Sisters Enjoy Annual DIA Gathering
Assembled in the Martin De Porres Center on the campus of Ohio Dominican University, Columbus, OH, 60 artists of the Dominican Institute for the Arts (DIA) enlightened, inspired, and entertained each other July 10–13 at their 12th annual conference.
From left: Srs. Anita Smisek, Rose Marie Conway, Liz Sully, and Joeann Daley, Associate Martha Bartholomew, and Sr. Elaine Taylor at the DIA gathering.
Five Sisters of Sinsinawa and one Associate participated in this gathering. Liz Sully, OP, was on the planning commission and was ritualist for the gathering. She also is a member of the DIA board of directors. Rose Marie Conway, OP, and Joeann Daley, OP, gave a contour drawing workshop and exhibited art pieces for the gala art exhibit. Anita Smisek, OP, sang at the gala event and was music leader for the opening prayer. Elaine Taylor, OP, and Associate Martha Bartholomew shared their talents at the coffee house event. Keynoter Jan Phillips (photographer, video-artist, musician, songwriter, and best-selling-author of Marry Your Muse) led the group through a full day of story-telling and ritual designed to focus on the artist’s personal history as the primary source of creativity.
Visual artists, poets, composers, filmmakers, and performing artists from the United States, Argentina, Africa, and the United Kingdom contributed their talents to a virtual gallery, hands-on workshops, an art exhibit, an evening of entertainment, and a marketplace enjoyed by an audience from the Columbus arts community.
Highlights of the conference included a photographic report by Thoma Swanson, OP, Joeann Daley, Kathy Rhody, and Irene Mary Diones, OP, who were the DIA’s delegation to the recent Dominican Latina Artists’ Convocation in Mexico.
The conference concluded with the conferring of the organization’s highest honor, the Fra Angelico Award, on Dominic De Lay, OP, a Los Angeles filmmaker, composer, and vocalist whose political thriller, Inside Darkness, was released in August 2008.
Founded in 1995, the DIA is an association of visual, verbal, and performing artists of the Dominican Order whose mission includes searching for truth and beauty, and preaching through the transforming power of the arts.