Article taken from the Mankato Free Press on June 11th, 2004
Good Counsel nun works in new studio, gallery
By Joe Tougas, Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO - Just a few minutes with Sister Mary Ann Osborne in her new studio and gallery at Good Counsel and you realize she's one of those people for whom the term "creative energy" sounds a bit too slow.
Although she gives it a try, she is reluctant to sit down at the old wooden table she refinished, preferring to hustle over to the various works on the wall and explain their connections to her story, which covers Faribault , Rome and lots of places in between.
A woodcarver and sculptor for about 20 years, Osborne has her work installed in churches, hospitals, retreat centers and other buildings across the world. She now has her own studio and gallery on Good Counsel hill, where she works on commission from clients around the state.
She's been doing this since the mid-1980s, creating wooden works that reflect an ongoing homage to her Catholic faith and the Sisters of Notre Dame order. Far from just bits of faithful whittling, her work ranges from wood plaques of the stations of the cross to altars used in mass. Whether it's an altar or a small plaque, the approach is the same, she said.
"To create the altar was the same as carving anything for me because I think all things speak to God," she said.
Now she's going public. Osborne, 53, is hosting an open house for her new studio and gallery in Florian Hall, where the nuns did their laundry before a major renovation at Good Counsel. Instead of steam and soap, Florian Hall now smells like fresh-cut wood. Visually, it's a busy but soothing place as well, with Osborne's art in various stages throughout. Many of the works incorporate bits of the former convent.
There's the pair of wooden banisters that were in the old building and now serving as "walls" for a corner office in the gallery. (Visitors say the banisters have a nice, ascending feel to them, Osborne said.)
An old cupboard is restored, as is a discarded old arched window frame, turned into an art piece. Even old ironing stands from the laundry-room days are now pedestals for some works.
"I kept the stands, I thought they were cool," she said.
A little bit of coveting
Osborne, a St. Peter native and former grade school teacher, had worked on her art for years in the building next to this one. From the first day she saw Florian Hall, there was a little bit of coveting going on - "but it pays to wait," she said.
The new studio sat as idle storage for about a year as the convent was renovated. Making it accessible and keeping it linked with the old school is appreciated, she said.
"For the sisters, I think it holds a lot of memories."
Aside from those for whom she apprenticed in both Faribault and Stuttgart , Germany , she has no quick influences to list in terms of her style. She's often asked why the hands and eyes of her figures are so large. They look normal to her, she says.
"I really just do what I feel should be done," she said. "People express themselves with their hands and eyes, so maybe I put more emphasis on that."
While her work is primarily shown in churches and other religious-themed venues, she submits to regular art shows as well. She shrugs off not being as well presented in secular galleries.
"It's all where it's supposed to be," she said. "And these pieces are going where I know they're supposed to go."
And for her, the art and her heart go perfectly together.
"Each piece leads me to learn more," she said. "It just opens up the horizons."