Search
Spreading the Light
-
March 12, 2022Avery Rodriguez is now a teacher's assistant at a private Catholic school in Fredericksburg. She also teaches an elective sculpture class for middle-schoolers.
Contributed photo
Avery Rodriguez, a recent graduate from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC), shares her faith through her art. Late last year, she displayed 21 porcelain vases of Mary and Jesus as part of her Bachelor of Fine Arts art show at the Jeff Bell Library.
All the vases were either red and white or blue and white. The artist wrote that the three colors represent sacrifice, purity, and grace for her. She said that seven of the vases portray the sorrow and pain Mary had to endure by continuing to love her son up to His end on earth. The other 14 refer to the approximate age Mary conceived Jesus.
Rodriguez is a native Texan who was born and raised in Bandera. She is a self-described “cradle Catholic,” but later in her senior year in high school and early into college, she encountered Jesus and discovered her faith.
She had been very involved with the Newman Catholic Student Center at TAMUCC since her first year in 2017. “It was there where I gained faith-filled friendships that led me to dive deeper into my faith,” she said.
“I attended the islander awakening retreat, and it is a retreat I will never forget,” she said. “It lit a fire in my heart that burns for the Holy Spirit. And that fire continues to burn because of the source and summit of my faith, is the Eucharist.”
“I came to know Jesus personally through the Sacraments, especially through the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I began attending events hosted by the Newman Center and the Islander Catholic Organization, and I came to realize how important it was to have a community as I never really had that growing up,” she said. “I realized that these were my people and the ones who would lead me to grow stronger in my faith.”
“I truly believe in the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and my hope in my artwork is to show how important my faith is to me as a way to lead others to come to know Jesus for themselves,” Rodriguez said.
“In this case, I have chosen to depict Mary as my main subject because by getting to know Mary and growing closer to her, it allows one to grow closer to her son. My hope through this body of work is to show that beautiful relationship that Mary and Jesus had so they could come to know the importance and the power of a mother’s love and relate it to their personal relationships in their life.”
Rodriguez wrote that practicing her Catholic faith and time spent working in the studio allowed her to reflect and enjoy a meditative state of mind. Both have given her joy and satisfaction. “They have served as vessels of love, especially my faith. I have never felt more secure and ready to face the world until I decided to have faith and trust that things will work out,” she said.
“This is the vessel of love I am referring to, much like the vessel of love Mary gave Jesus,” she said.
“I have God to thank for always being the strongest influence in the work I produce. He is the one true artist, and I desire only to create work that glorifies Him and touches the hearts of those who view my work.”
St. Pius X students view the Blessed Mother exhibit last year. Pictured right is Sam Stadler, who loved the vessel with the image of Jesus in the temple and described it as one of his favorite parts of scripture – “when Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the temple, he amazed even the teachers.” See more photos here.
