By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
Deep in downtown Dallas, surrounded by the bricks, glass, and pavement of city life, a tranquil farmland scene graces The Catholic Foundation Plaza wall. The piece, Lori Cusick’s “Grateful Heart at Earth’s Sunrise,” is the winner of The Catholic Foundation’s 19th annual Art on the Plaza competition.
The Art on the Plaza competition is an annual contest hosted by The Catholic Foundation in recognition and celebration of the talents of local artists. Each year, a panel of judges chooses a winning piece of art to display on The Catholic Foundation Plaza wall, located in downtown Dallas near the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where the art will remain for a year.
The plaza art offers “a respite for people in downtown, in such a busy world, to have something that they can go and enjoy,” said Matt Kramer, president and CEO of The Catholic Foundation.
This year’s contest was guided by the theme “Expression of Gratitude.” The foundation received 50 art entries.
“We were moved by so many artists’ images and words,” said Grainne Cella, a judge of the Art on the Plaza contest who has prior experience working auction houses in New York and art galleries in Dallas, “such lovely, heartfelt expressions of gratitude!”
Cella said that Cusick’s entry was especially notable. The art captured the interest of the panel of judges, who unanimously listed the piece within their own top three favorite entries.
“It’s an oasis landscape in the middle of downtown Dallas,” Cella said of the painting, after its unveiling in the plaza during an Oct. 15 dedication ceremony, “a beautiful visual break in a concrete jungle.”
Expression of gratitude
As Cusick recalled creating her winning art piece, she shared that she initially struggled with the contest theme. The career artist— who has more than two decades of experience as the design director for the award-winning Private Clubs Magazine—could imagine so many images representative of gratitude: flowers, a hug, words. But she wanted to be intentional with the imagery she used.
Eventually, Cusick turned to a plein air painting she had previously created that reminded her of a moment of gratitude in her own life.
Cusick first encountered the method of plein air painting—an approach in which art is created outside at the site of the scene depicted—after moving to Texas more than 25 years ago and taking a class on the subject at Southern Methodist University. She took to plein air painting with gusto.
“As soon as I painted outside once, I was hooked,” she said. “You kind of get in this zone when you plein air where really the whole environment starts seeping into you: the birds and the cows and the beautiful sky and the clouds and the air. And if you’re lucky, on that day, it all comes out on your canvas.”
The piece Cusick eventually decided to submit to this year’s Art on the Plaza contest was based on a plein air painting that she had composed on some sprawling farmland outside of West Reading, Pennsylvania. While there, Cusick remembered feeling gratitude for both the beauty of the land and the generosity of the owners who allowed her to capture the beauty on her canvas.
“They were so welcoming to me. They let me come anywhere I wanted on the property. It was so beautiful,” she said. “So, when I was thinking about, ‘Okay, how do I express this [theme of gratitude],’ that painting and that place kept popping back up in my head.”
The piece depicts an expansive landscape of purples and greens accented by a sunrise of bold brush strokes—a scene that Cusick hopes will inspire a feeling of gratitude in those who view the piece.
“In this piece, I hope the viewer takes a moment to stop and reflect on the new day, the opportunities it brings, and be grateful for being a part of it,” Cusick said.
This year’s honorable mentions were Renee Ellis’ “Elements Of Gratitude,” which depicts a tree of vibrant leaves against a red and yellow backdrop, and Manal Fashi’s “Seeds of Gratitude,” picturing a young woman in a field blowing white dandelion petals through the air. Both artists received $500; Cusick received $5 thousand for her winning piece.
Cutline for featured image: Lori Cusick stands in The Catholic Foundation Plaza in front of her painting, “Grateful Heart at Earth’s Sunrise,” which won The Catholic Foundation’s 19th annual Art on the Plaza competition. (AMY WHITE/The Texas Catholic)
