Welcome to Windows to the Divine. We are a nonprofit with a two-fold mission of promoting the Catholic vocations of the mendicant Order of Preachers, known as the Dominicans as well as the vocation of the living artist. We accomplish this mission through the beauty of art.

As you will see from the videos below, the Dominicans have a long history of supporting the arts. Drawing upon that connection, our nonprofit sponsors art exhibitions, symposia, and salons in which we encourage everyone to affirm the special vocation of the artist and to recognize God in the beauty that surrounds us.

With the funds we raise through our art events, we support the Dominican Novitiate in Denver that educates the first-year novices of the Dominican Central Province of the United States. During their formation, the ministries of our novices include serving the homeless and impoverished elderly at Samaritan House and Mullen Home, respectively.

As Catholics, we should be aware of and celebrate the patronage of the Catholic Church and its significant contributions to the history of Western Christian art. In these short videos, you will learn about the important role of the Church in perpetuating the faith through art. You will also learn about the religious, political and cultural forces from early Christianity to modern times that influenced the evolution of art from sacred to spiritual to secular. Video 1 covers Early Catholic Art to the Protestant Reformation. Video 2 covers the Catholic Counter-Reformation to today. Above all, you will come to appreciate the Catholic vision which contends that the pursuit of beauty is fundamentally the pursuit of God who is the source of all beauty.

And if you are in Denver from November 5-7, 2020, be sure to either view our exhibition online (catalogue will be posted in October) or come and see it in person at the Space Gallery Annex located at 95 S. Cherokee, Denver, CO. For the safety of our visitors, viewing will be by appointment and/or admission will be time-entry limited for our planned opening on Thursday, 11/5.

The national exhibition, entitled Contemporary Visions of Beauty will include the works of:

Blair Atherholt, Carolyn Barlock, Jill Basham, Daniel Bilmes, Gregory Block, Casey Childs, LuCong, Michelle Dunaway, Scott Fraser, Ann Gargotto, Ron Gerbrandt, Ulrich Gleiter, David Gray, Albert Handell, Stephanie Hartshorn, Ron Hicks, Quang Ho, Jane Hunt, Carol Jenkins, Brendan Johnston, Andrea Kemp, Weizhen Liang, Huihan Liu, Kyle Ma, David W. Mayer, Dan McCaw, Danny McCaw, John McCaw, Ned Mueller, C.W. Mundy, Desmond O’Hagan, Ron Richmond, Don Sahli, Jill Soukup, Daniel Sprick, Adrienne Stein, Cheryl St. John, Teresa Vito, and Vincent Xeus.

If you have any questions or would like to get involved, please email Shannon Robinson at [email protected].

Karen Vance was born into a family of professional artists. Her upbringing and education, included art studies from an early age.  At 15 years old she was apprenticing at her Father’s art and graphic design studio.  Studies at the Chicago Art Institute, Village Art School in Skokie, Illinois, Northern Illinois University, Art Students League of Denver, Loveland Art Academy of Colorado brought her further into her 45-year art career.

Awards include: 

Buffalo Bill Art Show – William E. Weiss Purchase Award, Best Painting Award, People’s Choice Award and Honorable Mention;
C.M. Russell Art Show – People’s Choice Award, The Arlene Hooker Fay Memorial Award;
Women Artists of the West – Award of Excellence;
Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters National – Best of Show, People’s Choice Award and Plein Air Magazine’s Editors’ Choice Award;
Nomades Del Arte- Best of Show;
Colorado Governor’s Invitational – Best of Show.

Museum and Public Exhibitions include:
Plein Air Painters of America – Catalina Island, CA;
The National Arts Club, New York;
The University of Tulsa, and Gilcrease Museum, OK;
The Brinton Museum, Big Horn WY; T
The Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN;
Hockaday Museum, Kalispell, MT;
Rockwell Museum in Corning, NY;

Over 40 Gallery invitational shows and 14 solo shows since 1995.

Public and Private Collections:

Her paintings have received numerous awards and have been acquired by many prominent collections including:

The Whitney Museum of American Western Art;
The Colorado Governor’s Art Collection;
The Nagel Collection at the University of Denver;
The Wells Fargo Corporation;
First Interstate Bank Corporation;
The Bob and Suzanne Fanch Collection at Devil’s Thumb Ranch Resort;
Solaris Resort, in Vail, Colorado;
The Estate of Lord and Lady Waterford, Curraghmore Castle, Ireland; and
The Austrian Consulate in Chicago, Illinois.

Associations:
Karen is a Master Signature Member of American Women Artists, Emeritus Signature Member of Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, and Master Signature Member of Plein Air Artists of Colorado.

Publications:
She and her landscape paintings have been featured in the following books:

“Enchanted Isle: The History of Plein Air Painting on Catalina Island” by Jean Stern and Kathy Kipp;
Cover of “Landscapes of Colorado – Mountains and Plains” by Curator Ann Daley and Michael Paglia;
“Art Journey America – Landscapes” by Maureen Bloomfield.

Articles about Vance and her paintings have been published in the following magazines: Southwest Art Magazine, Art of the West, Artist’s, Plein Air, Wildlife Art, InForm Art, and Western Art Collector.

www.karenvanceart.com