Brother Jerome J. Pryor, S.J., received his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Painting and Drawing at Wayne State University in Detroit.  He joined the curatorial staff of the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1958.  There his area of concentration was in Pre-Columbian and Post-Columbian American Indian art, as well as the decorative arts: textiles, glass, metalwork, furniture, and ceramics.  He left the museum in 1962 and taught studio art in the adult education classes for the Detroit Board of Education, Division of Adult Education until he joined the society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1964.  After finishing the Novitiate he received his Doctorate in Humanities from the Higher Education Department at Wayne State University.  He taught art history at the University of Detroit from 1967 until 1971, and then was transferred to John Carroll University where he taught studio art, art history and appreciation.

From 1972  he was commissioned by the Rector of the Jesuit Community, Fr. Richard T. Deters, S.J., to execute 28 murals on the life of Christ for the Schott Jesuit Residence at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1974 he was hired as a full-time teacher at Xavier University, where he remained until December of 2002.  At Xavier, he taught studio art, art history and appreciation, music appreciation.  After a number of years he developed what became his main thrust in teaching: an interdisciplinary humanities appreciation course which not only showed what art, music, and literature do independently, but what they do when combined.  Films and opera were used to illustrate this relationship. 

His artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally and his work is in the collection of a number of museums and universities.  He designed the interior of a number of churches and chapels, including St. Regis church in Birmingham, Michigan, and the University of Detroit Student Chapel.  He has done a number of murals in public buildings and restaurants, as well as in private homes, both in this country and overseas.  He is now artist in residence at Colombiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan, where he has his studio, and where he teaches art as therapy for Insight retreatants who make their retreats in the Insight wing of the center.

His main thrust in his art is to glorify the world of the spirit, with its wonderful light and space, and especially its mystery.

"The greatest discovery a human can make is that of mystery." 
                                                                         Albert Einstein.

Shown below are a few of the works of Bro. Pryor; click on each picture for a larger view and the text