Holy Icons in Today’s World (Pt.1): Insight into Contemporary Issues
Editor’s note: This is the first part of a talk given by Aidan in Texas last December (1). Images are taken directly from his presentation. We are made to be gods by grace, sons and daughters of the Living God. If we only saw what majesty and dignity is bestowed upon each of us here…
Continue reading »Adapting a Painted Icon to Carving
One of the exciting aspects of the renewal in icon carving we have seen in the last few decades is how this renewal is in a constant dialogue with painted icons. One of the visible goals, one of my own goals, is a search to infuse into the carved image some of the visual aspects…
Continue reading »Book Review: Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity
I believe Dr. Cornelia Tsakiridou’s book, Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity, published by Ashgate press in 2013, is one of the most important books about icons published since the classic work, The Meaning of Icons, an audacious claim given the monumental nature of Ouspensky’s and Lossky’s work. Icons in Time, Persons in Eternity asks…
Continue reading »Further Efforts Toward a Christian Culture
Editor’s Note: Though the following is not directly related to the traditional liturgical arts of the Orthodox Church, it is important to highlight the efforts of those who borrow from the art within the Church in order to influence and engage contemporary culture without. What Nicholas Kotar and his colleagues are doing is cultural missionary…
Continue reading »A Contemporary Opus Sectile Icon
Last year, I promised our readers that I would try to create an opus sectile icon, that is an icon that joins different stones together to make an image. I recently had the chance to create something that is a mix of carving and mosaic and is probably as close as I am going to…
Continue reading »Russian Wooden Churches
For those readers interested in architecture or those interested in Russian Orthodox cultural heritage, the website by architect Richard Davies is a wonder. Davies stumbled across of set of postcards from 1911 that featured some old photos and drawings of wooden churches in Russia. Inspired by the postcards, Davies traveled to Russia in 2002 to…
Continue reading »The Lives of the Saints
This is post 1 of 3 in the series “Lives of the Saints” Nicholas Kotar thinks through how the often fantastical stories in the life of the saints can still be relevant and teach us about how the world exists even today in our materialist culture. The Lives of the Saints Lives of the Saints:…
Continue reading »Orthodox Banners for the March for Life
New World Byzantine Studios donated new banners for the Orthodox delegation to the annual March for Life, which took place on January 22nd in Washington D.C. The project began when members of Saint Vladimir’s Seminary expressed a desire for attractive new banners that would project the character and dignity of Orthodoxy. Andrew Gould designed and made them…
Continue reading »Boston Byzantine Music Festival 2014
I am pleased to pass along news of the upcoming Boston Byzantine Music Festival. The two-day event is hosted by the Mary Jaharis Center for Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross, and will take place on February 24-25. Byzantine art is commonly associated with mystical iconography and majestic architecture of domed cathedrals, but…
Continue reading »Gilding Course to be Taught by Christabel Anderson
Iconographer, manuscript illuminator, and OAJ contributor Christabel Anderson will be teaching a fully booked eight-week course on the ancient art of gilding at the Prince’s School for the Traditional Arts in London beginning February 6. As a follow-up to this course, and the others she’s taught previously, Anderson will be conducting a five-day course at the…
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