Iconography
The Dragons that Almost Exist
Explaining the icon of St-George slaying the dragon to a 4 year old is amazing. Explaining the icon of St-George to a 10 year old is excruciating — “Yeah, but dragons don’t exist, do they?”. Do they? When someone tells you that dragons don’t exist or that monsters don’t exist, what is it they are…
Continue reading »An Interview with Iconographer Seraphim O’Keefe
Editor’s Note: Seraphim O’Keefe is a promising young iconographer who has already done some remarkable work. We are pleased to feature his very interesting life story here, as well as images of his most recent major project – wall paintings at St. Cyprian Orthodox Church in Midlothian, Virginia. It is clear from the quality of…
Continue reading »Contemporary Byzantine Painting: An Interview With Fikos
Contemporary Byzantine Painting: Street Art and the Icon in Convergence An Interview with Fikos By Fr. Silouan Justiniano Graffiti is one of those art forms that seems to have no relationship whatsoever with the liturgical art of the icon. Unlike the icon’s inextricable reliance on Tradition, graffiti appears to embody an anti-traditional and revolutionary…
Continue reading »Painting a Magnificent Dome in South Carolina
I would like to share a great milestone in the history of my own parish – the painting of the dome. Holy Ascension in Charleston, South Carolina, was consecrated in 2008. We have looked forward to the completion of the dome with great anticipation, and the results have far exceeded my own expectations. I believe it…
Continue reading »Building a Simple and Beautiful Iconostasis for a Mission Church
I have long felt that the iconostasis is the single most important element in an Orthodox church – perhaps more important even than the building itself. But tragically, in America, we have few really well-designed iconostases. This is especially so in mission churches, where iconostases are usually built by amateurs using plywood or worse (more…
Continue reading »The Idea of Canonicity in Orthodox Liturgical Art
First published in Composing and Chanting in the Orthodox Church: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Orthodox Church Music, Joensuu: ISOCM/University of Joensuu, 2009, 337-342 © 2009 Ivan Moody All rights reserved. The Idea of Canonicity in Orthodox Liturgical Art Ivan Moody “Divine beauty is transmitted to all that exists, and it is…
Continue reading »Delicate Fluidity: The Icons of Anton and Ekatarina Daineko
Anton and Ekaterina Daineko are a married couple from Minsk, Belarus. Their work in panel icons and frescos stands out for its fluidity in drawing as well as its subtle use of color and highlight. As they are giving some master classes in Vermont this year, I thought it would be a good opportunity to…
Continue reading »Carving the Virgin Hodegetria
(Editor’s note: this article was written by Martin Earle, Aidan Hart’s studio assistant who worked to create a commission they received for a statue of the Hodogetria. Martin can be contacted at mart_earle@yahoo.co.uk. ) I always brace myself for a bit of anti-Catholic sentiment when meeting an Orthodox Christian for the first time. A convert myself, I…
Continue reading »On The Origin of Ὁ ὬΝ in The Halo of Christ
We are so used to seeing the features of Christ in icons that we no longer pay attention to them, thinking they have always been there, as we see them, taking them for granted. We have perhaps forgotten that behind each feature there is a history and a theological meaning to discover and rediscover. So…
Continue reading »Interview with Daniel Neculae
(Editor’s note: A few years ago we introduced our readers to the luscious work of Daniel Neculae, a Romanian iconographer now living in Luxembourg. Last year Daniel gave his first workshop in the US which was attended Marek Czarnecki, veteran American iconographer and teacher himself who agreed to conduct and edit this interview for us.)…
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