Bl Mary in the Eye of the Beholder

Sydney
22 December 2002

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Bl Mary in the Eye of the Beholder

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Bl Mary in the Eye of the Beholder

Scott Jessup says this 1993 oil painting, Mary MacKillop, by Dominican Sr Mary Brady, shows Bl Mary within a typical Australian landscape with its vastness and beauty, 'a young woman standing alone - a woman of great vision, of serenity, courage and compassion, and with an overriding belief in God's love and his call to serve him'.

Mary MacKillop looks serenely out of a lonely landscape (pictured right). An older Sr Mary strides purposefully with her playful brood of bush school kids; all are undaunted by the vast and isolated environment.

They are two of the artworks by Australian artists inspired by the life, work and spirituality of Bl Mary MacKillop which are on display at the Mary MacKillop Place Museum.

Paintings, etchings, drawings, textiles and icons - even cartoons and photographs - make up the Eye of the Beholder exhibition, which will be at the museum until March 2.

Museum manager Scott Jessup says: "Not all the artworks are set in Mary MacKillop's lifetime.

"A few are very contemporary and what those artists are trying to do is capture the essence of Mary MacKillop."

A different aspect of her life is highlighted in the museum's temporary exhibition space every few months.

The last exhibition focused on Fr Julian Tenison Woods, the co-founder with Mary MacKillop of the Sisters of St Joseph in Australia. The next one will be about Mary MacKillop's influence in the development of Catholic education in Australia.

Mary MacKillop Place Museum, 7 Mount St, North Sydney, is open daily from 10am-4pm except for Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day