In a word-intoxicated culture in which Christians struggle with how to communicate the message of redemption, Sheila Lichacz creates images that stun the eyes and stir the spirit. Viewers have tasted her impressions of God in museums such as the Museum of Modern Art of Latin America in Washington, D.C. Her most recent exhibit, “The Spirit and Soul of Latin America,” appeared at the Center for the Fine Arts in Miami. The Panamanian-American’s works, bearing titles such as Miracle at Cana, And I Will Raise Him Up, and 30 Pieces of Silver, impart a redemptive message with clarity and simplicity.
Before beginning a work (pastels or oils or montages with pre-Columbian potsherds), Lichacz inscribes each canvas with the letters AMDG, an abbreviation of the Latin phrase meaning “To the Greater Glory of God.” Her work is different from traditional religious art. An Associated Press reporter wrote, “It is spiritual without being realistic in any sense of the biblical tableaux favored by artists in other eras.”
For example, the clay pots in her painting Dancing at Cana seem to come to life and communicate the joy of the Cana wedding feast–a style inviting viewers to meditate on and even absorb the themes of her works: the emotional struggle on the cross, the awe of the resurrection, and the surprise of creation.
SUCCESS AMID BATTLE
Lichacz’s work springs from her faith, and also from her Panamanian heritage. Born in an adobe hut in Monagrillo, Panama, she grew up playing and swimming in the Rio Santa Maria, where she unearthed and collected potsherds, remnants of one of the oldest civilizations to construct pottery. She describes her paintings as “sculpting on canvas,” imitating the way ancient Indians sculpted with clay. Her many works that show these clay pots carry her thanks to God, she says.
Lichacz’s work also grows out of a life God has salvaged and reshaped. After receiving a master of arts degree from Inter-American University in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she worked as a guidance counselor. At 33, she decided she wanted to paint–but her Drawing 101 instructor was not encouraging. “I was painting palm trees and landscapes,” she says. “The teacher hated them. Then I tried painting a pot. The teacher asked who helped me with it. That was all I needed to continue.”
Four years later, the president of Panama named her the “Pride of Panama and the Americas” because of her work. Recently she was appointed an ambassador at large to the world by Panama, involving, in part, representing her native country at international cultural events. Her husband, John, has retired from the U.S. Air Force to manage her artistic career.
But as success has come to Lichacz, she has waged an ongoing battle against cancer. For three decades, she has fought the growth of benign but life-threatening tumors in her head; she has survived eight surgeries to remove more than 15 brain tumors. “The reason my work is so spiritual,” she says, “is that without faith, I would never have survived.”
Anthony S. Cicariello, an art critic who attended her opening at Harvard, commented, “Today, much art is negative and nihilistic. Her art is hopeful, positive, and affirming. Her works in Dudley House changed my thinking, and where I once saw division, I now saw unity. Despair gave way to delight. The Creation, the Trinity, the valley of death had new meaning for me.”
Lichacz has seen hope come alive in people as they have examined her work. “You don’t have to understand the rules of the art world to appreciate a work of art that touches you,” she says. Much of her work is a mystery to Lichacz herself. She paints or constructs a piece before trying to interpret what it means. “It is after I have finished that I realize what I have painted.” The late Panamanian writer Joaquin Beleno, an agnostic, wrote of Lichacz: “I see her paintings as an exposition dictated to her, which she, without understanding rationally, fulfills her mission of transmitting the message, providing for us . . . what is truly real and authentic in the eternal perspective.”
Lichacz’s mission is clear: “There’s so much hype today that I’m not interested in commercializing my work. I’ve done it the hard way through universities and museums because I believe my art has a lot of meaning. I am positive that I am guided, that God has me in the palm of his hand.”
Copyright © 1996 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
