Born: 23 February 1912, United States
Died: 1 April 2005
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Majella Nicola Fessler, Mary Thomasita Fessler
American painter and nun Mary Thomasita Fessler is known for her paintings, sculptures and stained-glass window designs. Joining the Sisters of St. Francis at age 17, she later graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Marquette University in 1976 . Fessler went on to establish the Art Department at Cardinal Stritch College, servicing as department chair. She also founded the Studio San Damiano art gallery and studio for artists and education, with a philosophy that “Nature is God’s art and art is man’s nature” and “A child who learns to create will not destroy.”
As an artist, Fessler made more than 600 paintings, and her sculptures were often large-scale, such as hand-carved 16-foot crucifix, altar sculptures, or stone carvings. She organised an exhibition with her students at the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Fessler was the first woman inducted into the Wisconsin Architects’ Association.