The Transfiguration in Shadow.

Last year I was asked by a patron to carve a large icon of the Transfiguration.  She said: “I am curious to see how you will do that.”  I understood immediately what she meant, and her comment for me went to the core of what icon carving attempts to grapple with.  So much of Orthodox theology, especially since St-Gregory of Palamas…

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Georgian Wonder

I have already posted an article on Contemporary Georgian artists.  But it seems like every week I discover one more amazing Georgian artist doing things in repoussé, wood, stone, enamel or mosaic that very few are able to equal in quality and especially in vivacity.  Vivacity is really the world to use, an art that is confident and…

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The Carved Icons of Elena and Sergio Nikolenko

I was recently made aware of two wonderful Russian carvers named Elena and Sergio Nikolenko.  Their work is quite impressive, using ornament with spectacular precision.  Their stylisation of faces ranges from the more iconic to more realistic features depending on pieces. The couple work on their icons together, with Elena being the designer and the one…

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An Inlaid Gospel Cover

  The idea for this gospel cover began several years ago. I discussed with Jonathan Pageau the possibility of  using his stone carvings as inlaid icons in wooden liturgical pieces. He is able to carve the steatite stone slabs quite thin so that the weight is reasonable even for a book cover. I based the…

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Steatite Icons and Material Symbolism

One of the points many OAJ contributors have been trying to bring across is that the medium out of which sacred art is made and the artful human act of fabrication are important on a symbolic and theological level.  This question of materiality and production have become crucial ones in our age of mechanical reproduction…

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Adapting a Painted Icon to Carving

One of the exciting aspects of the renewal in icon carving we have seen in the last few decades is how this renewal is in a constant dialogue with painted icons.  One of the visible goals, one of my own goals, is a search to infuse into the carved image some of the visual aspects…

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6 Days of Icon Carving

Last month I had the opportunity to give my first icon carving training for Hexaemeron.  Hexaemeron is a travelling liturgical arts school based on the work and method of Ksenia Pokrovsky of recent memory.  It was an honor to join the Hexaemeron team and to have a chance of working with a very dedicated group of…

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The Robot and The Master

This is post 1 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…

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Seat of Wisdom

Close-up of seat of wisdom

A few months ago, Aidan Hart wrote a wonderful article on the possibility of statuary acting as icon.  He did this in the context of having sculpted a model for a stone version of the Seat of Wisdom.  Just as he was posting his article, I was also receiving a commission for a wooden carving…

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