A Choros Chandelier for a Timber Frame Church
During the fall and winter of 2013, I had the marvelous opportunity to make and install a choros chandelier for St. Thomas the Apostle Orthodox Church in Waldorf, Maryland (a parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Diocese). The project was my second large articulated choros (the first, in South Carolina, was described in this article from…
Continue reading »“Beauty Will Save Us”: Fifth Annual Climacus Conference this February in Louisville
Note – The conference organizers have just announced that the conference will be postponed for one year. It will be held February 12-14, 2015. ____________________________________________________________________________ The Climacus Conference is a classical Christian intellectual/spiritual event featuring scholars and voices across the fields of Theology, Philosophy, Classical Education, Literature, and History/Politics. It is unique in that it…
Continue reading »From Logos to Graph: Lost In Translation
This is post 3 of 3 in the series “To Write or to Paint an Icon” Several contributors go over the common debate on whether one “writes” or “paints” an icon. Is “Write” Wrong?: A Discussion of Iconology Lingo A Symptom of Modern Blindness – Further Thoughts on the Phrase “To Write an Icon” From…
Continue reading »A Symptom of Modern Blindness – Further Thoughts on the Phrase “To Write an Icon”
This is post 2 of 3 in the series “To Write or to Paint an Icon” Several contributors go over the common debate on whether one “writes” or “paints” an icon. Is “Write” Wrong?: A Discussion of Iconology Lingo A Symptom of Modern Blindness – Further Thoughts on the Phrase “To Write an Icon” From…
Continue reading »Is “Write” Wrong?: A Discussion of Iconology Lingo
This is post 1 of 3 in the series “To Write or to Paint an Icon” Several contributors go over the common debate on whether one “writes” or “paints” an icon. Is “Write” Wrong?: A Discussion of Iconology Lingo A Symptom of Modern Blindness – Further Thoughts on the Phrase “To Write an Icon” From…
Continue reading »The Cave in The Nativity Icon
Just as the Ass and the Ox, the cave portrayed in the nativity icon is not specifically mentioned in Scripture as being the birthplace of Christ. In fact, St-Luke’s account does not say exactly where Christ was born, only that The Holy Virgin lay him in a manger. So why a cave? Why not a little…
Continue reading »On the Relative Autonomy of the Icon: Converging Aesthetics in Early Modernism
It is well to remember that a picture- before being a battle horse, a nude woman, or some anecdote- is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order. – Maurice Denis, ‘Definition du Neo-traditionisme’, Art et Critique, 1890. In the icon …Colors are colors; red is red. Colors do not imitate…
Continue reading »Notes From the Road: Review of “Heaven and Earth” Art of Byzantium at the National Gallery
The NYTimes review of “Heaven and Earth” at the National Gallery in Washington is piquant and enticing, but our readers deserve more detail: This is a generalist show. It is a good show for anyone new to Byzantium or if you already know of one of the show’s pieces and would like to see it…
Continue reading »Visual Heresy – An Evangelical On The Iconography of God The Father
My priest recently sent me a link to a talk (posted below) given by Matthew J. Milliner, an assistant professor of art history at Wheaton College, which was quite astounding to me. The talk tackles two subjects quite adroitly, two subjects, which Orthodox thinkers have addressed for some time now. Firstly he tackles what is being called…
Continue reading »“The Icon is Making its Way in America”, an interview with Ksenia Pokrovsky
The life of Ksenia Pokrovsky (March 9, 1942-July 7, 2013) touched thousands of people from nearly every part of the world. Here are excerpts from an interview taken by Irina Yazikova in 2009 for an Italian magazine. Yazikova is a noted art historian and author of many books about iconography, including “Hidden and Triumphant: The…
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