On one of our Easter Sunday posts, we featured a painting by Rose Datoc Dall, a Mormon artist. We wanted to share a little more about Rose today. Rose’s faith in and love of the gospel of Jesus Christ are an inspiration.
Rose is married and is a devoted, full-time mother to four children. She does her artwork from a studio in her home. Rose talks about her decision to be a stay-at-home mom in the Mormon.org video below, on her Mormon.org profile, or in this interview at Today’s Mama. (The Today’s Mama interview explores more about what a typical day is like for Rose, how motherhood has influenced her artwork, advice for young moms who are wondering how to balance their dreams/passions with motherhood, and more. It’s worth a read!)
Rose is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. God’s plan for families is one of the things that appealed to her about Mormonism. She writes:
I joined the Church when I was age 19 after having known about the Church most of my life since my neighbor & best friend’s family growing up is Mormon. Ever since the age of 5, I spent much time in their home and always felt a very special spirit there. I also felt the interactions in their family and attended a few church activities and met many other members of the Church and I always felt that same spirit. They radiated something and it was something that I wanted. I wanted that secret to happiness. But as a child, all these things were in the back of my mind.
It wasn’t until Rose was in college that she began an active pursuit for truth. She felt “disgruntled at the shallowness and lack of meaning in such a swirling world of ideas and pursuits having been away at college for a year and “felt that there had to be more to life than day to day existence.” Her friend sent the Mormon missionaries to her door and the message of God’s plan of happiness resonated with her.
[T]o know who God and His Son are and to know who I am was like a light switch going on. Learning about a loving Heavenly Father’s plan for happiness was like the sweetest fruit I had ever tasted. I have a purpose, life has direction and relationships and families all have meaning. I wanted to have that love in my family relationships.
You can read more about what touched her spirit and clicked in her mind at her Mormon.org profile. She also shares more about her life, family, faith, and love of art in her Mormon.org video:
Rose has painted many pieces that reflect on the Savior, on her faith, on motherhood, on womanhood. This video shows a progression of drawing studies that became paintings in her series about the early years of the Savior’s life.
