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 […]
This is post 2 of 2 in the series “The Altar and The Portico” THE SACRED AND THE SECULAR The Relationship of Orthodox Iconography and Gallery Art Part 2: Gallery Art (here for pt.1) The journey of an artist At this stage in our story, by way of illustration I would like to be […]
This is post 1 of 2 in the series “The Altar and The Portico” THE ALTAR AND THE PORTICO (PT.1) The Relationship of Orthodox Iconography and Gallery Art Part 1 (This is the a talk given at Sacred And Secular In Life And Art, Oxford, a workshop dedicated to the memory of Philip Sherrard. St Gregory’s […]
We often forget that our contemporary art, although the offspring of the 20th century revolutionary avant-garde, has its own set of artistic dogmas, its form of “orthodoxy”, so to speak. Ironically, although the avant-garde might have shattered the stifling shackles of the Academy, it has now itself become another form of restrictive academy, forming an […]
This is post 5 of 5 in the series “On the Gift of Art… But, What Art” On the Gift of Art…Part V: The Threshold By Fr. Silouan Justiniano There is, then a distinction to be drawn between a significant [meaningful] and liberating art, the art of those who in their performances are celebrating God…in […]
On November 9, a new recording by the Chamber Choir of St. Tikhon’s Monastery of original compositions and arrangements, entitled “Till Morn Eternal Breaks: Sacred Choral Music of Benedict Sheehan,” will go on sale from St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press. (To pre-order, visit stspress.com) The project is the first of its kind: a recording of new Orthodox music […]
I have recently had the pleasure of making an altar set for a Coptic church. This project was somewhat of a challenge for me because the Coptic Church and her liturgical art is not my area of expertise. I had to learn about both the liturgical implements and the historical styles of woodwork unique to […]
This is post 3 of 3 in the series “Hand and Machine” In light of the discussion that has been happening on the OAJ concerning the question of technical means and the production of liturgical arts (starting with fr. Silouan Justiniano’s article, my short post and Andrew Gould’s response), I thought I would attempt something […]
This is post 2 of 3 in the series “Hand and Machine” Yesterday, Jonathan Pageau posted an article in which he juxtaposed two videos – one of the carving of an icon by hand, and another of the carving an icon by a computer-controlled machine. Jonathan expressed an intuitive attraction to the one and dislike […]
Historically in the Orthodox world, it must have been very common for chalice sets to be made of wood. Particularly in Russia, village churches would not have been able to afford vessels of fine metal, and essentially everything in an Old Russian village was made of wood. Little survives of the simple ecclesiastical furnishings and […]