All My Eyes See: The Artistic Vocation of Father William Hart McNichols

Father William Hart McNichols is widely known as one of the world’s most gifted living religious artists and iconographers. A former Jesuit and student of the famed Franciscan iconographer Robert Lentz, Fr. Bill’s icons have been honored with exhibitions in major U.S. cities and the subject of a full-length documentary. Recently his years of ministry to the dying during the AIDS crisis in New York City were the focus of a podcast, and later a book, by journalist Michael O’Laughlin.

Through interviews with writer and theologian Chris Pramuk, Fr. Bill shares the moving story of his early loneliness and sense of being set apart for some purpose--a purpose realized in his twin vocations as priest and artist. From early childhood, his art expressed his inner life, with special attention to the beauty of the world, the vulnerability of children, and God’s compassionate solidarity with those who suffer. During his AIDS ministry, this took new focus with such works as his ＂AIDS Crucifixion.＂ Later, after apprenticeship with iconographer Robert Lentz, he began a new life, producing hundreds of icons of Christ, Mary, the saints, and many holy people of our time.

More than a catalog of an artist’s work All My Eyes See is a deep journey into the heart of a great spiritual teacher.

William Hart McNichols has been ＂drawing and coloring in his room＂ since he was five years old. His parents Marjory Hart McNichols and Stephen McNichols welcomed him on July 10, 1949 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Denver Colorado. He was a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) from 1968 to 2002. He studied philosophy, theology, and art at St. Louis University, Boston College, Boston University and Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Father Bill furthered his art studies at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California in 1977. In 1983 he received a Master of Fine Arts in landscape painting from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. He was ordained in 1979 as a Roman Catholic priest by Archbishop James Casey in Denver, CO. From 1983 - 1990 he worked with the wonderful AIDS Hospice team of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan, New York. During this time he also illustrated 25 books, mostly children’s books for Paulist Press. In 1990, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to study the technique, history and spirituality of icon painting (technically ＂icon writing＂) with Russian-American master, Robert Lentz. In 1996 he was honored to be invited to Boston College by friend and mentor, Fr. Jim O’Brien, SJ to create 5 icons for the Jesuit Community there. In 1998 he returned to New York to create icons as a part of the West Side Jesuit Community. Since 1999 he has assisted with sacramental ministry in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in Taos and Northern New Mexico. He continues to assist in Albuquerque after returning there in the fall of 2013.

Dr. Christopher Pramuk is Regis University Chair of Ignatian Thought and Imagination, and an Associate Professor of Theology, which means that his work at Regis is a kind of beautiful hybrid of Jesuit mission-related initiatives as well as teaching courses in theology and spirituality. He is the author of six books, including two award-winning studies of the famed Catholic monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton, as well as Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line, a meditation on race relations in society and church. Chris’s latest book, The Artist Alive: Explorations in Music, Art, and Theology, draws from his many years of using music, poetry, and the arts in the classroom. Chris lectures widely around the country and has led retreats on topics such as racial justice, Ignatian spirituality, and the witness of Thomas Merton. He and his wife Lauri met at Regis almost 30 years ago, where both, they say, were first ＂ruined＂ by the Jesuits; she is a pediatrician, and together they have four children.