Patricia Banker Peart

The Story of Saints Preserved ^TM

If you would like to know even more about who we are and what we're about, click on various items (for example, the dog) within the illustration above. (They're also listed below.)

I've included all this information because I've had the opportunity to meet a number of people who are curious about the path I've chosen. Sometimes they're looking for inspiration and encouragement to begin their own ventures. In other cases they've contacted me through a sense of camaraderie - they're already on a similar journey. Their encouraging words have meant a lot to me.

1. Portrait of the Artist as a Young [er] Woman	4. Perspiration
2. Inspiration	5. Anachronistic Icons
3. The Healing Garden	6. Our Staff

I portray in my pieces were definitely not 'plaster saints' who put themselves on pedestals. To me, they are courageous folk-heroes who symbolize values that transcend any religious boundaries. They were true 'characters' who made things happen. They possessed 'grace' and 'spirit,' 'heart' and 'soul' (in every sense of the words), as well as irony, wit and humor.

My saints were creative innovators who defied conventions. They loved learning. They had empathy for even the 'lowliest' of God's creatures (in some cases were more comfortable with animals than humans). They were humble, consistently putting the good of others before their own.

The avarice, cruelty and mendacity they witnessed in the world drove some of them to retreat from it, and others to bravely try to change it. In either case, they held such strong convictions that they were willing to die for them - and many of them did.

Their stories are mostly legendary, often obscure, fabricated by common folk - before Christianity became 'bureaucratized.' Now, in the third millennium AD, it seems to me that not much has changed...we're still greatly in need of classic, 'graceful' heroes to inspire us...."

-Patricia Banker

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For more much more information and personal musings, hit the links at left.