Religious icon painting

[BppK]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever had experience with religious icon painting as therapy? A friend suggested I try it. From the little information I have found on the Internet, it appears it is practiced in the Orthodox church.

BppK

 

[KyivAndrew]

If you are in the Toronto area, there is a course along these lines by a prominent Ukrainian iconographer at St. Vladimir’s Institute (also a residence for students at the University of Toronto). I saw an interview with the teacher on T.V. and it seemed that while the focus of the course was on learning, there was also an assumption of therapy to the whole craft. Both Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic partake in that Institute’s programs. Here’s the link (scroll down to the middle): stvladimir.ca/current-programs_191.htm

There are other programs I seem to recall in the GTA area but I cannot recall them off the top of my head.

 

[ljubim]

Icons are beautiful! As for therapy, the secular world has confirmed that prayer is a kind of therapy… there you go (And while icons are more ‘eastern’ they’re also a part of the vast Catholic tradition.)

 

[Pani_Rose]

If you are in Texas, Fr. Elias does a number of classes, he also does them all over the country. Scroll down on this paper and you will see several articles about his work.
archeparchy.org/page/bcw-online/BCW_PDF09/BCWOL_06sep09.pdf

This summer saw the Third
Annual Week-long Iconography
Workshop at St. Basil the Great
Byzantine Catholic Church in
Irving, Texas. This ecumenical
workshop hosted participants
from several different Christian
denominations and was taught
by Father Elias Rafaj, pastor of
St. John Chrysostom Byzantine
Catholic Church in Houston,
Texas and Protopresbyter of
the Southern Region of the
Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy
of Pittsburgh. Father
Elias holds a Licentiate degree
in Eastern Christian Studies
from the Pontifical Oriental
Institute of the Pontifical
Gregorian University in Rome,
Italy.

 

[BppK]

Dear Pani Rose, ljubim , and KyivAndrew:

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond to my post. I really appreicate the effort and information you all provided. I live in a rural area of Japan, so I am unable to take advantage of the courses in Toronto or Texas. I am trying to find any places that sell beginner level books on the subject.

All the Best,

BppK