Painting Nuns: The Covered…and Uncovered Woman

During my weekly sessions, painting the retired sisters of Notre Dame, the concept of the veiled and covered woman conjured up all kinds of memories and associations for me.
 

Sr. Marian Coughlin: Grace by Judy Takács

Who can forget the perky and kind Sister Bertrille from “The Flying Nun”?

Sally Field plays the classic “fun nun” in television’s "The Flying Nun”!

I grew up watching the sexy but veiled Barbara Eden from “I Dream of Jeannie.” She referred to her love interest, Major Tony Nelson as “Master.” Even though she had him wrapped around her finger, the whole "Master" thing didn’t sit right with me one bit.

Barbara Eden plays the mischievous Jeannie in the
1960s sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie.”

And, of course, every single clichéd female celebrity of the last century who “vanted to be alone” hid behind a scarf and sunglasses.   

The Mennonites and the Amish women wear bonnets reminiscent of the 19th century, when Pioneer women obeyed their husbands, couldn't vote or own property, but could wield a shotgun and a hoe with the best of them.

The Tichel head covering or the Sheitel wig is worn by an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish wife for modesty so that only her husband may see her hair.

The Tichel like the one pictured covers the head of an
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish wife.

Servants, slaves and working class wives in history, art, fiction and movies
have all worn a kerchief.
 

Academy Award-winning Hattie McDaniel plays the
unforgettable “Mammy” to perfection.
With dignity, humor, loyalty and common sense she simultaneously
scolds and serves Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett in Gone with the Wind.

And, here in the west, we think of the Burka and Niqab as shrouds of subjugation that hide a woman as the private property of her husband and family. Though in the countries where women actually are enslaved, the consequences of not wearing one are dangerous and the full body covering serves as protection too.

Muslim women walk down the street gloved and covered in their Niqabs.

And, finally, the mother of all veiled women, the Virgin Mary, rarely appears in art without her characteristic blue and white headdress and adoringly down-cast or euphorically upcast eyes. A symbol of female perfection, she is maternal, peaceful, loving…and covered.

The Virgin with Angels by Alfred William Bougereau

In my life there has been only one situation where I was confronted with wearing a symbolic head-covering unrelated to warmth.

In planning my wedding, the question of what my veil would look like naturally came up.

As Chief Creative Officer of my wedding, I squashed the veil concept eagerly and without hesitation. Like being called man and WIFE, Mrs. SCOTT Pendergast and promising to love honor and OBEY, I was philosophically opposed.

To me, the bridal veil tradition brought with it images of an obedient daughter of a Medieval family, shrouded and presented to a wealthy suitor along with livestock, land and dowry to secure power and position for her family. The father’s lifting of the veil at the key moment when it was too late for the waiting groom to back out, was too much for this liberated woman, heavily steeped in the feminist movement.

I opted for a lovely hair ornament instead and went into my marriage with both eyes wide open.

Me and my honey on our wedding day.

When I embarked upon my nun painting expedition painting the retired sisters of Notre Dame, I guess I expected their retirement home to look like the convent in “The Sound of Music”;  all abuzz with kindly old singing nuns whose fascinating wizened faces peeked out from the black-and-white modest dignity of a nun’s habit. Portrait essays in black, white and flesh would be juxtaposed with red and pink backgrounds in my sensitively rendered likenesses.

“How do you solve a problem like Maria?”
The nuns from the convent sing about Julie Andrews’ lack of commitment to the sisterhood in “The Sound of Music.”

What I found, however, was that of 170 residents at the retirement home, 11 wore the headgear, and even fewer wore the full habit.

Back in the 1970s, word had been sent from the Vatican that the sisters were no longer required to wear the habit and headdress…and after talking with my new nun friends, I found that many of them said a collective “Hallelujah!” at that news!

Apparently the early headgear was incredibly uncomfortable, gradually tore your hair out and distorted your hearing too. Back in the early days, these women had to make their own headgear by cutting out plastic parts from bleach bottles and covering them with fabric. They wore these stiff wimples during the day and  switched to a slightly more forgiving head covering at night for sleeping.

The traditional headdress of the Sisters of Notre Dame.
Pictured above is Sister Madeline Columbro,
who currently resides at the Retirement Center.

Because the stiff headgear prevented peripheral vision, the sisters who wore it could not drive a car. To go out and serve in the community, they had to rely on drivers, thus adding a layer of complexity to accomplishing their missions.

When these women joined the order at the age of 17 or so, they signed on to cover their heads, day and night…for the rest of their lives. The early convents also enforced the vow of modesty by removing any mirrors. This made it difficult for the sisters to check that their headgear sat straight, with hair nicely tucked away, during the many years they dutifully wore it.

The sisters who eventually shed their habits when it was no longer required, had wonderful reasons besides comfort and convenience. Many disliked the outward display of piety the habit symbolized, feeling that it separated them from the very community of people they wanted to help.

Some of the sisters chose to continue wearing the headgear, and their reasons for doing so were just as compelling as the reasons not to. 

The wearers of the headdress liked how it identified them as someone who can officially help you…like a police officer or fire fighter. One sister told me that without the habit, she’s just a nosy old lady giving kind words and blessings where maybe it wasn’t welcomed. But the habit gave her the authority and courage to help, knowing that her efforts would be taken seriously, respected and would truly bring comfort because of the higher power she was representing.

Sister Sharone, Quiet Joy
Judy Takács

The decision whether or not to wear the headgear was motivated by the same goal; to help those in need the best way they knew how. 

And thankfully, in recent years these noble women were given the option to chose how best to accomplish that mission…with or without the headdress. 


And even this feminist heathen painter who chose to shun the bridal veil, can’t find a darn thing wrong with that!

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Soon you can see the entire collection of my paintings of retired nuns.
You're all invited to the exhibition…

NUN: Judy Takács Paints
Retired Sisters of Notre Dame

Opening Reception: Thursday night April 10th from 5:00 to 7:00

Clara Fritzsche Library Gallery

Notre Dame College

4545 College Road

South Euclid, Ohio

Show dates April 10th through May 23

Gallery hours are generous and the same as library hours.

call for details…216-373-5267

Sr. Patricia Gannon: The Brave by Judy Takács

At the Opening Reception, my mom, Dalma Takács will be in attendance 
selling and signing some of the novels she has authored.
My paintings are featured on her book covers.
Also for sale and signing will be some of my art books, including
Chicks with Balls: Judy Takács Paints Unsung Female Heroes.

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Read my other blogpost about a Heathen Painting Nuns.
See you at the opening!

 

Daniel Day Lewis showing at SYZYGY…kinda

The Unbearable Irony Triptych:

Relentless Artist

Painstakingly Captures

Fleeting Expression

by Judy Takács




A few years ago, I was invited by Cleveland’s extraordinary printmaker, innovator and art instigator, Liz Maugans to create a painting for an art show, “Unbearable Lightness”, which she was curating at BAYarts.

The theme for the show was inspired by the book “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera. 

If are not a reader, the movie was excellent and captures much of the spirit of the book, with Daniel Day Lewis in his sexiest role ever…so it's worth a look too. The story is a love triangle…actually a polygon… set during the Prague Spring in 1968, just before the oppressive Soviet communist regime crushed Czechoslovakia’s attempts at liberal reforms.

Since the artists in the show were invited to create art to the theme of the BOOK, I chose to deny myself the movie Daniel Day Lewis fantasy and re-read “Unbearable Lightness of Being” book in search of images and inspiration.

As I read, three ideas stuck with me. One was visual and the other two were intellectual concepts in opposition to each other.

The visual concept is this: Tereza (played by Juliet Binoche in the movie), is desperately in love with a sexually unfaithful Tomás (Daniel Day Lewis). She clings to him each night as they sleep, with a grip so tight he can never truly escape. He continues to stray (thus the love polygon), but also continues to return.

The first conceptual idea in the book is this: A moment, once it happens is gone forever and can never happen again.

And the second concept, in direct opposition to the first is this: There is an inherent irony in creating art (permanent, for-the-ages, timeless, transcendent) that takes as its inspiration the concept of a fleeting moment (already over before you can start the art it inspires). And since much of my work is about irony, relationships, expressions, feelings and truth…as seen through people painted with intense spontaneity, these three concepts came together easily.

I really wanted to paint the clinging desperate squish of two lovers, so I posed my indulgent husband with myself for the centerpiece of the triptych. The two side paintings show my exaggerated intensity and his lack of it. The strings we cling to are flimsy, tiny and unsatisfying to hang on to (like moments gone), and yet the “Relentless Artist” still clings…trying to “Painstakingly Capture” and preserve for all time the transient whisper of a “Fleeting Expression”.

The reason I’m revisiting this tryptych is that for the next week or so you can see the right panel (entitled "Unbearable Irony: Fleeting Expression") exhibited at the SYZYGY show at the Cleveland West Art League at the 78th Street Studio. Since it is a painting of my husband, I included it in this first ever grouping of my work that is exclusively paintings of men. 


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Please join me at the now legendary 78th Street Studios Third Friday Art Walk from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. February 21st. I am honored to be included in this small group of stellar artists as part of the SYZYGY show, curated by Leslie Humez, at the Cleveland West Art League Gallery. 

A very few copies of my Chicks with Balls book will be for sale at the show, and I'll sign one just for you on Friday night February 21st.

Cleveland West Art League Gallery
78th Street Studios
1305 West 80th Street
Cleveland, Ohio

If you can't make the opening, the CWAL gallery will be open Friday February 7th and 14th for the SYZYGY Show from 11:00 to 4:00. And then again for the Closing Reception during February's Third Friday Art Walk on February 21st from 6:00 to 10:00. Check out photos on my facebook page.

Or you can schedule an appointment: (don’t be shy) by calling Dan Nefaros at: 216-456-6503 or you can email him at: cwartleague@gmail.com. Either way check it out. It truly is a dynamite show! 

I have written a blogpost about another SYZYGY painting of a man; my son. Read about, “The Introvert” on this blog too.

Secret Confessions of a Self-made Extrovert

My adventures continue as I work on everything BUT Chicks with Balls 

for a few months. I shall return to the Chicks energized, refreshed and inspired, but for right now here’s what I’m painting!

Sweet Sloth by Judy Takács

You may not have heard of it…and that would be fitting…but lately there has been a quiet revolution of introverts. 

“Introvert” is the new label of coolness, like Jock, Rock Star and Prom Queen from days of yore. Everyone is coming out as an introvert lately; from David Letterman to Meryl Streep from Christine Aguilera to Warren Buffet.

My oldest son just started college this past September at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, ranked by Huff Post as one of the top ten trendiest colleges in the country. Their required summer reading was, “Quiet, The Power of  Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Clark.

To me this book choice is no accident and no surprise. Even when I started as an undergrad there, back in the ’80s, Case was a throbbing hotbed of nerdy introverts. (Nerdy is cool now too, thank you billionaires Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and your ilk) My favorite college pastime was seeking out fascinating discussions with individual thinkers who wanted to philosophize on the fringes of the party…and make fun of those who didn’t. This was way more fun than cutting a rug out on the dance floor…but…and here’s the big but…in order to get into fascinating discussions with these fascinating people, someone had to talk first; I had to become an extrovert…ironic, but true. 

I was okay with the extrovert thing though, it was a way to take charge of the shyness and anxiety of my childhood, and I worked really hard at my extrovert skills. You don't have to drag to a party, I will (almost) always chat with a stranger, and bare soul quickly to a new friend. Even my paintings are extroverted…they are all in your face, laughing, high contrast, hot and exaggerated. 

And yes, like all good painters I am thrilled to be alone in my studio for extended periods of meditative paint pushing, but I am still in a crowd; surrounded by the extra large people in my paintings (and of course my wonderful friends on facebook.)

But being an introvert is cool now…and after I spent so many years working on my extrovert skills to get me some of those cool introvert friends, I find myself in the babbling minority doing the hamster work of filling the silences.

Even in my own families…the one I grew up in and the one I spawned…I am the only extrovert; trying to make them not only HAVE fun, but also to visibly demonstrate that they’re having fun, so I won’t feel guilty that I’ve failed in my mission to spread joy. There, I’ve said it, all about me, typical extrovert.

This newfound realization would probably be better expressed on a psychiatrist’s couch than to the throngs who surely read my blog. So, instead I shall present to you a duo of paintings that I’ve been working on during my short hiatus from Chicks.

Both feature my eldest son, before he cut the hair he grew so long…partly because he didn’t want to have to chat with a hairdresser about his college choices and what he likes to do in his spare time. He has let it grow long before and twice donated 12 inch ponytails of pristine hair to Locks of Love to help children with long-term hair loss.

The painting above is “Sweet Sloth” from my budding series on the Seven (not so) Deadly Sins.

The one below is called, simply, “The Introvert.”

The Introvert by Judy Takács

And, this past summer, when my son performed the miracle of actually reading his summer reading before starting at Case, his commentary on the introvert book, “Quiet”  was this…

“The book was kind of obvious; everyone knows that introverts are cooler than extroverts”

Yes, honey, if your mom is an extrovert, it can’t possibly be cool anymore.


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Speaking of cool, if you want to see both these paintings…exhibited for the first time ever, please join me at the now legendary 78th Street Studios Third Friday Art Walk from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. January 17th. I will be exhibiting these and a nice selection of paintings of men (for a change)…along with a small group of stellar artists as part of the SYZYGY show, curated by Leslie Humez, at the Cleveland West Art League Gallery. A very few copies of my Chicks with Balls book will be for sale at the show, and I'll sign one just for you!

Cleveland West Art League Gallery
78th Street Studios
1305 West 80th Street
Cleveland, Ohio

If you can't make the opening, the CWAL gallery is open every Friday through February 21st for the SYZYGY Show from 11:00 to 4:00, and the show will be up for February's Third Friday Art Walk too on February 21st from 6:00 to 10:00.

Or you can schedule an appointment: (once again, don’t be shy) by calling Dan Nefaros at: 216 456 6503 or you can email him at: cwartleague@gmail.com. Either way check it out. It promises to be a dynamite show!

Last stop before heaven…a heathen paints retired nuns

Just to mix things up a bit, in my Chicks furlough, I found myself in the enviable position of painting beautiful retired nuns. 

Sr. Markie

Just to be clear, none of these nuns posed for me for Chicks with Balls. Though, after hearing their stories, I saw just what an incredible group of unsung heroes these women are… within the Catholic Church, an institution that desperately needs them.

The only reason I'm talking about painting the nuns here on the Chicks blog is to chronicle my art activities during my short inspiration break from Chicks with Balls.

How did I get this gig? My mom hooked me up.

You may know that my mom (a chick with balls herself) is a retired English Professor at Notre Dame College of Ohio. She is not a nun herself…she’s my mom remember…but she is friends with many retired nuns whom she taught with for many years at Notre Dame.

The retirement center at Notre Dame is an incredibly welcoming place where the sisters continue their work, care for each other and are vital alive and active as they transition into old age where they need more care. Such a wonderful model for assisted living, these senior women are friends, and continue to be extremely useful to the world and each other for their whole lives. I was welcomed to a wonderful warm female nest of work, satisfaction, love, prayer and complete confidence that the next stop was heaven.

This project (tentatively called NUN) was very much like my Solon Senior Project where I also set up in a weekly spot and painted beautiful old age. The religion aspect is what pushed at my comfort zone.

I am not Catholic, or Presbyterian like my mom, or a non-practicing Catholic like my dad, or an agnostic like my husband. I am a Heathen. I unapologetically say I am a Proud Heathen to squelch the hopes of my kind-hearted evangelical friends for a potential rebirthing. I’m not “undecided”, because I truly don't see how I can ever make a “decision” on faith and belief… I just want to keep learning, thinking and doing.

You may think a Heathen is a bad thing, but here is the dictionary definition:

Hea•then

a person who does not belong to a widely held religion (esp. one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim) as regarded by those who do.

Well, that’s me.

I’m not an atheist, I do believe in God, but it may just be my better self that I’m talking to. But she helps.

I believe in love…big time.

I also believe in the strength and goodness of humans.

I believe in Karma to a certain extent, but don’t think we should do good for the sake of Karma…or Heaven. I think we should be good for goodness sake…to be the change we want to see in this world (that one's from the Dalai Lama).

I also believe in the pursuit of our own happiness, but never at the expense of the happiness of others. I’m always in pursuit of the win-win situation myself…and I often find it (this is my take-away message from the much maligned Ayn Rand).

But, that will be enough of my sermon.

My concern at Notre Dame was that I wanted to paint these beautiful women without being saved or getting into arguments. I’m a pro-choice, pro-birth control, pro-marriage equality, of-course-there's-evolution… kind of gal, and I wanted to respectfully see the inside of an institution (Catholicism) and way of life (being a nun) which, as a Proud Heathen and outside observer I had never really known or understood.

Much like a tourist in a foreign country I wanted to learn about the nuns. Actually these women are called sisters. Nuns are cloistered, whereas sisters work in the community…this was one of the first things I learned. 

The second thing I learned was that very few of them still wear their nun headgear let alone the full habit. I had pictured the paintings as essays in black, white and red, with these delicious weathered faces peeking through. 

My tourguide for my time at the Health Center was Sr. Annemarie, who, an acomplished pastel artist herself, could not have been more welcoming to me. She arranged for all my subjects to pose, made sure I had publicity within the center so I'd have an audience, and generally created a little slice of heaven for me where all I have to do is come and paint an incredibly beautiful, soulful, fascinating and wise woman each week. Sr. Annemarie also took great care to make sure I had at least a few sisters pose for me who do wear the headgear still.

Sr. Deborah was my first subject.

Sr. Deborah

During our extensive discussions, she did ask me whether I was Catholic. 

I decided to lay the cards on the table and tell her I was a Proud Heathen. Much to my surprise and amazement she expressed no shock…or even what friendly Christians will sometimes say, “No, you’re not, you’re so NICE!”

She accepted my heathen status and we talked about good works, being kind to others, service…and she told me how wonderful it was for me to come and bring art, inspiration and beauty into their midst. I told her the honor was all mine…the heathen was making a win-win situation. Truly, they were doing me a huge favor to indulge my selfish art desires and let me paint them.

You can see the extensive pictures and progressions on my website, under the heading, NUN. On this blog I’ve shown you a few of the paintings which are well on the way. Not calling them done, but I’m very excited about how they are coming out!

Sr. Patricia

Stay tuned to hear about my continued adventures painting the sisters of Notre Dame…and to read about what I learned on my fascinating weekly vacation to the last stop before heaven!

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Now showing in Cleveland!

NUN: Judy Takács paints
retired sisters of Notre Dame

Opening Reception: Thursday night April 10th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm
Clara Fritzsche Library Gallery
Notre Dame College

4545 College Road

South Euclid, Ohio

Show dates April 10 to May 23

Left is Right: Forays into the Madness that is the Monoprint

Photo by Karin McKenna

Follow my continued adventures as I stretch, bend and leave my comfort zone in the rear view mirror in order to return to Chicks with Balls refreshed, awake, alive and inspired.

Some of the photos here are courtesy of my fabulous, famous photographer friend Karin McKenna, who came with me to Zygote Press on my monoprinting day to see the action. While I was monoprinting Karin wandered around the Zygote studios with the camera she uses to save the world and found inspiration right and left. Check out her unique view of Zygote on her blog at karinmckenna.com.

You may remember Karin because she is also a Chick with Balls.

And now, here's how I got involved with monoprinting at Zygote Press.

 Zygote Press is Cleveland's only print cooperative. Masterminded and executed by Liz Maugans and Bellamy Printz, Zygote has been incredibly active in the community and practices boatloads of community outreach; bringing people to art, art to people, art to Cleveland and Cleveland to the world.

One of their outreach activities is Monothon. Each year selected Cleveland artists who are not print-makers (they can be painters, photographers, movie producers, ceramicists, jewelry artists, just not print-makers) are invited to the Zygote studios to create a monoprint with a personal printmaking mentor. We learn the process, have a blast and create a few monoprints,. One of these is sold at a fundraiser for Zygote, another is forever archived at Zygote and the rest are for the artist to keep.

Photo by Karin McKenna

I was honored that Liz Maugans asked me to participate in Monthon this year.


This year's Monothon artists are, Gina DeSantis, Brandon Juhasz, Kasumi, Susan Kelley, Irina Koukhanova, Jason K. Milburn, Erik Neff, Scott Pickering, Deborah Pinter, Lauren Sammon and of course, me, Judy Takács.

This mixing of the disciplines is a win-win for all involved, artists and art lovers alike.

Those who attend the Zygote Off the Wall Holiday Party on Saturday December 7th (12:00 to 5:00) and Sunday the 8th (12:00 to 4:00) will have the opportunity to buy an original work of art; a monoprint from a Cleveland artist whose work normally sells for much much more than the low low Holiday party price of  $150.

So, I hope to see you some of you at this event and hopefully one of you will go home with my monoprint!

Here are some pictures from the process!

Photo by Karin McKenna

Meet my personal print making mentor…Denise Stewart you are an awesome teacher, printer, friend and mentor!

The monoprint process can be a very painterly one, so, because I didn’t want to leave my comfort zone too far back in the rear view mirror, I decided to be painterly with it. 

Since the color choices for printing were much more limited than my vast palette at home in my studio, I decided to try something with color I’d only read about but never tried; the Zorn Palette. 

Anders Zorn is a master of portraiture and his fresh as air paintings glow. His palette consists of four colors; Black, White, Cadmium Red and Yellow Ochre. From these printing ink colors I mixed my fleshtones and it was real nice. I'm not changing what I do at my studio, but I shall add knowledge of this simplicity to my right now incredibly complicated palette.

Right and Better Left Unsaid by Judy Takács

As the basis for my print, I decided to use my most popular painting to date. “Right and Better Left Unsaid” has won awards right and left and been included in the Art Renewal Center Salon Catalog and the 52 Weeks/52 Works Calendar. And Ralph was so fun to paint the first time I thought a second time might be even more fun…it was.

I stuck my Xeroxed image of my painting behind the plexi-glass which will be my plate.

Then I started painting…backwards. The first things you paint will be the last  things to print on the plate…for me that means highlights right off the bat, and then placing progressively darker colors on TOP of them. Very confusing for someone that doesn’t even understand time zones like me.

After a few hours of painting, I decided to pull my first print.

 

Everyone was nice and said it was good, but I think that was the warm and fuzzy supportive studio atmosphere talking. I am thinking I’ll work back into this one.
So then I pulled a shadow print using the ink left on the plate after the first print.

Kind of cool, but to me it needs a little punch. I may go back into the print with some black ink. In monoprints that’s okay…unlike in other types of printmaking where it messes up the integrity of the print.

So then, after two prints from the original paint on the plate, I decided to work back onto the ink that was left on the plexiglass plate. This time, with reckless abandon. There was a pale image left, it was 4:00 and I said, Screw it, I’m going to get some definition going here. So out came the pure black. In my vast monoprinting experience (this was my third print) I've come to the conclusion that THIS is when the fun starts.

This one I loved.

 

And then after I pulled the print above, I worked back onto the image on the plate with even more reckless abandon…

I really liked the second two better than the first two…and apparently the black ink smudge that extended below his arm is “printerly” and a good thing (kind of like “painterly” is a good thing for painters.)

A super fun day at Zygote Press! And please remember you are invited to the Zygote Press Off the Wall Holiday Sale on Saturday and Sunday December 7 and 8!








Oh yeah…here's a little epilogue (you know I love epilogues). Remember the first two prints which I was going to work back in to? I continued on them back in my studio and here’s what I came up with…

Before: First print, fresh off the press…

 

After: With a little pastel touch-up…I think I may have gone too far, but they eyes looked too blobby and vacant before.

 

Before: Here's the Shadow Print, fresh off the press…

After: Here's the Shadow Print…with a little calligraphic panache. This one’s cool too…not sure which one of these will be for sale, you'll just have to see for yourself at the Zygote Press Off the Wall Holiday sale December 7th and 8th at Zygote Press, 1410 E. 30th St. in Cleveland, Ohio!

And what shall I call my monoprints? After much deliberation, I decided that, “Left is Right” was the perfect name…a nod to the original painting name, “Right and Better Left Unsaid,” and to the print process (and much of politics too) in which Left is indeed Right!