Dan Paulos - His Silhouettes Give Shape to Mother Teresa's Words

His intricate art, cut with simple manicure scissors, accompanies her words in the religious art book "He's Put the Whole World in Her Hands." The collection of silhouettes focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus, for whom the book is named.

Paulos, a Catholic, said he specializes in religious art and concentrates on Mary, or the Madonna, because "she is the perfect woman, the perfect gift from Jesus."

His silhouettes are cut from West German paper that is white on one side, black on the other. Using common manicure scissors and sometimes one-sided razor blades, Paulos cuts each subject from a sketch on the white side, then flips the art over and mounts it on a white background, forming the silhouette.

Paper cutting is a 2,000-year old art form that began in China. It proliferated in Europe, where artists specialized in profiles, but later eroded into relative obscurity when photography was invented.

Of the 300 acknowledged paper cutters in the United States, Paulos said he is one of the only one who specializes in religious art.

The book's 63 silhouettes are accompanied by Mother Teresa's short meditations.

All the comments are clear expressions of God's love, and some are quite political, reflecting a backlash against bigotry and other social injustices, Paulos said.

For example, an image of Jesus on the cross has the word "AIDS" inscribed at the top of the cross instead of "INRI," the biblical acronym for Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

Mother Teresa's accompanying text says, "We must all learn to love without discrimination."

"What a powerful woman," Paulos said. "The Catholic Church is condemning them (homosexuals) to hell, and she is sending them to Jesus."

Paulos admits to holding strong liberal politics. He said he was thrown out of a religious order for not sharing its views.

He was a member of the Brothers of the Good Shepherd for eight years and left in 1975. At the time, he was working at one of the two Albuquerque group homes for retarded children operated by the brothers. Both have since closed.

He co-wrote an art book on paper cutting with Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, whom he credits with introducing him to the art form. He sent the book to Mother Teresa and asked if she would collaborate with him on another book.

"She wrote back, said she liked my artwork and gave her approval," Paulos said. "It was that simple."

They met for the first time in New York in 1987 and thrice after that.