Iconographers Seek the Unseen

Mountain Climbers climb towards the light, they arrive at the summit where a small place to stand offers the greatest view Iconographers ascend towards the Light; the icon is a journey which reveals how we move from “being without form” to “being with Light.” The discipline of icon painting in egg tempera manifests abundant spiritually in the heart and mind. Those who journey the path of icon painting are provided a format to explore three specific dimensions of consciousness. Iconographers Seek the Unseen.

Activity of Knowing on three levels;

Chaos, Our condition of everyday life,
Anthropos, Our two fold human nature, simultaneously shared and experienced in both body and soul.
Cosmos, Our returning to the summit of light and energy, which has been given to all by God.

Iconographers Seek the Unseen by using highlights and washes of paint to build layers one upon another. It is a calculated process using generous pools of paint, broad color filled movement, and the smallest tiny strokes of bright deliberate and powerful highlights.

Writing or painting icons is an activity or vehicle, which becomes an artifact of Gods manifested presence. The unseen becomes seen. The summit for the iconographers is kinship with God as if he/she is a seer, or participant of creation from beginning to end. The iconographers mind continually flips back and forth between this physical realm and what is revealed privately in his/her spirit.

The White Board

Iconographers cannot avoid the first moment approaching the pure white and UN-corrupted surface prepared for the sacred activity of painting an icon. It is the altar before the liturgy begins. The concept is very lofty and pious. This is why the ancient theologians suggested you prepare your self spiritually, fast, make supplications etc. One thing icon painting will teach you; if you paint enough images you learn all of creation requires such reference. We are approaching the divine in everything we do, think and say. There is no where there is no spirit. Love holds the cosmos together in its totality.

Craved out Area of the Board

The KAVCEK area on the flat board is the area that is slightly depressed, pushed down, submerged. It represents the inner space of the soul which joins with the all-encompassing Divine Presence. It holds the revelation and thought of God. It is the place the iconographer enters the inner sacred space of the sanctuary. The place symbolizes the realm of the unseen, while the frame, the outer space around the image holds it and represents the earth.