St. Augustine Church in Montpelier hosted a special exhibition of Tomie dePaola artwork for the Montpelier Art Walk on Friday, October 3. Thomas Anthony “Tomie” dePaola was a writer and illustrator with more than 270 children book credits to his name, including the “Strega Nona” series, and winner of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award in 2011. Born in Connecticut, he resided in New Hampshire until his death in 2020.

In 1956 dePaola entered the Weston Priory in Weston, Vermont and while he only stayed for 6 months, he kept an association with the monastery for the rest of his life. In his 20s he began creating liturgical art for churches and monasteries in New England, including multiple works for Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, Massachusetts, and a chapel mural for the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna, New York. He also made multiple pieces for St. Sylvester Church in Granetville, Vermont including 14 Stations of the Cross, a classroom mural titled “Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem,” and depictions of the Sacred Heart, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saint Sylvester, Saint Anne, Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Baptist.

St. Sylvester Church having been closed in 2020, the works were moved to St. Monica Parish in Barre where they are now on display in the rectory. St. Augustine Church borrowed the pieces for the Montpelier Art Walk. About 80 people visited St. Augustine during the event, most of whom came specifically to see the paintings he made for St. Sylvester Church in 1960 and 1962. It was surprising to see how the event facilitated connections and pointed to the potential that dePaola’s art contains.

New connections were apparent from the beginning. There were a number of Barre residents that had never visited the church before. I was surprised by the number of locals who expressed positive feelings about our community. An artist who recently moved back to Vermont after a couple decades on the West Coast, who had also met dePaola at Bear Pond Books, said “we like having St. Augustine Church close by.” A few who stopped by mentioned that they had once attended St. Augustine and hadn’t been here for years. A couple visitors expressed gratitude for the community meals that St. Augustine offers every Friday.

One new connection typified the learning component of the Art Walk. Megan Masure and her mother Laurie Olszowy came to Montpelier from Waterford to see dePaola’s art because, as she told me, “I’m his #1 fan.” She learned of our event from Kate King, the secretary at Corpus Christi Parish, who saw the advertisement in the Inland See bulletin and sent it along. Masure met dePaola at an event when she was three years old. She followed his work ever since, meeting him again over later years and exchanging Christmas cards.

Masure stayed for over an hour, sharing her knowledge of dePaola and his work with the visitors, and in the process made some interesting discoveries with information from dePaola’s assistant Bob Hechtel via text. Masure noticed the symbol over his signature, which appears on all the paintings. By asking Hechtel, we learned that it was an image from Psalm 1, which says that the man who meditates on the Law of the Lord day and night “is like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; its leaves never wither; whatever he does prospers.”

Finally, what I heard the most, from Catholics and non-Catholics alike, was potential. In various ways they expressed that dePaola’s St. Sylvester work was a Central Vermont treasure and that we should explore how to further let his light shine into our community. After the success of this first event, we hope to plan future exhibits as well.