Sacred Anchor Artisans is a cooperative that gathers art from Catholic artisans and represents it at Catholic conferences around the United States. The company was started in 2024 by Tim and Molly Olsen (East Peoria, IL) as a way to serve the Catholic artist community by bringing their work to an audience that is often out of their reach. The company hosts a large assortment of Catholic art (50+ artists) that can meet a wide range of different Catholic tastes and budgets and is the perfect “traveling Catholic gift shop” for Catholic conferences and events.
“Sacred Anchor” is a reference to the Marian shrine that the Olsens have dedicated in the front room of their home. The Olsens are members of the Schoenstatt Movement and follow the tradition of dedicating a “home shrine” at the center of their living space, a place of grace in the midst of family life. The Olsens’ home shrine is named “Anchor of the Soul” and has become a description of the Olsen family’s charism; our faith is our anchor in this often stormy sea.
The Olsens are still trying to figure out whether this work is a business or a not-for-profit. But, either way, they embrace the mission of opening new opportunities for Catholic makers to market their work and providing unique souvenirs for Catholic events.
This work really came alive for us at the 2024 Good News Conference. It was great to see the range of people who would come up and take quite some time to choose “just the right thing” to remember the conference by. There were some college students who were trying to see how much they could buy for $20, and there were older couples who took home more expensive pieces of unique Catholic art. It was fun to see that we had “something for everyone.”
The highlight for us was when a gentleman walked up partway through the conference. He stood for quite some time and eventually started to tear up. One of the prints from the coop’s first artist, Amber Knorr, spoke to him deeply about an intention that was weighing on him. So, with tears in his eyes and deep gratitude, he purchased the item and was planning where he would place the piece in his home so he could be reminded of it daily. That was the moment when this mission really took root for the Olsens. That piece of art was ‘the perfect thing’ to help him bring his experience with him back into the world. What a shame it would have been if that art hadn’t been there to help him capture the moment. As icing on the cake, Molly was able to text the artist on the spot and tell her the story of how this man had been impacted by her work. A moment of grace for all involved. -Tim Olsen
About the Olsens
Tim and Molly Olsen are passionate Catholics from East Peoria, IL. Tim is a convert from agnosticism, with a deep devotion to God’s fatherly love and Childlikeness before Him. Molly is a cradle Catholic from a family of artists, with cousins who’ve worked on some of the Catholic Church’s most famous art (including the Sistine Chapel). Tim and Molly have six children ranging from college to kindergarten. Their oldest two daughters have their own art businesses (Katy’s Etsy, Cici’s Instagram), which help to fund their college pursuits. You’ll also find art from the younger kiddos for sale at shows sometimes too. It was the kids’ art businesses that inspired the formation of Sacred Anchor Artisans, as the family found there was no one to take the work of small Catholic artists out into the church. So, the Olsens bought a booth, and off they went.
The Olsens lead the Schoenstatt Movement in central Illinois, actively use their home to build up the local church, organize Catholic retreats, give talks to bring others to a deeper love of Him, organize family-style small groups, and have a personal goal of trying to help build 1,000 domestic churches (families with the God of Love at their center). On major holidays, you will often find hundreds of people (priests, sisters and laity alike) gathered in the Olsens’ backyard (overlooking the Illinois River and downtown Peoria), as the Olsens actively seek to build Catholic community and “love a good party.” The Olsens are well known for providing a welcoming home, always sharing what they have with others and eagerly looking for new and creative ways to serve the church. Come join us, as we seek a holiness that isn’t distracted by perfectionism, a fraternity that is blind to popularity and self-importance, and an abandonment to Him that would leave us all carefree.
“Our Father in heaven is so generous and so merciful. What can we do next to try to make Him smile?” – Tim