the eternal high priest by iconographer marek czarnecki

Interviews and articles about the iconographer have appeared in the New York Times, The Hartford Courant, CT Public Radio, The St Anthony Messenger, The Catholic Digest, Our Sunday Visitor et al. He has curated several exhibitions on the art and material culture of Connecticut’s Polish community and was featured in the WGBY documentary “Sharing Stories: Polish Life in Our Valley”. He has restored hundreds of church statues, murals, and lectures on the importance of sacred art in American immigrant communities, which disappear with each church closing. the United States Council of Catholic Bishops choice his icon of “Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest” to commemorate the year of the priest over a million copies were printed and distributed internationally.

Thomas More Chapel at Yale University and St. His icons hang in homes and public spaces across the US, including the Franciscan University of Steubenville, The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield IL, St. They serve many diverse ethnic communities, building an ecumenical bridge between east and west. His icons are marked by a loyalty to canonical criteria, historical materials and a high level of craftsmanship. In 1996, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts awarded him its Painting Fellowship, which he received for a second time in 2004.Īn apprenticeship grant from the CT Traditional Arts program allowed him to study for 15 years under noted Russian Orthodox icon painter Ksenia Pokrovsky, with whom he taught workshops nationally. Originally from Bristol CT, Marek graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.Īn unexpected commission began his three decades studying historical Byzantine iconography. Marek Czarnecki is an artist, iconographer, restorer and community scholar for Connecticut’s Polish-American Community. It is recommended, but not necessary, to attend an “Essentials of Iconography” course before this more intensive workshop.Įnrollment is limited to 12, with a minimum of six students please book any flights to include the possibility of a refund. While the workshop is flexible enough to accommodate students with varying levels of skill, attendees need to arrive with a basic understanding of the color wheel and some brush skills. These include making gesso and preparing wood panels, applying real gold leaf to the background of an icon using oil 'sizing' or 'mixtion', grinding raw source materials into pigment, making fine lines with gold leaf and beer glue, and varnishing the icon with linseed oil. The forms of the body are illuminated by increasingly brighter layers of colors, then completed with inscriptions and a halo.Įvery evening students are offered technical demonstrations for parts of the process otherwise impossible to fit into a week’s work. To make egg tempera paint, we mix raw natural pigments into a raw egg yolk thinned with water. With calligraphic lines, students make their own drawings from the model. Only by copying the best historical icons can we uncover and absorb their hidden lessons. Students will complete an icon of the face and shoulders of the Mother of God from a 16th-century Cretan icon. We will paint with the same process and materials as the prototype itself.Īll necessary materials are provided - a color prototype, a 9' x 12' flat wood panel prepared with true gesso, brushes, and pigments. This seven-day course commences on Sunday, May 29 with dinner and an evening lecture and demonstration, and concludes on Saturday afternoon, June 4 after lunch and a final gathering.

The Comprehensive Icon Course is the most complete icon writing workshop currently taught in the United States.

The eternal high priest by iconographer marek czarnecki