Minor Arts
Gilding Course to be Taught by Christabel Anderson
Iconographer, manuscript illuminator, and OAJ contributor Christabel Anderson will be teaching a fully booked eight-week course on the ancient art of gilding at the Prince’s School for the Traditional Arts in London beginning February 6. As a follow-up to this course, and the others she’s taught previously, Anderson will be conducting a five-day course at the…
Continue reading »Wedding with Carved Crowns
Several months ago I posted an article on wooden crowns I had carved for a young couple. Well, I was overjoyed when this newly married couple, Peter & Chelsea Simko sent me pictures of the ceremony using the crowns. I thought I would share them with all of you. May Christ crown them with glory!…
Continue reading »A Choros Chandelier for a Timber Frame Church
During the fall and winter of 2013, I had the marvelous opportunity to make and install a choros chandelier for St. Thomas the Apostle Orthodox Church in Waldorf, Maryland (a parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Diocese). The project was my second large articulated choros (the first, in South Carolina, was described in this article from…
Continue reading »Technical Hierarchy
This is post 3 of 3 in the series “Hand and Machine” Jonathan Pageau and Andrew Gould exchange ideas in an attempt to understand the difficulties and opportunities of new technologies in the making of liturgical art. The discussion is also in reaction to fr. Silouan’s article on Degraded Iconicity. The Robot and The Master…
Continue reading »Further Thoughts on Machine-Manufacture of Liturgical Art
This is post 2 of 3 in the series “Hand and Machine” Jonathan Pageau and Andrew Gould exchange ideas in an attempt to understand the difficulties and opportunities of new technologies in the making of liturgical art. The discussion is also in reaction to fr. Silouan’s article on Degraded Iconicity. The Robot and The Master…
Continue reading »Bell Ringing in Scripture and Liturgy, from BLAGOVEST BELLS
Dear Readers, We have had a request for articles on liturgical bell ringing, so I am pleased to offer this excellent piece prepared by Mark Galperin and John Burnett of BLAGOVEST BELLS: Dear Brothers and Sisters: Church bell ringing is an intrinsic and permanent part of the Orthodox liturgical and musical tradition. It is deeply rooted…
Continue reading »Interview With Russian Enamelist Evgeny Baranov
(A few months ago I posted some magnificent enamel icons by Russian artist Evgeny Baranov. So impressed was I at his skill that I asked him if he would accept to do an interview for us. What came out of this interview is not only his personal story as an artist, which is fascinating, but also…
Continue reading »New Doors for the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Madrid, Spain
In February of this year Aidan Hart and his team of craftsmen completed a large pair of doors for the newly completed Russian Orthodox Church of St Mary Magdalene in Madrid. The outside of the doors, facing the entrance lobby, sport sixteen hand carved panels, and the inside sixteen festal icons in gold leaf on…
Continue reading »Carved Wedding Crowns
I recently had the chance to make some wooden crowns for a seminarian planning his wedding. I had occasionally seen wooden crowns in recent Orthodox weddings and so I knew it was not completely an innovation. In discussion with the patron we decided on a tiara form, which would include a miniature stone icon and…
Continue reading »A Painted Wooden Chalice Set
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…
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