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C.X.Silver
Gallery |
ICONS
in the Russian & Coptic Styles |
| Windows
to the Divine |
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JODY
COLE has been painting since 1980, and is a graduate of King's College,
Wilkes-Barre, PA with a degree in Theater and Art. She has studied with
iconographers, Vladislov Andreyev, Alexander Rosenkreuz, Peter Pearson
and Valentin Streltsov. In recent years she has conducted iconography
writing workshops, written commissioned icons for churches and individuals
as far away as Italy, and lectured on the history, symbolism and technique
of icon writing. Her website is at jcoleicons.com/Site/Home.html
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This
exhibition has been organized by DAVID PALMER, iconographer and retired
Director of Exhibitions of The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. Mr.
Palmer is a graduate of the Art Department at Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre,
PA and completed a Master of Theological Studies degree at Drew University,
Madison, NJ. His studio is at Totts Gap Arts Institute, Bangor, PA. |
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PETER
PEARSON is a leading American iconographer. He has created hundreds of
icons for private collectors, churches, and other institutions throughout
the world. Mr. Pearson also studied architectural drafting and color at
the International Institute of Design in Washington, D.C., and theology,
with a specialization in liturgical studies, at Saint John of Damascus
Seminary in Boston, Georgetown University, and at Saint Vincent Seminary
in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he completed a Master of Divinity degree.
A former Benedictine monk, he now serves as a priest at St. Philip's Church
of New Hope, Pennsylvania. His website is at www.nb.net/~pearson
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GEORGE
PHILIPOS was born in Egypt. He attended the Faculty of Fine Arts at the
University of Alexandria where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.
At present, his passion in Coptic Art is manifested in his paintings with
religious themes. Mr. Philipos has been commissioned to paint Coptic icons
for various churches in Egypt and the United States. More information
on his work is at: www.geocities.com/gsph2002
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KERI
WIEDERSPAHN, 2008 recipient of a NH State Arts Council
Grant to pursue study with world-renowned iconographer Ksenia Pokrovsky,
is currently studying with Father Andrew Tregubov. Originally as a sculptor
with a degree from Parsons School of Design in New York City, Keri has
been drawn to early sacred art of pre-Renaissance origins since living
several years in France and being exposed to Russian Byzantine Iconography
at that time, mentored by Ms. Pokrovsky, a major contributor to the fostering
of what was then the underground movement of iconography in Russia in
the 1960's. The organic and sacramental nature of the process of iconography
is of major importance to what Wiederspahn finds so beautiful, along with
the delicate art of working in luminous hand-made egg tempera paints crafted
from egg yolk and raw pigment, as well as pulling from the early practice
of encaustic painting, or painting with pigmented wax. Her current mentor
Father Andrew Tregubov says in his book "The Light of Christ"--"The
very substance of the icon, the matter from which it is made, is light.
Paints are only subsidiary and have to be transparent, like a window through
which the rays of the sun shine into a dark room." |
| Click
on the thumbnails at left to see more images. |
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| “The
rediscovery of the Christian Icon will also help in raising the awareness
of the urgency of recreating against the depersonalizing and at times degrading
effects of the many images that condition our lives in advertisements and
in the media. For it is an image that turns us towards the look of Another
Invisible One and gives us access to the reality of the spiritual ... world.”
Pope John Paul II |
| Icon
Styles (from A Brush with God, by Peter Pearson)
The Russian Style
• Colors have a very transparent quality.
• The color palette is far more restricted; sometimes only four
or five colors are used in various combinations.
• Figures are rendered to emphasize length, gracefulness of line
and, at times, an almost surrealistic distortion.
• Sankir, the base color of flesh, can range from green, to olive,
to reddish-brown to an almost blackish-brown.
• Garment folds as well as background elements tend to be highlighted
to a lesser degree, if at all. There’s some shadowing.
• Halos can be gold leafed or rendered with a yellow-white or some
other color.
• Inscriptions are in Old Slavonic.
The Coptic Style
• Colors can be either transparent or opaque.
• The color palette is limited and sometimes lacking in subtlety.
• Figures are cartoon-like, almost dwarfish.
• Garment folds are sometimes highlighted, but not to the extent
of the Greek style.
• The images include many talismanic symbols and decorations.
• Inscriptions are Ethiopian, Coptic, or Geez (a Coptic liturgical
language)
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C.X.
Silver Gallery, 814 Western Avenue, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301. E-mail:
cxsilvergallery
(at) myfairpoint(dot) net.
Open daily 10 am to 8 pm, appointments suggested, (802) 257-7898, ext. 2;
(802) 579-9088.
Website Copyright © 2009
Adam Silver
. All Rights Reserved. |
