In In the spring of 2011 I could have never imagined that my walk through an art gallery would inspire the idea for our future company logo that exists today. The intensely academic program I was attending in Italy at the time, left little room for me to practice my art and this made my time spent abroad difficult. There was so much beauty to be documented, and I yearned so much to focus on developing my art. I was also an ocean away from my future husband, which caused me heartache. Art history, however, surrounded me and could be found in every corner of Italy. The Uffizi gallery was one of my favorite museums, and I bought a book so I could remember the inspiration that I felt when viewing the great master’s artwork. Paintings of scenes from scripture adorned the walls of the Uffizi. I realized how important these beautiful testaments of Christ’s life were in telling salvation history. Sacred artwork was not only meant to educate but to inspire all those who stepped foot in a church or cathedral to lift their eyes and hearts to heaven. Much of our faith is now depicted through well-known images and symbols that we have grown to recognize and love as they still educate and inspire our faith on our path to heaven. The Holy Spirit, just one of these symbols, is often depicted as a dove as it is described in Scripture. “After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove coming upon him.” (Mathew 3:16). One day, back in San Diego four years later and married with our first born son, I was looking through the Uffizi book I had purchased years before and came across a gilded painting of the Annunciation dating in the 14th century. It depicted the Angel appearing to Mary with saints on either end of the gold frame. At the top central part of the painting was the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, surrounded by seraphim. I saw this and knew that it was going to be the logo for our art company. It was a beautiful idea that had to be shared.
The seraphim are the Angels who praise God unceasingly. I often hear that after attending mass, in which many angels are present, that they stay close to all who were there for the rest of the day in a special way. I like to think that when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary there must have been so many angels there surrounding her and the third person of the holy trinity. And it would be fitting for those angels to be the highest ranking angels in heaven! The moment our Lord Jesus’s life in the womb of Mary became a reality our salvation became possible. That is a pretty amazing moment in scripture and has been depicted by countless artists. It was fitting then to have this be our logo because my favorite verse from scripture is Mary’s response to the angel “be it done to me according to thy word”. We all love Mary’s “yes” and we truly wish to imitate her deep love for God. She is what it means to be a perfect mother, wife and daughter of God. So the Logo is not only the Holy Spirit but a representation of Mary’s yes to God.