Artist Statement
My passion is to teach people how to receive God’s love through prayer and veneration of Icons. I am an Anglican and I love to create icons that speak to many people, especially Anglicans, of God’s kingdom. I teach online icon writing classes and I also give talks to help people understand how to pray with icons.
I have had several amazing Icon teachers who have helped me to create traditional Icons using ancient materials of egg tempera with earth pigments and gold leaf gilding. I have a fine art background as well. Their teachings on the importance of accurate theological principles in creating icons is incorporated into my work. I create new icons that people request, some copies from old icons, some completely new compositions, and all reflecting the teachings of the church.
My work is different from many other iconographers in that I work very hard to translate the ancient canons of iconography to today’s church and painting methods. It is important that icons are able to be understood and appreciated in today’s modern world, so people must be able to relate to the icon in some ways for that to happen. Often I will change a composition or feature a saint who has not had an icon painted of them before. There are many modern saints whom people wish to pray with and I very much enjoy painting those.