Designing Icons (pt.7): Architectural and Natural Settings in Icons
This is post 7 of 9 in the series “Designing Icons” Aidan Hart gives us a full chapter on designing icons from his book “Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting.” Designing Icons (pt.1) Designing Icons (pt.2): Icon Prototypes Designing Icons (pt.3): New Icons Designing Icons (pt.4): Researching Festal Icons Designing Icons (pt.5): Conventions of Traditional…
Continue reading »St. Tikhon’s Seminary to Present “Hymns of Holy Russia in the New World”
A Master Class and Concert with Vladimir Gorbik — Feb. 28 to Mar. 3, 2013 As part of its 75th anniversary celebration, Saint Tikhon’s Seminary will host a rigorous three-day master class for the select student choirs of three of America’s premier Orthodox Christian seminaries — Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, and Holy Trinity…
Continue reading »Contemporary Georgian Art
There is a facebook page called “Contemporary Christian Art” but most people would not notice because it is all in Georgian script. Although boasting hundreds of pictures of early art from all of Christendom, the most remarkable aspect to those of us who are not in Georgia is how it prominently features contemporary Georgian liturgical…
Continue reading »Russia—A Musical Pilgrimage
A Travelogue December 27, 2012 – January 9, 2013 Vladimir Gorbik Conductor, teacher, mentor, friend—Vladimir Gorbik is arguably the finest living conductor of Russian church music, and the reason for my journey to Moscow this past December and January. Over the course of about two weeks I was privileged to work closely with him and…
Continue reading »Carving a Reliquary
There are certain Medieval forms which have always been with me, seeming to affect an almost hypnotic attraction. The casket reliquary or “chasse” is one of these. Shaped like a tomb, but also suggesting a basilica church, these reliquaries most probably originate in early insular (Gaelic/Celtic/Pictish/Saxon) art. Most of us know this shape primarily from…
Continue reading »Cappella Romana to Sing “in Hagia Sophia”, in California
Cappella Romana will be singing two concerts, Friday and Saturday nights, at Stanford University in California. Friday’s concert in Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall,”From Constantinople to California”, will by the wonders of acoustic technology, replicate the reverberative sound of the Great Church itself (read about the fascinating method employed below). Those lucky enough to have gotten…
Continue reading »American Professional Choir Conspirare Performs Russian Sacred Music
One of the finest professional choirs in America—Conspirare, under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson—based in Austin, Texas, is presenting a set of four concerts entitled “The Sacred Spirit of Russia“. The concerts take place on January 31 in Fredericksburg, Texas, and February 1-3, in Austin, Texas. (See the link above for times and venues.) The…
Continue reading »Can Statuary Act as Icon?
There is a long tradition of relief sculpture in the Orthodox Church’s liturgical art tradition, but very little in the way of three dimensional sculpture. Can sculpture in the round act like an icon, leading us through itself to its prototype? Although, for reasons discussed below, the Orthodox Church is unlikely to adopt sculpture in…
Continue reading »The Unusual Glass-Bead Icons of Angelika Artemenko
I have just learned of a most unusual iconographer from Ukraine whose medium is primarily glass beads. Her name is Angelika Artemenko, 26 years old. Despite her unconventional technique, she works with great care and piety, emphasizing the blessing of her bishop in all she does. Ms. Artemenko begins by painting the hands and faces on canvas.…
Continue reading »St-Peter on The Right. St-Paul on the Left.
This is post 2 of 3 in the series “The Right and Left Hand in Iconography” Jonathan Pageau examines the recurrence of left and right hand symbolism in traditional art and how they create a pattern of engagement in the world. Mercy on The Right. Rigor on The Left St-Peter on The Right. St-Paul on…
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