July 28, 2010

Lynn Kircher: Sharing the Gospel through sacred art

By John Gleason

This story continues the Denver Catholic Register’s series on sacred arts.

Lynn Kircher was so sure of what he wanted to be when he grew up that by the age of 9 he would introduce himself by saying, “Hello, my name is Lynn.  I’m an artist.”

Today, he laughs when he considers just how many years have gone by since he first said that, but an artist is precisely what Kircher, 69, became.  Moreover, he’s an artist who by virtue of his faith, came to recognize that religious art has an immense impact on people’s lives

“When people see a religious work of art, they are reminded of the abundant, life-giving power of the Holy Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Today, Kircher’s religious artwork can be found across the country from the Midwest to the Rocky Mountain West.  In Colorado those works include “Transcendent Christ” at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Littleton; “St. Francis of Assisi” at Christ the King Parish in Evergreen; “Mary of Advent and Angel” at St. Jude Parish in Lakewood and “St. Michael” at the John Paul II Center in Denver. 

Through his art, Kircher strives to bring hope and inspiration to others.

Originally from Decatur, Ill., Kircher was raised in St. Louis where he developed a desire to create art out of clay.  He spent hours poring over pictures of classical art and began to fashion his own works.  His parents encouraged his passion.

“(They) were very supportive,” he said. “My father was a commercial credit accountant for Amoco and even though he had no interest in art he recognized there was something there for me.  There was never any discussion about having some other, more practical, career to fall back on in case the ‘art thing’ didn’t work out.”

Every year for his birthday and Christmas Kircher would receive art supplies as gifts and at the age of 14 he won a drawing contest, which resulted in his being offered a full scholarship to art school.  Then, as a freshman in high school, he received his first commission: to paint a mural on the wall of the local barbershop.

“It was a 4-by-8-foot painting of a mountain scene with a man fishing in a stream,” he recalls fondly.  “The shop is now gone and the barber retired, but I know he took the mural with him and put it in his basement.”

For two decades, Kircher was an instructor at the Colorado School of Art; teaching everything from basic drawing to acrylics and water colors.  He still draws today, only now it’s as part of preliminary work for religious sculpture commissioned work, the creation of which takes up most of his time since he quit teaching in 1996. 

On the subjects of religion and art, Kircher said the two have always gone hand-in-hand. He said there isn’t a major religion that doesn’t have extensive artwork depicting its teachings—or what he terms “the stories.”

“Look at Catholicism,” he said. “At the beginning most of the people were illiterate, very few could read.  So, you’d go to church and the priest would tell stories.  Then you’d look at an image or a sculpture and repeat the story.  That’s how people learned about their faith.”

Kircher thinks of his work as acting like a bridge that connects humans with the divine and that conveys how we live and how we look within ourselves.

“The art helps me search for that within myself,” he said. “Somehow it helps to simplify my Christianity. It makes an easier relationship with how I live my life on a daily level.”

After years of exploring Christianity through his art Kircher says only now does he truly feel like he’s starting to mature as an artist and have a better understanding of the creative process.

 “I used to tell my students that until you’ve completed your 5,000th drawing you have yet to begin to know how to draw,” he said.  “It’s the work and not the experience that’s the best teacher. 

“On his deathbed,” he continued, “Michelangelo said his only regret in dying is that he’d just begun to understand sculpture.  The only problem as an artist is that you’re really moving and your body wants to slow down.”

But slowing down is not in the cards for Kircher now—or anytime in the near future.  He continues to work at his studio in Jaroso, Colo., a small community located south of Alamosa, just a stone’s throw from the New Mexico border.  There he spends his days, often moving back and forth between several works in progress.

Asked if he has a favorite among his many works, Kircher smiles and without hesitation answers, “The next one.”

Reflecting on his life and career, Kircher said his journey hasn’t been as much about being an artist as it has been a personal call to live his Catholic faith.

“My service is to my church community and to my own spiritual revolution,” he said. “I’m a storyteller with a venue (art) to tell the story of my faith,” he said.  “It’s been a great gift.”  

LYNN KIRCHER

Find out more about Lynn Kircher and his work online at www.kirchersculpture.com.