MOCRA: A Celebration
Release date: May 1, 2026
On April 19, 2026, MOCRA held its final public program, a celebration of MOCRA’s 33 remarkable years. The program previewed the forthcoming book, "Pursuing the Spirit," which recounts MOCRA’s origins and development, surveys its exhibitions and programs, and considers its wider contexts in the art world and in St. Louis. The program featured presentations by principal author, MOCRA Director David Brinker, and guest essayist Eleanor Heartney.
Brinker draws on archival materials and conversations with many of the people closely involved with MOCRA to trace the museum’s history from founder Terrence Dempsey, S.J.’s earliest museum experiences to the present moment. Heartney surveys the dynamic between contemporary art, religion, and spirituality from 1985 to the present, and contextualizes MOCRA therein. ("Pursuing the Spirit" also features a foreword by Pamela Ambrose, founding director of the Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago.)
MOCRA Founding Director Terrence Dempsey, S.J., was present at the program.
1 hour, 53-minute-video of MOCRA’s final public program.
Related Episodes
Episode 14: MOCRA Memories – Berkeley
Episode 15: MOCRA Memories – Sanctuaries
Related Exhibitions
Credits
Producer: David Brinker
Videography and editing: Spot Content Studio
Presenters
Eleanor Heartney has been an art critic and art historian for over 40 years. She has written extensively on contemporary art issues for such publications as Artnews, Art in America, Artnet and Artpress, and is the author of numerous books and essays about contemporary art.
She was the 1992 recipient of the College Art Association’s Frank Jewett Mather Award for distinction in art criticism, and was honored in 2008 by the French government as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Among her recent books are "Edward Augustus Brackett: The Life," :Art and Tumultuous Times of an American Original" and the co-authored "Mothers of Invention: The Feminist Roots of Contemporary Art."
David Brinker is director of the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) at Saint Louis University. First volunteering at the museum as an undergraduate student, then joining the staff in 1995, Brinker has been deeply involved in every aspect of the museum’s operations and growth. He assumed the role of director in 2019. He has overseen important initiatives such as the MOCRA Voices podcast, and curated or co-curated numerous MOCRA exhibitions, including MOCRA’s final exhibition, Liminal.