Detroit — To celebrate the beatification of Fr. Solanus Casey, the Capuchins at the Solanus Casey Center wanted a new work of art that would welcome visitors to the center with open arms.

Mission accomplished.

When you first catch a glimpse of the new three-dimensional artwork on the wall above the “doorway to mercy,” Dominic Pangborn hopes you’ll have the feeling that Fr. Solanus is personally welcoming you to experience the graces the pilgrimage center has to offer.

“I wanted to create a ‘wow’ factor, so that when someone comes in and looks at it, they’re not just going to say, ‘Oh, that’s nice,’” Pangborn said. “I wanted it to be truly an inviting feeling based on his posture with arms open. A ‘welcome to my home’ kind of feeling.”

A local artist with deep ties to the Solanus Casey Center, Pangborn was asked to create a piece that would make the 250,000 annual visitors feel immediately at home. The painting is one of his well-known “Art in Motion” series, which creates an optical illusion effect that causes the image to appear to shift as the viewer walks closer.

“When you look at it from a distance, it looks like he’s in the far end of the room,” Pangborn said. “When you walk closer, you notice that he’s actually in the front of the painting. It gives the illusion that the painting starts to move as you move.”

The 3D portrait was installed Oct. 24, and Pangborn said he’s already received positive feedback.

“A few people have already told me that when they first saw it, a chill went through their body. That’s what I want them to feel when they come in,” Pangborn said. “It’s not just another center. I want them to have an experience and talk about the center when they talk to their friends.”

It’s not just for pure artistic joy that Pangborn relishes the opportunity to create a piece for the Solanus Casey Center. Like many others, he has a story connected to the soon-to-be blessed friar.

Pangborn’s studio is just down the street from the Solanus Center, but until 10 years ago, he only knew of St. Bonaventure as “the Capuchin church” down the block.

Despite growing up Catholic and attending Catholic school, Pangborn had drifted from his faith and hadn’t been to Mass in quite some time.

One day while working in his office, his wife, Delia, came in with some news.

“My wife came to me in my office and told me she had breast cancer. I was speechless,” Pangborn said. “I paused for quite some time before I answered her, and I said, ‘Well, we’re going to go to church on Sunday.’ And I said, ‘Not just any church. We’re going to the Capuchin church.’

“At the time, I was sick of it and thought (religion) was all nonsense,” Pangborn said. “So my wife was kind of surprised, and said to me, ‘We’re going to go back?’ And I said, ‘We’re going to go every Sunday.’”

After attending Mass at the monastery for a few weeks, one day Pangborn noticed a man who seemed different, and asked a person sitting nearby about the man’s story.

“I found out he had been dying of cancer,” Pangborn said. “The woman sitting next to him told me they brought him for his last rites, and as the priest was giving him the blessing, he sat up and no longer had any cancer. So he decided to give his life to God and the Capuchins. I don’t know what possessed me to know there was something (about the man), but that was the beginning of all this.”

To make a long story short, Pangborn says, “today my wife is 100 percent cancer-free,” and the Pangborns have been active at the Solanus Casey Center ever since.

Dominic Pangborn says he doesn’t know if Fr. Solanus’ intercession played a role in Delia’s healing, but “I’m not going to deny it,” he says.

“I’ll take any good news. I think healing has a lot to do with our individual selves. As Fr. Solanus would tell whoever came to see him, he’d assure them that everything would be fine. But the bottom line to me is that person has to believe in his words,” Pangborn said.

Pangborn said the artwork he designed for the center is the largest single three-dimensional piece he’s created, measuring 10 feet by 10 feet. He’s sold dozens of other pieces, including a portrait that hangs in Marlins Park, home to professional baseball’s Miami Marlins.



A Korean-American who was adopted into the United States as a child, Pangborn also is a big supporter of veterans, having created several pieces honoring America’s servicemen and women. On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, he was scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony with the vice president at Arlington National Cemetery.

“I do a lot of images in honor of the veterans, and last year I gave a speech at the Korean War Veterans memorial that apparently touched some people in the know-how, and they called and invited me,” Pangborn said. “A lot of it comes from the fact that my father was an American G.I. in the Korean War, so I have a high respect for our military and this country. I’m very honored to do whatever I can.”