This art is like an extension of her life and also a contrast. Marie was an art teacher for 32 years, but confides that no other art form has brought her so much peace and joy. During meals and evenings we visit and make new friendships.” As we work, we pray for people in our lives and those prayers become part of the icon. We all do each step together and after the instructor explains each step, the room is quiet because that is your personal time with God. “Oh no, silent for a week, I don’t think so. Naturally, I was curious as to how solemn the whole week was for her since I have heard that in some convents, the nuns take a vow of silence. When our class is working, you can feel the spirituality in the room.” “That is the precise reason I enjoy them so much,” she says. Writing them is like giving yourself a time-out of life, a time to be still. They have been called hymns, sermons, images of faith and, my favorite, prayers clothed with colors. The artist will write on the back of the piece “By the hand of ….” It all follows in the theory of not drawing attention to the artist, but rather to the work of art.ĭating back to the Fourth Century, icons have been described in many ways. Wow! To be able to create a piece of art that can totally engulf the viewer is pure amazing!Īnother tidbit that sets icons apart from other art is that they are never signed on the front. You totally get pulled into the mystery that the image seeks to express. When in front of an icon, it is as if you are looking through a window into a heavenly mystery that turns into a two-way window as you are also being seen with the eyes of love by those in the icon. What all this adds up to is a very special effect that few other art forms possess. The light itself comes from inside, further drawing the viewer in. In an icon, the lines converge toward the onlooker, drawing the person into the image. It’s like when you look down train tracks, the tracks seem to meet at a point in the distance. The converging of lines in icons is opposite to those in traditional paintings where all lines converge away from the viewer. Gold implies the radiance of heaven red, divine life blue, human life and white is the Uncreated light of God and is only used for the Resurrection and the transfiguration of Christ. Even the various colors play important roles in what the image represents. These layers create an icon of glowing colors and graceful lines. Next, the background colors are brushed on starting with the darker shades and working towards the lighter colors, and finally the highlights are applied last. The first layer is a wash that provides the base coat. “This is the most important step,” Marie says, “because if you don’t have good lines the finished product won’t be good.”Īfter this begins the real time-consuming process because the actual depth of the artwork is created by adding several thin layers of paint, one on top of the other. Then it is traced onto the boards and every line is painted with a tiny, fine-lined brush called a liner to outline it even further. The images depict Jesus, Mary, various saints and angels.Īn icon is begun by taking an outline, called a cartoon, and tracing it on tracing paper to get a feel for the lines. They can be cast in metal, carved in stone, embroidered on cloth and fashioned on other mediums, but they are usually written on special wooden boards that have been carefully shaped and smoothed. Marie went on to explain that during her week in Kalamazoo, the whole class works on the same image and, because it involves so many steps in the process, it takes the entire week to finish one icon. I soon learned that icons are often referred to as “windows to the soul” or “windows to heaven” and are actually a form of prayer.
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