America’s lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic helped sparked something special for a Southwest Missouri Episcopalian.
Working from home meant Jory Mertens had extra hobby time. So, the Carthage resident started dabbling in painting on canvas. One day he decided to surprise his wife, Brianna, by painting a mountain scene as a gift for her.
She loved it.
“You should do more of this,” she said.
Her encouragement sparked Mertens to create more paintings.
Later, he transitioned to digital art.
Then he created a website to market his art.
Last year, he crafted three Stations of the Cross scenes for a public showing during Lent. And he produced the December cover art for U.S. Catholic magazine.
The father of three also works a full-time job. Oh, and for more than a year, he has been attending Bishop Kemper School for Ministry in Topeka.
Mertens’ faith, his calling and his artwork meld together like faith, fellowship and food at a parish potluck gathering.
His art is inspired, he said, by his understanding of Jesus, the world, and Mertens’ place in it. One of his favorite works, called The Open Table, shows Jesus bracketed by six people of varying skin colors and facial features. All six are focused intently on our Lord, whose hands rest on a table set with goblets and bread bowls. One follower’s cloak stands out for its rainbow colors.
This is Jesus’ table – and it is open to all, Mertens says.
“I want Jesus to always look approachable,” he said. “I show him as radically inclusive and loving…. I even change how Jesus looks from one scene to another.”
Usually, Mertens uses cubist, geometric and fauvist elements in his designs. But he can stretch beyond those styles, too.
He switched from paint to digital artwork after growing frustrated while working on canvas.
“I am a perfectionist,” Mertens said. “I would get so fed up and mad when I felt I had made a mistake (in paint) beyond repair.”
Creating art using special software and a computer drawing pad solves that problem. Manipulating scenes, experimenting with colors and doing fine tuning are accomplished more easily. Nothing needs to be thrown away, either.
Mertens’ website, ArtByJory.com, showcases his wide-ranging portfolio.
Several works picture saints of the church, such as Saint Frances of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, and Saints Perpetua and Felicity, the patron saints of mothers. Others capture biblical scenes, such as an intense black-and-white image of Jesus speaking to the Pharisee Nicodemus on a rooftop at night, just as the Gospel of John describes.
The website also shows Mertens’ portraits of heroes, aviation-related scenes and depictions of St. Louis Cardinal baseball players. Oh, and there’s a colorful rendition of the late Buck O’Neil, an MLB Hall of Famer best known as one of Kansas City’s beloved KC Monarchs Negro Leagues players and managers. O’Neil also became as MLB’s first African American coach.
The Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce, provisional bishop for The Diocese of West Missouri, learned about Mertens’ artistic talent while reading one of his quarterly Ember Day letters – correspondence that deacon and priest candidates write to keep their bishops up to date on their studies and progress toward ordination.
“To say that I was blown away would be an understatement!” Bishop Diane said. “He blends a keen sense of form with a strong biblical and theological understanding. His art is beautiful, moving and prayer-filled at the same time.”
Mertens grew up in Carl Junction, Missouri, and met his future wife when they were classmates at Ozark Christian College in Joplin. Their senior year, they both took an intercultural studies course that included overseas internships.
They made a commitment to stay in touch while each learned about a new culture. Brianna headed off to Togo. Jory Mertens spent 10 months in Bosnia, where he stayed with a group of Christians teaching English in a city that was 99 percent Muslim. Unemployment rates as high as 45 percent made life difficult for its residents.
“Seeing people on the margins and exploited – it opened my eyes,” said Mertens, who graduated from Ozark in 2015 with a degree in social justice.
Later, as he explored his call to be an Episcopal deacon, Mertens realized that his urges to help others – and to encourage people around him to help others – had been stoked by those experiences in Bosnia.
“I love the traditional role of the deacon,” he said. “It includes being a voice for those who don’t have a voice, to advocate for people on the fringe…. I also see my art as part of that. Generally, the heroes and saints I have drawn have advocated for others.”
When naming their three daughters, the Mertens even chose names tied to trailblazing heroes.
Their oldest daughter, 6-year-old Amelia, is named after aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Their middle daughter, 3-year-old Jackie Paige, is named after baseball greats Jackie Robinson and Satchell Paige. Both played in the Negro Leagues before Robinson broke the Major Leagues color barrier in 1947. Paige later became the first former Negro Leaguer to pitch in a MLB World Series.
Their youngest daughter, 1-year-old Clara Jo, is named after Clara Barton, a Civil War nurse famous for her humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy.
Mertens hopes to expand his artistic endeavors to include book covers and additional commissioned work. And if a new parish opens someday, Mertens would enjoy making it a Stations of the Cross set – the 14 images representing Christ’s Via Dolorosa, or way of sorrow, along the path to his crucifixion.
Mertens already produced Stations 2 (Jesus made to carry his cross), Station 5 (Jesus and Simon of Cyrene) and Station 8 (the women of Jerusalem weep for Jesus) last year while serving St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church in Joplin.
The Rev. Ted Estes, who was interim rector at the time, had wanted to showcase contemporary station artwork alongside the church’s 1860s-era Stations paintings. Six artists, including Mertens and Estes, collaborated on the project, which culminated with public showings during Lent.
Estes called Mertens’ contributions “remarkable.”
“He puts a lot of thought and prayer into it,” Estes said. “I think that is one of the things that brings power to it (his art), besides his technical skill.”
Mertens later gave Estes one piece of art showing Jesus washing the feet of a disciple.
“That spoke to me,” Estes said.
That’s just the kind of reaction Mertens hopes to produce.
This article was submitted by Donna McGuire.
