Jerry Bleem, an artist, teacher, writer, Franciscan friar and Catholic priest, earned his M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his M.Div. from the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago. Bleem has taught in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 2000. His interests span historic and ethnographic textiles, the dynamics of collecting, and material culture expressive of popular religious practices. In his writing, Bleem investigates the intersection of art and religion in a monthly column for U. S. Catholic magazine; his essays have appeared in journals and exhibition catalogs.