Sacred Passion: The Art of William Schickel, Second Edition

In the second edition of Sacred Passion, biographer Gregory Wolfe chronicles the artistic career of William Schickel (1919-2009) in the years since the original 1998 publication of this book by the University of Notre Dame Press. There are two new chapters, one on Schickel's recent contributions to the built environment in several communities, and the other on his recent paintings. There are 70 new color images, in addition to the 189 from the first edition, many of which have been replaced or enhanced.

William Schickel was born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1919 and raised in Ithaca, New York. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1944. His graduation project was the sculptural fountain "Living Water," now in the university's grotto. In a consistently productive career spanning more than six decades, Schickel has combined his skills as a sculptor, architectural designer, furniture designer, stained-glass artist, and painter with his deep personal faith to bring a healing vision to a number of American communities. In addition to his many paintings and ritual arts creations, Schickel's public works include the renovation of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, for which he received the American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal Award; the Duchesne Memorial Shrine in St. Charles, Missouri; the Miami Valley Hospital Chapel in Dayton, Ohio; the "Rotunda of Creation" in the Cincinnati Center for Health and Wellness; the renovation of the Bellarmine Chapel in Cincinnati; the "Journeying with Christ" mural in the St. John Neumann Church in Canton, Michigan; and the Larry Hoffsis stained-glass window in the Epiphany Lutheran Church near Dayton, Ohio.

Celebrating an artist of extraordinary faith, power, creativity, and dedication, the second edition of Sacred Passion is a tribute to William Schickel and his achievements.

"Here is an object—a book, a text, a generous portrait in images—which speaks as a sacramental does, revealed here in the chiasmic crossing between the contemporary and the ageless revealed in William Schickel's paintings, stained glass, sculpture and architecture, interwoven with the brilliance and sensitivity of Greg Wolfe's text hovering over those images. Insofar as a book can introduce us to the three- and four-dimensional world of the sacred, this is that book. Light, stone, earth, air, fire, and water: all fused here in the alembic of the contemporary Catholic imagination." —Paul Mariani, Boston College

"One of my Franciscan Brothers used to say somewhat cynically to his high school students that art will not save your soul, but it can make your soul worth saving. I was reminded of these words in reading Gregory Wolfe's book on William Schickel. Wolfe's introduction to this important artist shows graphically how Schickel in all of his art, but especially in his public commissions, educates the heart by providing a sacred space where people are drawn together by the clean simplicity of his spaces and the images that he creates within those spaces. This is a book that itself educates the heart through its journey into the sacred passion of William Schickel." —Fr. Murray Bodo, OFM

"There is an ancient Jewish concept known as tikkun olam. Literally translated, it means áworld repair.' Tikkun olam is a moral imperative, God's call to human beings to repair what is broken in creation. In short, the vocation that all of us share is the obligation to take what is broken and restore it to a condition of wholeness, completeness. In both Jewish and Christian traditions, the pursuit of wholeness becomes holiness." "While this sort of language lends itself to cliche and sentimentality, it nonetheless touches on something that most of us intuit at some level: that which divides, fragments, separates tends to harm the order of things. Goodness, truth, and beauty, we suspect, have a sort of roundedness, wholeness, or completeness to them. That which is balanced is firmly planted on the ground, unlikely to be easily swayed or overturned." "These principles have been at the heart of William Schickel's life, not only as an artist, but as a father, Catholic believer, and citizen. From his early interest in agrarian movements as a response to industrialism's impact on the social fabric to his admiration for liturgical reform that brings the whole person into active participation in the sacred mysteries, Schickel has exemplified the conviction that wholeness requires holiness." "As a disciple of Jacques Maritain, Schickel has always understood that the role of art in the moral life is not a straightforward, utilitarian thing. Art cannot compel the will; when it attempts to do so, it becomes mere propaganda. But neither Schickel nor Maritain believed that art has no influence on the will---or the human heart. Quite the contrary. Both believed that art speaks to the heart, that it can educate the heart, which is the seat of the will. Art becomes a form of tikkun olam when it presents us with visions of wholeness---or depictions of brokenness that point toward a wholeness not yet achieved. Art is thus an invitation to human freedom, to a dialogue with the heart."---from the book" "William Schickel was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1919 and raised in Ithaca, New York. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1944. His graduation project was the sculptural fountain "Living Water," now in the university's grotto. In a consistently productive career spanning more than six decades, Schickel combined his skills as a sculptor, architectural designer, furniture designer, stained-glass artist, and painter with his deep personal faith to bring a healing vision to a number of American communities. In addition to his many paintings and ritual arts creations, Schickel's public works include the renovation of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, for which he received the American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal Award; the Duchesne Memorial Shrine in St. Charles, Missouri; the Miami Valley Hospital Chapel in Dayton, Ohio; the "Rotunda of Creation" in the Cincinnati Center for Health and Wellness; the renovation of the Bellarmine Chapel in Cincinnati; the "Journeying with Christ" mural in the St. John Neumann Church in Canton, Michigan; and the Larry Hoffsis stained-glass window in the Epiphany Lutheran Church near Dayton, Ohio. Schickel and his wife Mary lived and raised their eleven children in Love-land, Ohio, where he established a design studio and gallery in 1948, both of which continue to flourish." William Schickel died in July 2009, at the age of eighty-nine. He remained productive until the very end, continuing to paint every day despite the difficulties of poor vision and arthritis. In Gregory Wolfe's words, "William Schickel offers an enduring model of an artist who believes that his own gifts only make sense when brought into dialogue with the communities he is called on to serve." William Schickel and his wife Mary lived, worked, and raised their eleven children in Loveland, Ohio. A number of Bill and Mary's children and grandchildren are active professional artists.

Gregory Wolfe is writer in residence and director of the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing at Seattle Pacific University. He is the founder and editor of IMAGE: A Journal of the Arts and Religion and the author of many books, including Bearing  Mystery: Twenty Years of IMAGE.