SUN PRAIRIE — For Grace Marshall, this summer marks the second in a row where she’s earned awards for her Catholic art not only at the Dane County Fair, but also in West Allis, at the Wisconsin State Fair.
Marshall lives in Sun Prairie and, with her family, is a parishioner of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Church there, part of Epiphany of the Lord Parish.
She’s also part of Sun Prairie’s Happy Hikers 4-H Club. Through 4-H, she submits entries to the county fair.
This year’s accolades
Marshall submitted five pieces of artwork to the Dane County Fair this year, and each of them received a blue ribbon.
4-H entries are judged using the Danish system, where each piece is judged against a set standard, and among the best entries — denoted by blue ribbons — additional special ribbons may be awarded, like the purple champion’s ribbon and state fair ribbon.
Of Marshall’s five entries this year, two were expressively Catholic: An icon of St. Nicholas and a statue of St. Michael the Archangel defeating Satan.
Marshall’s statue of St. Michael was awarded a purple champion’s ribbon.
Among Marshall’s other three entries — a children’s book, a recipe box decorated with pyrography (wood burning), and a homemade card — the children’s book and card were both awarded a purple champion’s ribbon.
Most accomplished of all was Marshall’s icon of St. Nicholas, which, in addition to a purple champion’s ribbon, was awarded a state fair ribbon, the highest honor.
The state fair ribbon served as the icon’s entry to the state fair, and there, it placed seventh.
But that wasn’t new to Marshall; last year, her drawing of St. Teresa of Calcutta (“Mother Teresa”) placed fifth at the state fair.
About her artwork
Marshall shared that some of her first pieces of art were “from making cards for people, thank you cards,” that her mother had asked her to create.
“People really liked them, so I thought I had to live up to expectations,” Marshall joked, and from there, “I got better at drawing.”
Many of her pieces, like the drawing of Mother Teresa and statue of St. Michael, are from class projects, she explained.
Marshall said she drew Mother Teresa for a Drawing I class at Sun Prairie East High School, and that she made the statue of St. Michael for Ceramics III.
In her drawing class, Marshall had been asked to draw the face of any person, but Mother Teresa, Marshall said, is someone she has a devotion to.
She explained that in grade school at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary School in Sun Prairie she was introduced to Mother Teresa. She added that diocesan programs, like Love Begins Here, helped foster that devotion, and for Confirmation, she chose Mother Teresa as her saintly patron.
In the picture Marshall chose, Mother Teresa has “a Rosary in her hands and her eyes are closed. She looks like she’s almost in pain. She’s thinking really hard about something, praying really hard.
“It had a lot of feeling to it, so I wanted to try and capture that,” Marshall said.
The photo Marshall described was taken July 1, 1988, in Tijuana, Mexico, as Mother Teresa’s 400th mission opened.
As for St. Michael, “If I hadn’t [chosen] Mother Teresa, I probably would’ve chosen him as my Confirmation saint,” Marshall said.
“A lot of times you think of saints like they’re sitting in a cave somewhere, writing a book, or walking around, but he’s fighting stuff. He’s fighting the devil.
“That’s awesome,” Marshall said, adding that “I chose to sculpt him because that image is just so strong.”
As for the icon of St. Nicholas, Marshall wrote the icon while attending an iconography workshop in February with local iconographer Drazen Dupor.
Iconography isn’t a form of artwork but a form a prayer, Marshall learned, and besides “praying that I don’t mess up” in front of Dupor, Marshall prayed with Gregorian chant as she worked.
She’s happy with how the icon turned out.
A ‘subtle push’
Marshall shared that when she submits her Catholic artwork to the fair, she hopes that passersby “will be a little curious about what it is.
“Maybe they’ll look into it more, and maybe they’ll get a little closer to God when they do,” she said.
“If nothing else, I hope they appreciate it.”
“A lot of people at the fair are not Christian or not Catholic, but I feel that sometimes people connect to art more than someone talking at them, so it’s a subtle push,” Marshall said.
Marshall is a rising senior and mentioned a potential project for the future.
“I have a really big canvas upstairs that my friend gave me, and I’m thinking about taking AP Drawing next year,” she said, explaining that the class covers all types of line-making, including painting.
“I hope that if I get good enough at painting, I can make a giant picture of the Cross with Jesus on it and then, all the saints around it.
“The saints that I’ve been inspired by, that’s where they all want to be, so that’s where I’m going to put them,” Marshall said.