The Artist in the Cloister : The Life and Works of Father Dunstan Massey

Each year, visitors from all parts of the globe find their way to a sequestered Benedictine monastery in the hills of Mission, BC, and view the art and sculptures that beautify the abbey and its walls.

But the man responsible for this work rarely ventures outside the monastery, never mind the province.

He is an artist who has seen few of the masterpieces of Western art that inspire him in person; he is a musician who has seldom attended a concert; and he is an intellectual who, at his own insistence, dropped out of high school as early as he could.

Acknowledged by some as one of the major British Columbian artists of his generation, Dunstan Massey could have developed a successful public career in Vancouver or Toronto as an artist or musician -- or perhaps even as an actor or academic.

But none of this happened because at the age of 18 he renounced every one of these possibilities and dedicated his life to God.

Daphne Sleigh introduces both the artist and his art in this fascinating and lavishly illustrated new biography.