6 Days of Icon Carving

Last month I had the opportunity to give my first icon carving training for Hexaemeron.  Hexaemeron is a travelling liturgical arts school based on the work and method of Ksenia Pokrovsky of recent memory.  It was an honor to join the Hexaemeron team and to have a chance of working with a very dedicated group of…

Continue reading »

Technical Hierarchy

This is post 3 of 3 in the series “Hand and Machine” Jonathan Pageau and Andrew Gould exchange ideas in an attempt to understand the difficulties and opportunities of new technologies in the making of liturgical art. The discussion is also in reaction to fr. Silouan’s article on Degraded Iconicity. The Robot and The Master…

Continue reading »

The Robot and The Master

This is post 1 of 3 in the series “Hand and Machine” Jonathan Pageau and Andrew Gould exchange ideas in an attempt to understand the difficulties and opportunities of new technologies in the making of liturgical art. The discussion is also in reaction to fr. Silouan’s article on Degraded Iconicity. The Robot and The Master…

Continue reading »

NY Times Review of the Patriarch Tikhon Choir

Editor’s note: The NY Times has published a very nice review of the St-Tikhon Choir’s concert led by Vladimir Gorbik. Here is an excerpt of the review. The Patriarch Tikhon Choir, a mixed-voice professional ensemble of 35 American, Canadian and Russian singers, was formed recently to focus on Orthodox Christian sacred music, a tradition it…

Continue reading »

The Reader’s Guide to Orthodox Icons

One of the best websites/blogs devoted to iconology on the internet is a blog called The Reader’s Guide to Orthodox Icons.  This blog is done anonymously and is truly a wonderful storehouse of information on icons, their typology, symbolism and spiritual significance.  The tone of the blog is extremely warm and non-polemical, addressing most of the…

Continue reading »

The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher (pt.2): Encountering Saint-Christopher

This is post 2 of 2 in the series “The Dog Headed Icon of St-Christopher” Jonathan Pageau traces the pattern of meaning in Dog-headed representations of St-Christopher and how they relate to our experience of the world. Understanding The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher (pt.2): Encountering Saint-Christopher In my last article…

Continue reading »

Seat of Wisdom

Close-up of seat of wisdom

A few months ago, Aidan Hart wrote a wonderful article on the possibility of statuary acting as icon.  He did this in the context of having sculpted a model for a stone version of the Seat of Wisdom.  Just as he was posting his article, I was also receiving a commission for a wooden carving…

Continue reading »

Carved Wedding Crowns

I recently had the chance to make some wooden crowns for a seminarian planning his wedding.  I had occasionally seen wooden crowns in recent Orthodox weddings and so I knew it was not completely an innovation.  In discussion with the patron we decided on a tiara form, which would include a miniature stone icon and…

Continue reading »

Understanding The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher

This is post 1 of 2 in the series “The Dog Headed Icon of St-Christopher” Jonathan Pageau traces the pattern of meaning in Dog-headed representations of St-Christopher and how they relate to our experience of the world. Understanding The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher The Dog-Headed Icon of St-Christopher (pt.2): Encountering Saint-Christopher   This post is…

Continue reading »