"Windows Into Heaven"

Its been a little over a month since the solo exhibit of my work as an iconographer opened at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau.  For the past year or so I've been preoccupied with the (seemingly) endless details of putting together a retrospective exhibit of the work I've done as an iconographer over the past thirty-eight years. (Hence the neglect of this blog!)

It turned out not to be straightforward at all, especially for someone with so little experience with actually exhibiting my art work in a gallery, much less the state museum!  It all came right in the end, thanks to the generosity of the churches and individuals that lent the museum work of mine that they own.  Thank you!

Fortunately, two of the museum curators, Jackie Manning and Aaron Elmore, kindly guided me through the process and provided their invaluable (and much needed expertise!) in every aspect of mounting the exhibit.  I'm grateful as well to Bob Banghart, the retired director of the state museum drew on his long experience as a curator to help me solve what appeared at the time to be several intractable problems.

Below is the link to a virtual tour of the exhibit.  It is a slideshow that begins with my artist's statement and slides in order of the all of the pieces displayed in the exhibit.  Each slide has a photograph of the artwork with the exhibit label next to it.

UPDATE
You may have experienced opening the video yesterday and today.  However, the problem has been fixed and its now opening without any problems.  Thank you to everyone who contacted me to let me know about this!

A Month Away on Retreat (Without Leaving the City Limits)

I'm taking annual leave for four weeks to work in the studio with a student, Julie Perigo, who has come to Juneau for an intensive tutorial on icon painting.  We've already completed almost a week together and she has begun work on the Holy Face ('The Icon of Christ-Made-Without-Hands)

This icon is best starting point to introduce the theology of the icon and the spirituality of the iconographer and a good place to begin painting as well, as the composition is very simple.

She is also getting hands-on experience (no pun intended) in the craft work of making wooden icon panels and preparing the levkas (the gesso ground for the board) as well as water gilding and egg tempera painting.

I'm grateful to have the leave time to devote to working with her and being in the studio.  It is as much a spiritual retreat as work time, as I tend to pray best with a brush (or a piece of sandpaper) in my hand.

Three Triduum Icons by a Contemporary Ukrainian Iconographer

Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Truly Risen!
During Holy Week I came across the striking work of the Ukrainian iconographer Lyuba Yatskiv, originally from the town of Lviv.  I didn't have time to do much more than look at a few of her remarkable icons, which, despite their highly personal style follow the iconographic canons quite closely.
Their sheer intensity, for lack of a better word, is well suited to the seriousness of the mysteries which they depict.

The One Thing Necessary

In this age of Skype and Facetime, I suppose its somewhat behind the times for me to have carried on a twenty-five year long correspondence with a friend whom I have never met in person (and who, this side of heaven), I probably won't have the opportunity to meet face-to-face. (Although I hope to someday!)  My friend is a Carthusian monk (and a fellow iconographer) now living in a Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery) in Spain.  Letters from him are few and far between -- I'm pretty sure that the number of personal letters he is permitted to write in the course of a year are limited -- but always welcome.

The Carthusians live a semi-eremetical life.  Each choir monk lives in complete solitude and silence, joining with the other monks twice daily, for the night office and the conventual Mass.  Each week they come together for Sunday Mass, a shared meal and a period of recreation (which involves talking to each other).  Periodically their rule requires them to join in a day long cross-country hike outside the monastery.

Its an austere and demanding way of life and few are truly called to their unique vocation to prayer, solitude and silence. Nonetheless, their life together is a reminder of the one thing necessary, to create space and time and stillness in one's own life for the encounter with God.

On this feast of St. Bruno, the 11th century founder of the Carthusians,   I'm grateful for their challenging example and reminded to continue to hold my friend and his companions in prayer.