OF GRACE, RECONCILIATION AND ART

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January 17, 2024

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here. 

Notre Dame High School alum and his former teacher find common ground in a painted portrait.

On January 7, 2025, the first Tuesday of the new semester for Notre Dame Prep's students and staff, the day began with the first Mass of the term, a Mass that commemorated the Feast of the Epiphany, always a tradition at this Marist school. 

For Fr. Leon Olszamowski, s.m., it's the last liturgy he gets to celebrate with his school and his confreres — which on that day included Fr. Juan Gonzalez, s.m., and Fr. Joe Hindelang, s.m. — before he becomes a snowbird.

Olszamowski, 77, will soon be headed to Florida for his traditional escape from winter for a few months and no doubt was anxious to get to the airport in the coming days. Mass was, as per usual, inspiring and prayerful. But at its conclusion, Head of School Andy Guest had one big surprise for the longtime Marist and cofounder of Notre Dame Prep.

In front of a packed gymnasium, Guest unveiled an original painted portrait of Olszamowski and presented it to him. He told the former principal and president of NDP that it was created to help celebrate the school's 30th year and for his critical role in both its founding and its continued success.

For Olszamowski, it was overwhelming.

"I was totally shocked and humbled to be thought worthy of a personal portrait," he said. "Receiving such a gift is really not what one expects as a Marist father. I was actually speechless, which is very rare for me. It truly is a treasured gift after my 30 years at NDP."

Perhaps just as surprising for Olszamowski was that the portrait was painted by one of his former students at Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, Joe Borri, who graduated in 1980. Surprising because Borri and Olszamowski weren't always simpatico back in the day.

Which is why Borri himself also was surprised when first approached for the project.

"I have to admit I was kind of taken aback when the school's advancement office reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in painting a portrait of Father Leon," said Borri, 62, a successful local artist and published author. "A lot to unpack, but my recollection of the time the good Father and my path crossed at Harper Woods Notre Dame was complicated, frustrating and. . .let’s just say I don’t think he was my biggest fan."

Sophomoric humor

Besides art and writing, humor also is a big part of Borri's wheelhouse and he admits he honed that skill in the hallways and classrooms of NDHS. But, he says, not everybody at that Marist school appreciated his humor, and he believes Olszamowski was among that contingent.

"Time tends to provide you with wisdom that you don’t have as a 17-year old, especially at an all-male Catholic high school," Borri said. "Without getting into too much detail (and keeping this from getting an NC-17 rating), I had a propensity to use humor and art to cover for any insecurities I may have had." 

As an active athlete in high school, Borri was living in two worlds, splitting time between the jocks and the artists, and he quickly found that sophomoric humor-filled cartoons of the teachers and priests provided endless entertainment that transcended all cliques. 

"Yet, and this may come as a shock," he said, "most of the teachers and staff did not find me anywhere near as funny as I found myself." 

Olszamowski has a slightly more forgiving recollection of those not-always-halcyon high school days with Borri.

"I still can picture Joe in my mind — forty-some years ago that is," he said. "He was a good kid as I remember. He did have his options and could be a bit raucous at times, but, in a way, he reminded me of myself as a youth — except that he was a very good art student, and I readily confess my inability to draw a stick man."

While Borri hasn't seen Olszamowski in person since the mid-to-late 80s, he said he remembers well his former teacher with a ruddy complexion and a twinkle in his eyes. (Borri used recent photos of Olszamowski to help create the painting.)

Great art foundation at Notre Dame

"Father didn’t really do anything slow or without purpose," Borri recalls. "The guy was constantly moving. Despite not always reveling in my witty repartee and 'hilarious illustrations' of him, he had a good sense of humor and an easy smile. In many ways, aside from the irony of me painting a portrait of Father Leon, I thought perhaps this was a way to provide a tangible apology for acting like a fool more times than I care to admit."

With that perspective in mind, Borri said he didn’t want to approach the portrait of Olszamowski in a traditional way. 

"I like to paint in several styles, from decorative to realistic to much more expressionistic," he said. "I was provided a great art foundation at Notre Dame with wonderful painting professors, starting with John Giordano, followed by Cameron Anderson and finally Patrick Burgham. All were strong in their field; accomplished artists that imbued me with knowledge and confidence while trying to teach me (and all of us) good habits and techniques. The enthusiasm for art that they instilled in me is in great part responsible for any success I may have achieved in the art world and has certainly contributed to the work ethic I developed and am proud to say I have to this day."

Typically working in acrylics and oil, Borri says his goal in portraits is always to hopefully nail the likeness.

"But there’re so many artists who can replicate a photograph, which is a definite skill and one that I occasionally still pursue, but doing so had become boring to me," he said. "So I choose to migrate from that type of work. I want to try to get the spirit of the subject to come through instead of only trying for realism. And in this case, it was important to me that there be a feeling of energy, implementing a bright palette with dynamic strokes, thick paint and textures, all very deliberate, reflective of the man. Being that Father Leon was then and I’m sure is now, a very proud 'Irishman,' I also decided to introduce some green and gold into the piece."

'Beautiful rendering'

For both Borri and Olszamowski, there is no doubt a desire to get together once again after the "snowbird" returns to Michigan.

In the meantime, Borri hopes the portrait conveys the aforementioned attributes of Olsamowski, and that whenever he looks at it, he hopes it makes him smile. 

"And that when he sees the signature, I hope he resists the urge to swear," he said. "At least out loud. Congratulations Father Leon for your service, accomplishments and dedication to the Society of Mary and Notre Dame. And God bless the students and staff."

For Olszamowski, summing it all up once he recovered from his initial shock, he was, quite naturally, very grace-filled, very grateful and very Marist.

"I thank Joe for his beautiful rendering of an old man still active in ministry to young people. God bless him and those he loves."

Check out Joe Borri's art at motorcityjoe.com and joe-borri.pixels.com.

 

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndprep.org.