Fresco

Aired 2008-09. Presented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops A half-million-dollar gamble. That's what The University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis took when it commissioned Mark Balma to create a fresco – a painting on wet lime plaster – for the vaulted atrium ceiling of its downtown campus and graduate school.  The subject: the seven virtues as cited by the medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas.  But how do you depict these ancient attributes in today's multi-cultural world?  Fresco was an enlightening and challenging journey – for both the artist and the viewer.