Posts Tagged ‘iconography’
An American Shrine to Honor the Russian Royal Martyrs
It has been my particular honor to create a magnificent shrine and reliquary for the Russian Royal Martyrs. The shrine was commissioned by an American convert to Orthodoxy as a gift to the Hermitage of the Holy Cross, a Russian Orthodox monastery in West Virginia, USA. It was installed in time to commemorate the centenary…
Continue reading »The Making of a New Icon: “Christ Breaking the Bonds of Animal Suffering”
Sometimes I am commissioned to paint an icon of a saint for whom nothing yet exists, or at least no satisfactory icon. This is usually a pre-schism Western saint. But more rarely, the subject is a new theme, a new emphasis or combination. This was the case when Dr Christine Nellist approached me to create…
Continue reading »Towards a Great Pictorial Synthesis: Interview with Ioan Popa
The following is an interview with Romanian master iconographer Ioan Popa. He’s one of the leading representatives of the contemporary icon revival in Romania, focusing in both panel and monumental fresco painting. Our conversation touches on his artistic development, aspects of the professional training of iconographers in Romania and the challenge of creative engagement with…
Continue reading »Sacred Art in Secular Terms
Last year I was invited to speak at the Northwest Catholic Family Education Conference. The event was going to be quite open to the public and was dealing with the notion of Truth, the truth seen in different walks of life. I was asked to speak about the truth in art and discuss my own…
Continue reading »The Byzantine Sculpture of Michael Lucas
The following is an interview with sculptor Michael Lucas. Mr. Lucas is an accomplished artist who currently focuses on Byzantine-inspired carving in stone. Andrew Gould is working with Michael on an ongoing project to build a baptistery in South Carolina. A. Gould: You started iconographic carving late in your life. Tell us about your background as an artist.…
Continue reading »A Year of Exploring Ancient Carving Through Drawing
For several years already, I had known in my heart and in my hands that I needed to spend more time drawing. Because the art of icon carving had become a lesser vehicle for the traditions of iconography, it seemed pressing for me to spend more time exploring the best examples of relief art and…
Continue reading »Local Colors of Conestoga: Woad Blue
This is post 1 of 1 in the series “Local Colors of Conestoga” Symeon van Donkelaar explores the meaning and methods of creating his own pigments from local material. I’ve wanted to write for a while about what I’ve learned about making local colors—especially from an iconographic perspective. With this year’s harvest of indigo blue…
Continue reading »Imagination, Expression, Icon…Pt. IV: Encountering the Internal Prototype
This is the 4th and last post in the series “Imagination, Expression, Icon: Reclaiming the Internal Prototype”: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. When you make an icon, do not copy it exactly… -Elder Sophrony[i] Now that we’ve clearly defined the terms nous, techne, Tradition, imagination and expression, we’re in a better…
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…
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