Raising Of Lazarus

Raising Of Lazarus

Two figures occupy the foreground of this image. On the right, a male figure stands with his arms extended, holding the hands of the other figure. The figure on the left is wrapped in white cloths and is crouching as if about to stand up. The crouching figure is surrounded by a black circular background. Beyond the black circular orb is a blue/teal background. The wood carving technique and natural grain of the wood create simulated texture and visual noise throughout the image.

Sister Joanne Emmer (known as Sister Photina in the 1950s and 1960s) is a an artist and educator who brings a deep sense of spirituality to her creation of art. She was born on March 9, 1930 in Moose Lake, MN, and currently resides at Carondelet Village in St. Paul, MN. She studied art from a young age, beginning at the Walker Art School in Minneapolis in the late 1940s. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) in 1951 and completed a B.A. in art at the College of St. Catherine in 1956. She furthered her education at the California College of Arts and Crafts where she received a M.F.A. in painting in 1961. She taught art at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul and St. Mary's Junior College in Minneapolis, where her students were primarily young women studying to be health care professionals. During the 1980s she developed and taught a non-visual art course to undergraduates at the College of St. Catherine, which is just one example of her innovative and holistic education philosophy. She retired from active teaching in 1995. Her art career has included many forms of inspiration and exploration with various techniques. Her early career focused on oil painting, and in her later career she returns to painting using a wet-on-wet acrylic wash technique. Mid-career, she discovered printmaking, and explored many forms of woodblock and screen printing. The subject matter of her prints and paintings are often centered around religion and nature. In a guide to the 2008 Joanne Emmer, CSJ retrospective at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Center, she is quoted: I have often thought of my career as an art teacher, therefore, as opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, strengthening withered limbs, all the grand metaphors of the Gospels. I make paintings and prints with the same hope for those who view them.

1965

ink

paper

12 x 18 inches

woodcut

print

2013.0.389