You can visit Ioan Gotia's official website through this link.
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Religious orders, throughout the history of the Church, have had and still have artists among their members, dedicated to the service of proclaiming and communicating Christ. The Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary join this tradition thanks to the service of Ioan Gotia, author of the murals in the Chapel of the Stella Maris School in Madrid.
His passion for art manifested itself at a very early age, thanks to the example and encouragement given to him by his maternal grandmother and his mother, who share the same passion.
After studying Theology and Iconography at the Greek-Catholic Faculty of Theology in Cluj-Napoca (Romania, BA, 2001), Ioan continued his theological studies at the International Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Studies (Gaming, Austria, BA, 2005). Ioan then pursued his doctorate in Ecclesiastical Sciences at the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Rome, 2010), with a specialization in Byzantine Iconography.
In 2007, during his stay in Rome, he painted the frescoes in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at the Benedict XVI Residence. He joined the Disciples, and after his training period, Ioan devoted himself entirely to the creation of liturgical art, decorating several chapels and churches in Europe and the United States.
In 2012 he realized his first monumental painting project in Spain: the mural painting of the Eucharistic Chapel of the Sacred Heart School in Derroñadas (Soria, Spain). This project was followed by new works:
In the United States: Magnificat Chapel of Eucharistic Adoration, St. Mary's Parish (Littleton, CO, 2013); St. Mary's Parish Rectory Chapel (Littleton, Denver CO, 2017);
In Austria: Chapel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the International Theological Institute (Trumau, 2014); Apse and Iconostasis Byzantine Chapel of the International Theological Institute (Trumau, 2018);
Spain: Temple of the Parish of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (Vicalvaro, Madrid, 2015); Vault of the parish church Santa María Asunta (Colombres, Asturias, 2015); Temple Colegio Stella Maris la Gavia (Madrid, 2016); Chapel San José Parroquia San Juan el Real (Oviedo, 2017); Chapel Adoración eucarística, Parroquia San Román (Cuenca, 2017); Chapel ESO Colegio Stella Maris la Gavia (Madrid, 2018); Chapel Residencia Profesores Colegio Stella Maris la Gavia (Madrid, 2019).
Stella Maris, beauty that calls and guides. (Ioan Gotia, Juan Antonio Granados)
Why so much art in a school? We wanted each student, in the contemplation of beauty, to have the nostalgia of the origin. Yes, of the source from which flows and flows the beauty, truth and goodness of life. To educate, is it not to revive the memory of the origin? Not only. It is also the greatness of a destiny. These paintings, these mosaics, these signs introduce each student into a story, into the current of a river in which he is not a spectator, but a protagonist. Because he too is called to be an artist. He who has a life of his own, who has a spring in his entrails, who knows he is called to a destiny that transcends him, is an artist. This art speaks to us of artists in plural, of various scenes, in which many characters are intertwined. Because this is a true educational community, the alliance of many that makes it possible to know that we are accompanied in what matters most to us (Fr. José Noriega).