“Mary the Dawn,” an exhibit of contemporary artist Michelle Arnold Paine, continues at the Chapel throughout December 2009. Ms. Paine served as our artist-in-residence Dec. 7-11 and painted in the Chapel during that time. Her work was also featured in the 2009 Advent Christmas Vespers.

Her exhibit is based on the Medieval hymn of the same title. In her notes on the exhibit, she states, “Mary, Our Lady, the Madonna, Theotokos, the Blessed Virgin, she is probably the most painted woman in Western art history. It is a daunting task to approach her in a new way, one that is not sentimental, or kitschy, or trite. Mary, perhaps more than any other figure, is the perfect model, for she was chosen for the greatest mission ever given – to be the God-bearer. She must have felt small and inadequate in the face of such a joyful, sorrowful and great charge, but she did not give way to fear or self-doubt as I so often do: she only trusted that God would provide all that was needed to carry out the task He had given.”