Good Music Lifts Us Up Towards God
(This interview with Russian conductor Vladimir Gorbik was first published in Pravoslavie i sovremennost, the official journal of the Diocese of Saratov, Russia) As previously reported in the Orthodox Arts Journal, a new symphony orchestra has been established in Moscow under the direction of Vladimir Gorbik—chief choirmaster of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Representation (Podvorye) in…
Continue reading »Release of Becoming Truly Human Film
Aspiration Studios Announces 2017 Premiere Date for Documentary BECOMING TRULY HUMAN Aspiration Studios has announced the newest title they will bring exclusively to churches and various non-theatrical venues late this summer. BECOMING TRULY HUMAN, the first feature film about America’s religiously unaffiliated, will be programmed in venues beginning August 22, 2017. BECOMING TRULY HUMAN is…
Continue reading »A Double Standard? Some Clarifications on Icon Painting Theory
Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old. ‒Matt. 13:52 It is the irrational impulses that yearn for innovation. …
Continue reading »The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Council of Frankfurt & the Practice of Painting
Editorial Preface: This article was written by Dr. Peter Brooke, an Orthodox Christian painter and writer living in Brecon, Wales. He is the author of “Albert Gleizes: For and Against the Twentieth Century,” a major biography of one of the most important pioneers of Cubism. Dr. Brooke studied painting in France with the distinguished potter…
Continue reading »Nicholas Kotar Publishes The Song of Sirin
(Editor’s note: We are excited to announce that Nicholas Kotar, who has written a few great pieces for OAJ, has recently published his first novel. Here is a version of his press release.) Orthodox Writer writes a fantasy novel inspired by Russian fairy tales and the Lives of the Saints. Discouraged by the lack…
Continue reading »Conserve or Restore? A Question of Ancestor Kisses
Conserve: To protect from loss or harm; to keep quantity and quality constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary changes. Restore: To bring back into existence or use; to return to an original condition. Close in definition, the differences when applied to art treasures can be catastrophic. Consider the botched effort to “restore” Elías…
Continue reading »Notes on Method
St. Mamas of Caesarea by Fr. Silouan Justiniano. Egg tempera on wood, 46 in. x 31 in. One has to know technique, but one also needs to know art. An icon should be like a ‘painting’, like a prayer written with beautiful letters…There are many craftsmen, but few real iconographers. Make an icon, a…
Continue reading »Jordan Peterson, Religious Symbolism and Popular Culture
For 5 years now I have been writing on many subjects for OAJ. Most of my attention has been to elucidate the patterns in iconography and liturgical arts and how these patterns relate to Scripture, to other traditions all the while acting as a map of how we should live in the world as Christians.…
Continue reading »Symeon van Donkelaar: Local Color in Icons
(Editor’s comment: Symeon van Donkelaar is a Canadian iconographer. I find his work fascinating as it is an exploration of the flatter and more stylized threads of iconography, Coptic art, early Medieval Spanish art as well as what was developed in Central and Northern Europe before the Gothic period. Lines are bold and highly calligraphic. Color…
Continue reading »Important: New Mailing List
Hello to all our subscribed readers. One of the upgrades we will be going forward with as the new site has been put up is to change the service we are using to send out news and articles. In doing this there is always the risk that our newsletters will be interpreted as spam by…
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