#Iconographers usa professional
#Iconographers usa series

Once we worked with a priest, who out of the blue requested us to paint saint Nicholas holding a steam locomotive in his hands. As now we know, these situations are always unpredictable, and maybe in Russia, the ideas are even weirder. Since 18 years ago we had our first commissions, we met lots of priests, who tried to make us follow their very extraordinary ideas of what is an icon and how the church space should be organized. Icon the Mother of God Sosnovskaja by Olga Shalamova

#Iconographers usa professional

But does it mean that we have to always agree with what our clients want us to do, or, belonging to a certain professional guild, we are entitled to suggest an alternative? For us, it’s a challenging question. The conclusion was this: if I want to be a serious iconographer, yet there is no extensive program of studies to follow, and the only thing on can do is this, – we all have to continually teach ourselves, getting knowledge from all available serious sources, and shape our vision struggling with conformism.Īnother question, – practical AND theoretical at the same time: – Have you ever thought, what should be the relationship between art VS design in a church? I keep thinking it over and over for several months, and my initial point remains as it was: if we make icons for our contemporaries, we should consider their actual needs. My brain rejected to stay in obsession and generated a consolation: tough but a good one.

The whole research and the pictures, in particular, brought me to depression, but it did not last long. They looked more alive and less betraying their medieval models. It’s not to be mentioned here, that the students’ works which I saw often had better colors and composition, than the works of their instructors. What I was seeking for was a kind of structure, which could help to see iconography as a living theology in color, and I only found commercial schools of sacred craftsmanship with very little understanding of the very techniques they teach. I saw dozens of students bending over their tiny little tables, overloaded with dozens of prints, plastic palettes, and other staff, dying to perform most unexplainable actions with most unexplainable pre-mixed hues of colors, composed by their teachers. Most of the photographs were showing iconography students copying photocopies of their teachers’ icons, where the most beautiful, deepest, most powerful, and breathtaking old icons were rudely reduced to plainest simplified patterns. It was so disappointing, that it even became the saddest news of the day.įlipping through photos of different workshops taught in Russia, Italy, the USA, Australia, Greece, and Canada I saw a great deal, and it was not even close to what I was dreaming about. I searched really hard, but in the end, I did not find a single one to sign for. The ads said you can learn “technique of Byzantine art”, gilding technique, the “language of icons” and their “meaning”, and even to work as a team member with renowned master-iconographers for several days… I was so amazed, how many opportunities open up when you google “icon painting workshop” or “course”. Inĭiscovered an extensive number of icon retreats all over the world,

Programs, offered by fellow iconographers.

#Iconographers usa series

Ready to teach a series of iconography workshops I decided to check Icon the Mother of God Smolenskaja by Olga Shalamova