salvador National Guard in 1980.
“That experience turned my heart upside-down,” she said. The sacredness of the altar project was profound. “I felt the art in my heart before I began.” Sister Diane says creating the altar, as with all art, is like a prayer. “And upon completion, it mirrors back your heart. Both that of the artist and those who view it.”
One of those murdered in El Salvador was Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, whom Sister Diane describes as a friend and a powerful inspiration for her. It was that strong influence of Dorothy Kazel that inspired a student of Sister Dorothy to write a song of hope and courage entitled, “The Sky is My Hat”. The Salvadoran student wrote the song with this title because Sister Dorothy taught her so much self-respect that she felt she could stand tall with dignity and the sky became her hat! This story spoke to Sister Diane so much so that she was inspired to create. “The Sky is My Hat” is the title of her latest piece.
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The Sky is My Hat
The Sky is My Hat in progress The Sky is My Hat
Sister Diane sketches a plan
Upon retiring from the College in 2019 Sister embarked on a new ministry making art full time. Since the COVID pandemic began in 2020, shows and gallery visits had been limited, but this past year has been one of hope and reconnecting. You can find Sister Diane working diligently many days in her studio, the Article Gallery in the Waterloo Arts District of Cleveland. You can also see many of her pieces on display there. She has been invited to show her art numerous times, internationally, nationally and regionally! As humble and modest as she is, she certainly would not be the first to mention such success.
Those accolades are not the motivation behind her artwork. Sister Diane describes climate change, caring for the planet, poverty, people on the margins, and social justice as a few of the many threads woven together to make one tapestry. “If you pull one thread it all unravels, it’s all connected.” These topics are the foundation for her sculptures. Her hope is that her artwork can ignite the hearts in those who view it.
Sister Diane’s process begins with making a detailed drawing and smaller iteration. It can be a slow process. “There are time when I am working on two or three pieces at a time. I cannot force it. The material I work with has its own voice.” The creative process has taught Sister many things over the years one of which is that you can find beauty where you least expect it. “There have been times when I was working on a piece and thought I made a mistake. But as I stepped back and looked closer I realized that what I thought was a mistake or broken, turned out to be the most beautiful part of the piece. I have to listen to the art whispering to me.”
Sister Diane sees the parallel in herself. When she was a young girl her voice often got her in trouble, (and still does today every now and then, she says with a smile). But that voice, which was thought to be a “broken” characteristic in her, has proven to be a beautiful part of who she is as she uses that voice to speak up so passionately as an advocate for social justice and a steward of creation.
