Article by Kelly A’Hearn, class of 2015:
On November 21, 2014, Kellenberg’s Art Portfolio Prep Class took a special field trip to Molloy College to see the beautifully illustrated St. John’s Bible. This was not just any Bible. The St. John’s Bible took a whole team of artists and calligraphers, $8 million in donations, and 15 long years of hard work to complete. Kellenberg’s Portfolio Prep class was invited by Malloy College, along with other Catholic high schools on Long Island, to view the manuscripts. Art Portfolio Prep is a class of sixteen students who possess exceptional art skills. Miss Panasci, who teaches the class, introduced to the students the possibility of taking a field trip to Molloy College to see the St. John’s Bible earlier in the year. After learning about the history of the project and seeing excerpts of the artwork from the seven volumes that make up the St. John’s Bible, the class traveled to Molloy College to witness the extensive project that took a decade and a half to finish. The project was commissioned by the Benedictine Monks of St. John’s College in Minnesota to commemorate the new millennium. The Bible is entirely done by hand – every word is hand written in beautiful calligraphy and each page has a detailed illustration highlighting an important part of the Bible.
The class got a chance to see the Bible up close and marvel at the dedication that was clearly put into every page. This experience impacted the Portfolio Prep students to the point that they asked Miss Panasci to let us undertake a long term project of similar terms, but on a much smaller scale. By May, the Portfolio Prep class will be completing a project of rewriting a song in calligraphy accompanied by detailed artwork. This trip turned out to be very rewarding and showed students that faith can be expressed in many ways, and using your talents that God gave you to express your faith is one of the most rewarding experiences.
More on the St. John’s Bible can be found on Newsday.com: