Exploration and Expression: Celebrating Sister Maryam Gossling, artist of the month
In a tribute to 175 years of prayer, witness and service, FSPA proudly presents Sister Maryam Gossling as the Artist of the Month. Sister Maryams’s journey, marked by creativity and devotion, echoes the longstanding tradition of art within the FSPA community.
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Maryam Gossling, born in 1938, grew up on a farm in Festina, Iowa, where her family grew crops and raised cows and horses. She earned a master of arts from Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, and spent the majority of her career as a professional artist, art teacher and graphic artist.
She was sent on mission to teach art in Wisconsin and Iowa. In the 90s and early 2000s, she served as an artist in residence at Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, Iowa. Returning to La Crosse in 2011, she focused her art practice primarily on writing Icons.
Throughout her career, Sister Maryam experimented with a variety of artistic mediums including painting, drawing, printmaking and graphic arts. Her work has ranged from commercial to fine art and draws inspiration stylistically from iconography, Celtic designs, indigenous art, Japanese sumi-e, portraits and landscapes. Her life was fully devoted to creative exploration and many hours of dedicated art-making.
Sister Maryam currently resides at St. Rose Convent in La Crosse, Wisconsin where many of her works are on display.
View Sister Maryam's visual art gallery and read her ministry of art story.
