Posts Tagged ‘Carving’
The Church Gesamtkunstverk: Harmony of the Arts in the Church of St. Onuphrius the Great
Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art,” is a term popularized by the opera-composer Richard Wagner to describe the ideal integration of multiple art forms into a single creative vision. Clear to the Orthodox Christian, the Divine Liturgy is the supreme expression of this idea, combining communal prayer, Holy Tradition, and all the arts for the…
Continue reading »Who Do You Say I Am? The Triumph of Orthodoxy
Holy icons act as signs that point to the immediacy of the depicted. The icons present to the beholder a way of being in relation with the signified. It is precisely this intimacy which many find troubling. The on-off Iconoclastic Controversy in New Rome on the Bosporus that spanned nearly a century (AD 726–87 and…
Continue reading »An Innovative Carved Icon of Archangel Gabriel – A Collaborative Work
Occasionally Jonathan Pageau and I like to experiment with our work – to skirt the boundaries of historical precedent, to revive forgotten and archaic techniques, or to juxtapose ideas in new ways. This project, an elaborate mixed-media icon of Archangel Gabriel, is such an instance. It was not a commissioned project, but rather something we…
Continue reading »Hand and Machine: Making Liturgical Furnishings
Principles for the Design and Making of Liturgical Furnishings Aidan Hart Handing over from hand to machine A tool in the hand of a craftsperson is an extension of their body, mind and soul. He or she feels the resistance of the stone or wood. Through the tool the material speaks back to them, and…
Continue reading »Materiality Refined: The Carvings of Andrei Raileanu
Andre Raileanu is a young Romanian icon carver I have been keeping my eye on for a while now. We have already written a few articles on the amazing things happening in Romania ( here, here and here) but Raileanu’s exploration of stone carving stands very much on its own as both an exception and…
Continue reading »Fr. Philippe Péneaud: Romanesque Iconography Today
Fr. Philippe Péneaud is a priest for the Antiochian Orthodox Church and a prolific woodcarver living in the South of France. Having studied in the great tradition of European woodcarving with Raymond Labeyrie, he converted to Orthodoxy in the 1980s under the influence of Leonid Ouspensky’s “Theology of The Icon” as well as through the works of others…
Continue reading »A Carved and Inlaid Cross, a Collaborative Work
I have recently completed a small but highly interesting project, two years in the making, and involving several master artisans. It is a wooden cross with carved stone icons, crafted like a jewel, wholly traditional, and yet quite unlike anything seen before. This is one of those projects that grew, perhaps providentially, from an initially…
Continue reading »Icon Carving of Christ Pulling St-Peter from the Water.
Since I began icon carving full time 4 years ago now, I had a secret list of the things I wanted to make, certain objects and images that were dear to me. To my own joy and surprise, I have been progressively checking off items from that list with ongoing commissions, making even those objects and…
Continue reading »The Question of Polychrome – Part 2: Painting a Byzantine Analogion
This is post 2 of 2 in the series “The Question of Polychrome for Liturgical Woodcarving” Andrew Gould looks at the role polychromy has played in historical liturgical arts and how it can be adapted to contemporary designs. The Question of Polychrome for Liturgical Woodcarving – Part 1 The Question of Polychrome – Part 2:…
Continue reading »The Question of Polychrome for Liturgical Woodcarving – Part 1
This is post 1 of 2 in the series “The Question of Polychrome for Liturgical Woodcarving” Andrew Gould looks at the role polychromy has played in historical liturgical arts and how it can be adapted to contemporary designs. The Question of Polychrome for Liturgical Woodcarving – Part 1 The Question of Polychrome – Part 2:…
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