Jerry Bleem

Untitled, 2021 

Jerry Bleem, an artist, teacher, writer, Franciscan friar and Catholic priest, earned his M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his M.Div. from the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago. As an artist, Bleem examines the cultural construction of meaning by looking at what we discard and by transforming the nonprecious through time-intensive accumulation. Bleem has taught in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2000. His interests span historic and ethnographic textiles, the dynamics of collecting, and material culture expressive of popular religious practices. In his writing, Bleem investigates the intersection of art and religion in a monthly column for U. S. Catholic magazine.

"I am inspired by objects that have fallen out of fashion. This installation of a portion of my collection of Sacred Heart statues consists of religious imagery once cherished and now generally considered outdated. It also reflects a collector’s impulse to shift meaning and question value through accumulation. The human penchant for gathering might be focused on anything"