Mary Jane Miller has been commissioned to paint two large life size Angels. You have an open invite this Christmas season to come and visit and ask, How this kind of work comes into being? “It is difficult to be driven by something you can’t see, to become enveloped by a desire you’re afraid to follow or ignore.” To take on an icon painting commission is challenging. It makes the artist step into the unknown, push to serve and stand back without judgement or fear. For 3 decades, Miller has been provocative, icon painting today in Mexico. Now she is working on these two angels. These images are exciting ancient icon painting replicas created in San Miguel Allende, Mexico. The Christmas season could not be a better time to paint them.
Painting, patience, and prayer are the everyday format.
Iconographers live and work in a sort of double dimension where time and space are distorted; image and content change reality, and solitude speaks volumes. I am a self-taught iconographer for 25 years working in the ancient media called tempera. Million year old earth pigments combined with egg yolk mixed to create divine image. Byzantine style con painting tradition dates back 1,500 years. Unique, fresh, distinct, moving, authentic, powerful, and smart are all words used to describe this amazing art form.
Miller is a passionate icon painting, artist, designer, teacher, and author who makes her home in Mexico.
She has a dynamic and enthusiastic way for inviting you into a particular type of graphic storytelling called narrative icon painting . Great storytelling is done through images, colors, and shapes. The story is about humanity and our response to the sacred image. She invites you to engage visually, emotionally, mindfully, and imaginatively to open ourselves to a more flexible perspective for why are we here?
Mary Jane Miller cultivates a deep understanding of and love for the ancient icon painting tradition in eastern Christianity and a modern sensibility of expression. Her collections of icons are visual essays about Jesus, his miracles, and people said to be saintly. It is enough to say, Miller’s work is rebellious, placing women at the Last Supper, Pentecost, and the foot washing. She does not create her images without thought and reflection. When the traditional image are not presented as normal, you can expect some subconscious squirming. However the beauty is lavish and consistent.
Using the ancient medium of egg tempera helps us to realize something quite intimate about God, ‘We create as we are created’. My husband,Valentin Gomez, works on the repoussé technique and I design and paint. We live in San Miguel de Allende, which is Valentine’s birthplace and where we met over 40 years ago. Our dream is to add a few more icons to those existing in the world, hoping that this great sacred art and icon painting tradition will continue to flourish. In their hearts, all iconographers believe that ‘beauty will save the world’. I believe that the act of painting transmits a growing sense of the divine in all creation.”
Please come visit the studio this Christmas season.
If you are interested, send me an email. Subscribe go to my website for more information. My email is millericons@gmail.com sanmiguelicons.com Peace on the planet
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