St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church recently hosted a pair of Art Through Faith * Faith Through Art programs.

Artist and St Rose parishioner Adrienne Keogler conducted the program, which had faith-based themes for children to follow and discover "the beauty of God's Creation," according to the program flier. Students learned about sacred art and artists while creating their own art through weekly projects.

Sessions for ages 5-7 were offered on Wednesday, October 5-November 9, and sessions for ages 8 and up ran on Thursdays, October 6-10. Classes met at St Rose of Lima's Holiday Innocents Faith Formation Center. The program was open to the public, according to St Rose Director of Education Pam Arsenault.

Ms Keogler, who plans to offer Art Through Faith * Faith Through Art again, focused the recent series on six ways that God shows His love for everyone. Each week was based on different ways anyone can feel love: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, Our Blessed Mother Mary, The Angels, and The Saints, according to Ms Keogler.

Each session began in prayer, and then moved into the creation of art. Children left each afternoon with their completed projects and a Holy Card of the prayer for the week, designed with collage.

Ms Keogler not only oversaw each project, but "taught the children about color wheels, and the history of each subject," said Ms Arsenault. The classes for both age groups were filled to capacity, with ten students allowed into each session. "We wanted to keep them small so that she could focus on each child," she added.

While working within the Faith Formation Center, children were surrounded by recordings of sacred music and copies of work by artists done during different centuries. Sandwich boards atop desks displayed images of St Vincent de Paul, St Peter, Therese of Lisieux, St Francis, St Domenic, Joseph the Carpenter, and others.

On November 10, children created illustrations of the saint of their choice. Work spaces were long rectangular tables, set up in a U-form, and each child had crayons and markers, and plenty of glue and small bits of colored tissue paper to work with.

After drawing their saint of choice, each child affixed their drawing to a piece of tacky paper, and then began adding the colored paper around the drawing.

With the addition of the tissue paper around the drawing, the works took on the appearance of a piece of stained glass. Some students worked haphazardly, creating very abstract designs, while a few created intentional patterns.

Each work had begun with an open piece of black paper, which served as a frame for the finished piece.

As her students worked - and also spoke and giggled among themselves - Ms Keogler also talked with them. "Why did we choose saints to honor today?" she asked the group at one point. "Why are we making stained glass" she asked a few minutes later.

Once the children were done adding their colored papers to their work, they took their pieces to Ms Keogler, who had a table set up within the U of student tables. She offered suggestions to those who were having trouble finishing their presentation.

For those who were ready for the final step, Ms Keogler added a second piece of tacky paper to a work, effectively enclosing the frame, drawing and small pieces of colored paper into a work that could be hung on a well or, as she suggested, in front of a window.