What happens when you sit with beauty

What happens when you spend time and sit with just one work of art? Take a deep dive into the impact of art on the our hearts in this engaging conversation between Fr. Kyle Kowalczyk, artist, writer, and parochial vicar, and Kate Capato, sacred artist and speaker. Fr. Kyle and Kate sat down together on Kate’s last sacred art tour to talk all about the objective good of beauty, the gift of patrons in the church, and what you can do to start to see art more fully.

Enjoy an excerpt from this episode all about Fr. Kowalczyk and Kate’s experiences sitting before a work of art. Catch the full episode now on Spotify, Youtube, or Apple Podcasts!

Sit With Beauty

Fr. Kowalczyk: The last time I was at St. Peter’s Basilica, I went and stood in front of the Pieta for an hour on several occasions. It may be the most beautiful sculpture in the universe, but the longer you stare at it, the more things you notice about it, and the more beautiful it becomes and the deeper you, you get drawn into.

Fr. Kowalczyk: The longer you look, you start noticing, “oh wait, was she making that face a little bit ago? And was her hand doing that a little bit ago?” You know, it almost comes to life!

What I noticed is that other people, they just take a selfie and keep moving. And I wonder if they’re afraid to experience it?

Kate: They don’t know how. This is a big part of our mission. We do a presentation on the value of the beauty, but then we go into actual Visio Divina, which is basically, what you’re describing, Father, being still in front of beauty and letting it speak to us. Because God has something to say to us through beholding beauty. But that takes stillness! That takes choosing to just be there. And receive. We need to not try so hard to figure out the art, but just let it speak to us. 

And I don’t think a lot of us know how to be still. We’re in a very busy culture and bombarded by social media and things that make us have less of an attention span. I like to say if anyone is a runner out there, they know this: This feeling in the beginning of a run is kind of horrible, but once you pass that wall, you’ve got it! Beginning to sit with beauty, you kind of have that feeling and you have to choose to be there. There’s an act of will to stay and let it speak to you. Just wait. And in that, there’s a vulnerability, right? You’re opening up your heart. God works there. You may not always have the words to describe what you experience, but He’s gonna move in your heart.

Let Beauty Work on You

Fr. Kowalczyk: Did you ever see the movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? So, there’s this scene in it where one of the things he does on his day off is go to the museum. And Cameron just sits in front of that one painting for a long, long time. And I remember seeing that when I was a kid and being like, “That’s so weird. Why would anybody do that?”

But that’s why, because it’s more beautiful the longer you sit with it. Even non-sacred art – there’s still something transcendental about it. There’s still beauty there that can draw you into the human person or landscape, or whatever the subject of the work is. There’s still beauty to be seen in spending that time. I think we just don’t know how to, we don’t know how to view it, we don’t know how to “do art”!

Kate: I like to remind people that there’s an ache that does happen when we encounter beauty but we run from it. So, we either try to just take the selfie and move on. God has given us that ache and beauty often unveils it. Beauty reminds us that there’s more than this life, and we yearn for it. That doesn’t feel good all the time. If you think about your encounters with beauty, there’s a joy there, but there’s also a sadness. And we shouldn’t fear that sadness, but we should recognize that it’s telling us there’s going to be eternal beauty that will not end, and there should be a hope, then that follows. But that requires us leaning into the ache to get to that place of hope. 

Fr. Kowalczyk: Yeah, I think that’s good. I was just recalling a movie that made me sad. And it wasn’t a sad movie, but there were parts of it where I’m like, “oh, that made me sad.” But there’s something that’s good in that, you know? I liked it.

“Figuring It Out” Vs. “Being With It”

Fr. Kowalczyk: I think that we live in a culture where everything has to be understood. We have to figure everything out. And so, if I’m looking at something or feeling something, it’s always, “Well, what does this mean, what does that mean?” But it isn’t first meant to mean something, it’s to just be.

Kate: Yeah, and here’s the thing, sometimes, you might receive something the artist or writer didn’t intend. And there’s good there because God might be saying something to you. Some  detail in a work of art might have spoken to you that the artist had no specific intention, but God did. And it’s okay to receive that.

Fr. Kowalczyk: Yes, that’s different than dissecting it to “figure it out,” that’s letting it work on you.

Kate: Yes, the difference between asking, “maybe God is speaking to me” vs. “Well, I better figure it out.” The latter is avoiding vulnerability.

Fr. Kowalczyk: I think that’s right. But yeah, because in figuring it out, it’s like I’m in control, “Oh, I figured that out.” And it’s like, no, just let it work itself on you. What’s it telling you about you? What’s it saying about you, and your relationship with the divine? Well, now you’ve got something.

Kate: Yes, it’s hard for all of us to be in that uncomfortable unknown, but this kind of stillness and receiving is very good. It’s stretching our hearts! God has something for us whenever we encounter beauty.

Want to hear the rest of the conversation? Head over to the full episode to hear Fr. Kowalczyk and Kate cover more topics, like:

• Is there a right or wrong taste in art?
• Spectacle vs. truth: the objective good to beauty & we don’t need an emotional high
• How timeless beauty shows us what’s appropriate for liturgy
• Why museums teach us to see sacred art poorly
• Art that makes you uncomfortable & why this is a good thing

Where to go from here…

Want to experience God in this way, but not sure how to start? Check out Kate’s 10 tips to sit with beauty and enter into deeper prayer.

Maybe you have encountered God in this way before, and you want to share the power of beauty with your community. Did you know that future sacred beauty tours are in the works and we have current booking openings? Get in touch with us today to bring Kate and Pawel out to you!!

Editor’s note: This excerpt has been edited lightly for clarity and readability. Listen to the full conversation for more context, humor, and personal details of beholding beauty!