For sacred artist Blair Piras, faith and art have always been intertwined.
“It’s my job as a sacred artist to create something that draws a person up to the highest beauty, to God,” the 31-year-old Catholic based in Covington, Louisiana, says in a new season of a documentary series called “Artful.”
Piras, who paints under the name Blair Barlow (with “Barlow” being her middle name), spoke with Our Sunday Visitor after appearing in the “Artful” series by BYUtv, a service of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, founded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The third episode of season five follows her journey as an artist and as a Catholic.
The show, available for free online, invites viewers to “discover the faith-filled stories of amazing artists” such as Piras. Along the way, it explores questions such as “Where does art come from?” and “What is the connection between creation and Creator?” — questions that Piras has answers for.
“I want to be able to paint as beautiful as I possibly can to reflect the glory of God and to draw [viewers] into a deeper sense of awe, to just be able to encounter God through the art,” she told Our Sunday Visitor. “That’s the goal, and it’s very lofty, but I guess just trying to do what other great artists before me have done — and have the same kind of impact that great pieces of Catholic art have had on me.”
Drawn to art from a young age, Piras studied painting at the Sacred Art School Firenze in Florence, Italy, after majoring in humanities and Catholic culture at the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. Following her time in Florence, she returned to Franciscan as its first artist-in-residence on campus.
Piras has participated in national and international exhibitions and events. Today, she works on commission and creates sacred images for churches and homes. Online, at her website, she offers prints, prayer cards, greeting cards as well as original works of art for purchase.
Her colorful paintings, which focus on saints and Biblical scenes, have a photographic quality to them. While many of them depict historical figures or imagery, she often presents them in a relatable way by including modern-day nods or by tying them into the communities that house them.
“For me, to create something within the Catholic tradition means looking back at how this theme has been represented, how does this exist within our tradition and within the Catholic imagination, and then what do I have to bring to it,” she says in the “Artful” series.
The Incarnation as a model
Piras, who was trained in figurative realism, agreed that her paintings have a photographic or true-to-reality quality while also stressing that she works within the Catholic tradition.
“And looking at different time periods, how they also brought the scene into their own time and place — kind of using the Incarnation as the model that God makes himself known, and to each particular person and within each particular time,” she said.
Throughout history, people have brought God into their own time and place, she said.
Her painting of “St. Joan of Arc, Maiden of Orléans” in St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in LaPlace, Louisiana, includes Louisiana flora and depicts the saint as a young, barefoot maiden who is interrupted by an angel during the ordinary task of harvesting vegetables in the garden.
“The idea behind portraying St. Joan of Arc as a young maiden was to portray her as one of us,” Piras says in the show. “God has a mission and a will for all of our lives. No matter how simple or profound, he speaks to all of us.”
A friendship with the saints
During times of struggle, Piras has sought the help of the saints, particularly St. Joan of Arc, she says in the show. She pointed to one particularly difficult moment in her life: when she left Florence to teach at her alma mater, Franciscan. Piras called the transition rough.
“I remember, you know, some of my darkest moments, feeling like I was under spiritual attack, just asking for help,” she says in the series. “I didn’t feel like I was just screaming out into this empty chasm. I felt responses.”
Her faith and friendship with the saints, she said, guided her.
“There are these saints that are praying for us. They get it,” she says. “During that time, I continued to paint, there wasn’t a dryness in my life as an artist — if anything, like, there’s a greater depth.”
A lesson from St. John Paul II
Piras told Our Sunday Visitor that St. John Paul II’s 1999 letter to artists shaped her understanding of art and the relationship between creation and the Creator.
“None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands,” the late pontiff begins his letter. “A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when — like the artists of every age — captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.”
Piras called the letter a “wonderful guide” for looking at the relationship between God, the creator, and artists as co-creators.
“And kind of understanding that we don’t create anything from nothing but we still share in the creative nature of God, in looking at his creation, gleaning inspiration from it, and making something that does have a part of ourselves in it,” she said.
Creating as mother and artist
Piras, a mother of two, has addressed creating both as a mother and as an artist. In 2019, she wrote a letter about “The Creative Capacity of Motherhood” where she reveals that, after experiencing self-doubt, God showed her how “my creativity in my life as an artist would be enhanced by my role as a mother.”
“As women, we were all made to be mothers in a particular way, whether on a spiritual or biological level,” she writes. “This is the greatest expression of the creative capacity within us women.”
Today, her role as a mother and artist, she said, are connected. She works with her young son and, now, her baby daughter beside her. She expressed excitement over watching her son learn about the Faith through what she’s working on — and being able to interpret her art and sacred art in general for him.
Advice for young artists
Piras shared a message of encouragement for young artists.
“Stay hopeful and be persistent with your training,” she said. “As a young artist … it’s easy to get discouraged because creating — being diligent with your training — it just takes a long time.”
She recommended they find programs they admire and seek out mentors who are doing the kind of work that they want to do. She also advised them to embrace humility.
“Recognizing, ‘I have a lot of room to grow,'” Piras said, “and then just to be diligent in training and just to trust God that he’ll show you which next steps to take.”
