May 30 is National Creativity Day, a celebration of artistic expression at any stage of life. Two Sisters of Charity took vastly different paths to creative fulfillment: Sister Jean Martin Dawson discovered polymer clay after a career in education, while Sister Frances Marie Grady has been creating art for nine decades. Their contrasting journeys offer lessons about creativity’s resilience and timing.
The Late Bloomer’s Renaissance
Sister Jean Martin Dawson’s artistic path began with crushing discouragement. In high school art class, she dutifully painted a house with a bright red brick chimney. When her teacher saw the realistic colors, she “screamed at me,” Sister Jean Martin recalls. The experience was so traumatic that she “quit art.” These harsh words silenced her creative voice for decades.
But creativity has its own timeline. After 50 years in education and various administrative roles, Sister Jean Martin discovered polymer clay in 2016 as a way to occupy her time between meetings with individual Sisters while working in the Mother House budgeting office. What started as an idle activity became a daily practice. Now she maintains a rigorous schedule, working hours each day from after breakfast until 9:40 a.m., then returning after lunch until 2:30 PM when “the brain and body are spent.”
Her approach embodies creative intuition: “I don’t know when I start what I’m going to do with the clay. I put it together and let it tell me what to do.” This philosophy guides her work, from intricate roses that require individual petal construction to delicate medallions and woven trivets.
The Lifelong Artist
Sister Frances Marie Grady, at 91, represents creativity’s constant companion. “I’ve been in art all my life,” she says. Her mother’s early support proved crucial: “I attribute her to keeping me focused.” This encouragement led to formal training through a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.
Her professional career spanned teaching high school and university art, as well as running a commercial design studio in Kansas City, where she created materials for churches and nonprofits, including Catholic Charities’ adoption programs. Now, in retirement, she has achieved her dream: painting daily in her studio, right across the hall from her room in the Mother House. “It’s so convenient to me. Just walk across a hall, sit down, and paint because the materials are out and ready to go.”
Sister Frances Marie specializes in transparent watercolor, opting for its technical challenges over the ease of acrylics. Her signature subject? “Everything I paint turns into flowers,” she admits with a laugh.
Lessons in Creative Courage
These sisters offer inspiration for National Creativity Day. Sister Jean Martin proves it’s never too late; past criticism need not define creative potential. Her story encourages anyone who’s been told they “can’t” create art.
Both women understand the dual nature of creativity as both a gift and a discipline. “If you’ve got a gift, you’ve got to give it away,” Sister Frances Marie observes. “If you have it, you’ve got to use it.” Their daily practices demonstrate that consistent work, not just inspiration, nurtures artistic growth.
Environment matters crucially. Community living provides both Sisters with the supportive space and freedom from commercial pressure needed for pure creative expression.
Two different paths, the same destination: lives enriched and communities blessed through art. Their stories remind us that creativity can bloom in any season, sometimes when we least expect it.
One Response
I have painted flowers in a piece Frances Marie gave me at my jubilee and I have been given several creations Jean Martin has made!!! Both are so gifted in their own right and are generous about sharing their talents. I am grateful to know both of them and am a third cousin of Frances Marie on the Grady side of her family tree and I introduced Jean Martin to the digital horn many years ago and we share that talent together as often as we can.