The Visitation Day 1

Where we are...

Where we are headded...

Some pictures from the first day of our workshop...
We spent the morning in prayer, tracing our icon and mixing paints. In the afternoon we traced the icon onto the board and began laying in the foundation colors that serve as the shadows within the icon. To set a scriptural context, we began our reading of the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, telling the story of Elizabeth and Zachariah.






The class hard at work.












I hope to include more pictures of our work and of our iconographers as the days continue.

The Visitation

Tomorrow I leave for Florida, where I will lead an iconography workshop at St. Mary the Virgin, Bonita Springs. I've taught three other icons at St. Mary's and three other icons at the previous church of their rector, the Very Rev. Dr. Michael Rowe, St. Thomas, Camden.

We will be writing this icon of the Visitation, to continue a theme of significant moments in the life of their patron (matron) saint, Mary. My hope is that during the week I will be able to upload images of the class, our progress, and our icons. It may be, however, that I do so once I have returned from this adventure.

Some history: this icon is based on an icon by my teacher, Rebecca Taylor. Because the students are of varying experience, I focused on the faces, and "redistanced" the architecture behind the women. This will allow them the chance to learn to write architecture and stone work, which will be new for most.

New England Christian Arts Council

And a Happy New Year it is! I have just learned that I am the featured artist for the New England Christian Arts Council for January, 2009. The website is here


New England Christian Arts Council Featured Artist

...and if that link doesn't work you can paste this into your browser:

http://www.newenglandchristianartscouncil.org/page5.php


The two works featured are this icon of the Archangel Michael, based on the work of Andre Rublev, which I wrote as a commission two years ago...






And this icon of the Cefalu Christ Pantocrator (ruler over all) that I wrote while teaching this summer.





Thank you to Barbara Bagshaw, who has been my contact with the Council, and the New England Christian Arts Council itself, for this honor!

You can learn more about the Council's events and more here

New England Christian Arts Council

http://www.newenglandchristianartscouncil.org/home.php

And you can click on the beautiful collage at the top of this post for information about the Eighth Annual His Presence His Gifts Arts Festival on June 27, 2009.

Thomas Merton

Prayer of Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Cefalu Pantocrator: our summertime icon workshop

It was a lovely week in York Beach last week, when seven iconographers gathered in the home of Barbara Boschert, to pray and write icons based on the ceiling mosaic of the cathedral in Cefalu, Sicily.

Iconographers, from left to right: Maryanne Lindquist, Barbara LaSalle, the Rev. Kit Wang, Karen Gilroy, the Rev. Bette Pollock (working on her crossword puzzle) and our hostess,

Barbara Boschert.

We followed the tradition of tracing the template of the icon onto our boards.

...and worked (and prayed) in artist-grade acrilic guash.

And this Sunday we blessed the icons by praying over them and by having them at the altar during the Holy Eucharist.

Thank you, great iconographers, for a wonderful week. It was an honor to walk this journey with you.

I am the Light

On Tuesday of next week, 6 students will begin writing this icon in a workshop offered by St. George's, the parish I serve. Three of the students have written other icons with me before, and three are new to iconography.



This icon is based on a ceiling mosaic icon from the Cefalu cathedral in Palermo, Italy.








Earlier this year I was led to write this icon in part because I was looking for an image that would be good for new and experienced iconographers alike. Using only the "head and shoulders" of the image keeps the details larger, which will be easier for older hands and older eyes. And the icon itself is compelling. There is a kindness and an awesomeness both in this image of Christ, who reminds us (through the inscription in the Gospel book he is holding) that he is the Light of the world.

Stay tuned, as I hope to include pictures from next week's class, and the student's work.

...and all the company of heaven

I love the concept of the Communion of Saints, that great cloud of witnesses that includes all the faithful who have preceded us, all who are members of the Body of Christ living today, and all who have yet to arrive on the scene, and so it is a delight that a good number of the commissions I receive are in fact of the Saints... Saints today, saints of old, as the anthem goes...



Usually the commission is intended as a gift. This year the gift was particularly delightful as I was asked to write this icon of St. Nicholas. As I pray my way through the next several days, Nicholas is a good companion. This particular icon of St. Nicholas is based on an icon written by Alaskan artist, Byron Birdsall, who himself based his icon of Nicholas on those of the more ancient tradition.

This icon of Ignatius of Loyola was also commissioned as a gift. Writing this icon was a gift to my spirit, as I had recently spent some time reading and praying with Ignatius's spiritual disciplines through the writings of Father Thomas Ryan, the ecumenical officer of the Paulist Brothers. As I wrote this icon I prayed Ignatius' prayer, "Take Lord, and Receive":

Take Lord, and receive
All my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will
All that I am and all that I posess
You have given it all to me, to you Lord, I return it
All is yours
Dispose of it according to your will.
Give me only your love and your grace, for that is enough for me.




Our Lady of Guadalupe is not an icon, per se. It is a holy image with an important role in the spiritual history of our country, particularly our country out West, where I grew up. I wrote this icon while on a stragely difficult sabbatical, which led into a fascinating journey of discernment in the year that followed. I am still a Western kid, called to serve in the East for now. Still very much a mystery. Take Lord, and Receive...

This icon of Francis is one of my first commissions, written for a parishioner who "won" it in an auction at St. George's. Francis' tenderness, his hands wounded by the stigmata, and the bird of peace were moving elements to engage while writing this icon.

I was writing this icon of the Beloved Disciple for the Rev. Steven Godfrey as an ordination present, while listening to the U2 Best of 1980-1990 album, when I had something of a mystical experience singing I Will Follow at the top of my lungs. OK, to be fair, I was rinsing off my palette at the sink while singing at the top of my lungs and dancing in the kitchen. That experience was overwhelming-- no really-- it was overwhelming, and led me to discuss the possibility of a U2 Eucharist with other U2 fans in my congregation. That, my friends, is the subject of another blog... http://u2charist.blogspot.com/

This icon of Miriam the Prophetess was first written as an ordination present for the Rev. Suzanne Poulin. This particular image of Miriam was written as a Christmas gift for a friend's mother who is a Jewish woman who has converted to Christianity.

This icon of St. Andrew also began as a commission for a young boy named Andrew. This particular image of St. Andrew is hanging out with a friend of mine in Estero, Florida. I love his fisherman-windblown hair and craggy sun-creased face.

I don't know what the next commission will bring. No doubt another opportunity to spend time with the image of a faithful member of the family that is the Body of Christ.