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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Dome Fresco Underway in Santa Rosa, CA

It is a rare treat to see the work of Fr. Patrick Doolan in progress. A renowned iconographer trained by Leonid Ouspensky, Fr. Patrick is a master of true fresco. For a number of years, he and his assistant, Fr. Moses, have worked to fresco St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa, CA…

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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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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…

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Degraded Iconicity VI: Towards Fullness of Iconicity

This is post 6 of 6 in the series “Degraded Iconicity” Fr. Silouan Justiniano thinks through the effect of contemporary image culture and mechanical reproduction on iconography and our sense of the sacred. The Degraded Iconicity of the Icon: The Icon’s Materiality and Mechanical Reproduction Degraded Iconicity II: Uplifting Materiality and Symbol. Degraded Iconicity III:…

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The Falling Asleep of Ksenia Pokrovsky

News that Ksenia Mikhailovna Pokrovskaya had fallen asleep in the Lord on Sunday, July 7, 2013 was a profound shock. Though she had chronic hypertension, she had not been ill. She was tired, yes, for many years, but still actively sharing her wisdom and knowledge with clarity and generosity.  For both her family and friends…

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