NORTH PROVIDENCE – When one local religious sister puts a brush to canvas, an image of the Lord’s precious and colorful vineyard suddenly appears.
For most of her life, Franciscan Sister Joel Zarotiadou has captured the earth’s natural beauty in finely-detailed sea and landscapes. She also uses her precious gift to create beautiful icons, commissioned portraits, Chinese silk paintings and religious art.
The 81-year-old artist has been painting for more than 70 years, and shows no sign of slowing down.
“I see the beauty of God’s creation. I am living with God all my years.”
She was born in Siberia to a Greek father and Russian mother. At age three, her family immigrated to China, settling in Harbin, Manchuria. Six years later, when her mother died, the future religious was sent to study with the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, who operated a school and hospital in that city.
?“I was very young, sad and alone,” she recalled, adding that she joined a group of girls from Orthodox families who were being educated at the convent school. The missionary sisters, who came from Poland, France, Belgium and Italy, became the young student’s extended family, offering love, support and inspiration.
“When I was 14, I realized my vocation,” Sister Zarotiadou remembers. “I saw the sisters working with the poor and the sick. I asked to be Catholic and my father was very upset.”
The respected artist credits the missionary sisters in China for first recognizing her talent. They gave the small and lonely girl some paints and pencils and encouraged her to be creative.
“My father also sketched,” Sister Zarotiadou recalls, adding that she probably inherited some of his talent. “He did very well with portraits.”
Years later, as a young woman, she studied with the famous Russian master, Lobanov, who further encouraged his young pupil to appreciate God’s gifts. His artistic influence and spiritual guidance still impacts the nun’s life and artistic pursuits.
Sister Zarotiadou entered the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in 1950 at Peking, and spent the next 16 years teaching art and music at a school established for the children of international diplomats. In 1966, she was expelled with other Catholic missionaries during the Red Guard Revolt, and fled to Hong Kong, before traveling to France.
“We were under arrest in our house,” she recalled of her final days in China. “Some sisters were beaten. It was really a bad time.”
?Sister Zarotiadou spent the next three years in France, before returning to Asia, this time to Vietnam, where she worked with young women and translated for American soldiers.
She is fluent in Russian, French and English, and also speaks Chinese and Greek.
The missionary sister says she was intrigued by the stories told by American soldiers about life in the United States, which motivated her to ask to be assigned to this country.
She arrived in Boston in the early 1970s, and pursued studies at the New England School of Art and Design and at Northeastern University.
Sister Zarotiadou has been a member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, Fruit Hill, North Providence, since 1980, and creates beautiful works of art in an expansive studio located in the Peace Barn, which was erected in 1998.
The religious sister also offers painting lessons in oils, watercolors and acrylics, and currently has 23 adult students. She also hosts a yearly exhibit and sale, which is usually held in the fall, where she displays more than 100 paintings. Proceeds from the sale of artwork help support the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
While the prolific artist says she doesn’t have a favorite medium or color, she does prefer to render realistic images of scenes she has photographed locally or on her travels. Paintings of familiar Ocean State landmarks, as well as majestic pastoral scenes from Pacific Northwest and Florida, grace the walls of her workshop. She has also painted outdoors in France, Italy and Greece. “Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t,” Sister Zarotiadou says, with a slight frown. Her laughter and joy are contagious.
The nun credits God for her impressive artistic talent and rewarding vocation.
“My spirituality is very simple,” she reveals. “I have loved the Lord since I was very young. My aunt used to tell me that I was in God’s inside pocket, close to his heart.
“I enjoy painting,” the religious sister acknowledges, smiling. “I have never stopped painting. I have had fun in life.”
For more information about painting lessons, contact the studio at 354-6232.
