The image of the Holy Family in a new painting recently placed in a conference room at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle portrays them sharing the Passover meal, surrounded by what might be relatives, neighbors or friends. It depicts a gray-haired Joseph, Jesus as a child of perhaps 10 or 12 years in age and Mary watching over both. Around the table, which bears traditional foods of Passover, are seated a couple of younger children and several men and women of varying ages and racial backgrounds.
It’s a rendition of how artist Laura James interpreted the request from St. Matthew’s to paint a Holy Family that reflects the diversity that may have existed in Jesus’s own community, as well as representing the contemporary Washington, D.C., parish.
At a simple blessing ceremony May 11, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Juan Esposito said he thought the painting “is a wonderful reflection not only of your parish community but of our archdiocese. It depicts who we truly are.”
Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the rector of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, explained that the process of advising the New York-based artist about what the parishioners wanted to see depicted involved people from throughout the parish.
“It was something that brought all these different groups together,” he said.
The idea of commissioning a work of art grew out of a shared event with St. Augustine Parish for Black History Month several years ago, explained Lydia Klegg, a St. Matthew’s parishioner who helps connect the two parishes for such activities as that year’s Zoom gathering. The social justice committee from St. Matthew’s began discussing how their parish spaces might better portray a diverse family of God. After some online searching, James was found.
In May 2020, U.S. Catholic magazine profiled James for her extensive work in religious art, notably a colorfully illustrated Book of the Gospels. In 2022, the Sheen Center for Art and Culture, an art and performance space for the Archdiocese of New York, hosted an exhibit of her work, “Black is Blessed: The Art of Laura James.”
For St. Matthew’s, James said her final design was guided by a committee process. “I work with committees a lot,” she explained. When she is commissioned to create a work of art for a particular purpose or a worship space, “I especially want the people to like the painting. We take the time to figure it out.”
Having grown up in the Church of the Brethren, James said she was raised on Bible stories, but there was never art on display in the churches of that Anabaptist Protestant tradition. When she happened across a book of Ethiopian art, called Ethiopian Magic Scrolls, James began to imitate the style, evolving it into her own.
“I wanted to tell stories,” she said. Thus, her long connection to art for Catholic publications and spaces was begun. For years she has painted in a style reminiscent of Ethiopian iconography, using bright colors and expressive faces. Her scenes are a mixture of people with features that might be found the Middle East and Africa.
Although her characteristic work typically is of Black or multiracial characters, she noted, “I have never had a commission for a Black church,” Catholic or non-Catholic.
The artist thinks that perhaps the reason that much of her work is for Catholic churches is because the Church since its early days has supported sacred art. Though recently, she has begun receiving commissions from other faith traditions, she said.
James believes her work has attracted supporters because the icon-like style is “sort of timeless” and her sacred art tends to reflect Jesus and other Scriptural characters as “accessible.”
“It’s important to be able to identify with the sacred images that you come in contact with. I happen to be a Black person who didn’t identify with any of the blond Jesuses I could see in art,” she said.
