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- The assignment was to make a painting using “hard edges” — I believe this is a one inch square of the New York City Subway map
The assignment on this painting was to use spray paint. I also collaged a newspaper and subway map. Fr. Don Merrifield, S.J., then the president of Loyola Marymount liked this painting, so I gave it to him.
The Loyola family crest: wolves and kettle. I copied the stone relief sculpture from castle Loyola in ceramic.
I gave this piece to Tom McCormick when he became rector at the University of San Francisco. It stayed there ever since — including the four years that I lived there. Earlier this year, I decided that I wanted to retrieve it — so I asked the superior there if I could get it back. He kindly agreed and it has now found a home here in Sacramento.
Portrait of the Artist as a (very) young man
After two years in New York City, I returned to California in the summer of 1982. Ordinarily, my next step in Jesuit formation would have been to begin teaching in a high school. Tom McCormick (there’s that angel again) agreed that my interest in art was important so he allowed (encouraged really) me to take a year and complete an undergraduate degree in Fine Art at L.M.U. I had earlier graduated with a bachelors in History there, so I all had to do was complete the classwork for the major.
So I lived for a year at Xavier Hall, the wonderful Jesuit community at L.M.U. taking courses in a number of areas, painting, sculpture, ceramics and art history. I’ve only managed to keep a few photographs of the work that I did during that year.
tommyosj 