Iconography
Humility
If only we could speak to ourselves from the future! How many valuable insights and skills could we have shared with our past selves! On the other hand, how would we have learned these things if not through the mistakes we make today? Is there a way to learn without mistakes? We have books, videos,…
Continue reading »Making Magnificent Hammer-Crafted Icons; an Interview with Evan Wilson
Gould: You’ve only recently started making icons using chasing and repoussé, yet your first projects are nothing short of magnificent. Can you tell us something about your background, to put this work in context? Wilson: I am a married father of two young sons, living on the outskirts of Austin, Texas. We attend Transfiguration Greek…
Continue reading »The Memory Keepers
This text is not just an article – it’s also a call for a combined effort. We invite you to support our documentary film the on Svaneti frescoes and the dedicated people who maintain them. Help us to preserve Svaneti’s invaluable treasures of Orthodox Christianity for centuries to come. Georgian church art reflects exceptional artistry…
Continue reading »Teaching Iconography in the Twenty-First Century
Sharing our teaching method, I invite fellow iconographers to share their views on teaching, as only by approaching this subject from several sides can we foster a new generation of iconographers who will be better than us. The teaching method my wife Olga Shalamova and I now use took its shape gradually. In Italy in…
Continue reading »What is an Icon – A Response for Philip Davydov
Editor’s Note: This open letter was written in response to Philip Davydov’s call for master iconographers to address some fundamental questions about their art and its relationship to the Church. Dear Philip, thank you for the interesting article. It seems to me that the questions you have presented to us are not that difficult to…
Continue reading »Questions for Iconographers
Writing this text, I can’t help but feel that it opens up (or continues) a very extensive subject, which will require a lot of effort just to be introduced, and even more effort to be explained, but I will try… On February 12th, 2024 I was invited to the Andrey Rublev Museum in Moscow as…
Continue reading »Iconography as Alternative Social-Religious Vision: Fr Zinon (Teodor)
(Editor’s Note. This essay builds upon our earlier article about Fr. Zinon by Aidan Hart. This article explores Fr. Zinon’s often original and controversial beliefs about the Church, and how his independent thinking inspired his art. By posting this article, the OAJ does not mean to imply endorsement of Fr. Zinon’s ideas, but rather to…
Continue reading »The Chichester Workshop for Liturgical Art: A New Venture for Training Liturgical Artists and Inspiring Wise Commissioning
An exciting centre for training liturgical artists and inspiring commissioners was officially launched on the September 14th, 2023. It is called the Chichester Cathedral Workshop for Liturgical Art. It is based at the ancient cathedral in the south of England,which stems from a monastery founded by St Wilfrid in 681. You can learn more about…
Continue reading »Iconostases in Balkan Churches – Part 1: Serbia
Continuing my photojournalism series highlighting Balkan churches, this post features interesting iconostases I photographed in Serbia and in the Kosovo and Metohija region. These iconostases range from medieval to contemporary, and exhibit a remarkable range of styles. I find it fascinating to view them grouped together, and consider that there are such diverse solutions to…
Continue reading »Apsidal Wall Painting for St. Christopher’s Church, Codsell, UK
Definition of Apse: A large semi-circular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof and typically at the church’s eastern end. Via Latin from Greek hapsis ‘arch, vault’, perhaps from haptein ‘fasten, join’. In astronomy, either of two points on the orbit of a planet or satellite that are nearest to…
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