Honored to Have My Art Hanging in Mount Carmel's Motherhouse

There are moments in this journey as an artist that stop me in my tracks and remind me exactly where I come from — and this is one of them. My painting Footlifter, an acrylic on canvas capturing the joy and movement of a New Orleans second-line parade, now hangs inside the newly renovated Motherhouse at Mount Carmel Academy, my alma mater (Class of 2002).

Christina Pappion, Mount Carmel Cheerleader and Track Team

I was one of a small group of alumnae, former teachers, and a beloved Carmelite Sister whose work was selected to fill the art and music hallways of this historic building. Seventeen pieces in all, each one a reflection of New Orleans — our culture, our faith, our resilience — and each one tied to someone whose story began within those same walls. (See the full Alumnae Artwork in the Motherhouse announcement on Mount Carmel's website.)

A Building With Nearly a Century of History

The Motherhouse was originally completed in 1926, when Mount Carmel Academy first moved to its Lakeview campus. For decades it served as home to the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel — the Carmelite Sisters who founded and shaped this school. Generations of MCA girls passed through those halls, and for over 40 years, students hadn't set foot inside for classes.

That changed with a major renovation that added 29,000 square feet of new space: six art studios, six religion classrooms, a choral room, a digital music room, an instrumental music room, and a dedicated area for the Carmelite archives. The Sisters' original chapel was lovingly preserved and now serves as one of three chapels on campus.

The Motherhouse reopened its doors to students on August 15, 2024, and was formally blessed on October 3, 2024, in a Eucharistic celebration led by Archbishop Gregory Aymond. It was a full-circle moment for a building that had quietly waited decades to be part of MCA again. (Read more from Mount Carmel Academy's official announcement and The Clarion Herald's coverage of the dedication.)

Where Faith, Art, and Music Now Live Side by Side

What moves me most about this renovation is what it now makes possible for the girls who walk those halls today. This is a place where they can sit in religion class in the morning and pick up a paintbrush or an instrument that same afternoon — where creativity and faith formation aren't separated into different corners of campus, but woven together under one roof, just steps from the chapel that shaped so many women before them.

Having Footlifter included among the artwork in that space means my painting gets to be part of that everyday rhythm — something a student might pass on her way to choir practice or glance at before an art class, a small reminder that New Orleans culture and creativity belong in these halls too.

Sharing These Walls With a Sister Who Came Before Me

One detail about this collection means more to me than almost anything else. Among the seventeen pieces now hanging in the Motherhouse is a painting by Sister Mary Baptist Savoy, O.Carm., a Carmelite Sister who taught art at Mount Carmel Academy for twenty-four years, from 1971 to 1995. She was a genuinely prolific artist in her own right — oil painting, watercolors, portraiture, silk screening, block printing — and she gave so much of her own work back to this school, including a series of twenty paintings depicting the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Knowing that my painting now hangs in the same collection as hers is humbling in a way I don't fully have words for. She spent her life using her gift to teach and give to this school, and now, decades later, I get to be part of that same wall, that same legacy of women who found God in their art and gave it back to Mount Carmel. It's one thing to be included in a renovation. It's another to know you're part of a lineage.

Full Circle

Christina with Sister Camille Anne, her former principal

I still remember walking those hallways as a student, never imagining that one day a piece of my own work would hang inside a building with this much history and meaning. Mount Carmel gave me so much of the foundation I still paint from today, and being trusted to give something back — to be part of what the next generation of girls sees and grows up around — is one of the greatest honors of my career.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." — Jeremiah 29:11

Christina teaching at Mount Carmel's Annual Career Day where she has been a guest speakers consistently for the past six years

This verse has anchored my work from the very beginning, and standing in that renovated Motherhouse, surrounded by the art of women who once sat in those same classrooms, it felt like watching that promise unfold in real time.

To Mount Carmel Academy, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and everyone who made this renovation possible — thank you for including my work in this beautiful new chapter.

Sources:

• Alumnae Artwork in the Motherhouse — Mount Carmel Academy

• Blessing of the Motherhouse — Mount Carmel Academy

• Motherhouse Unveiled at Mount Carmel Academy — The Clarion Herald