Comprehensive Icon Course
May 29 to June 4, 2022
with Marek Czarnecki
The Comprehensive Icon Course is the most complete icon writing workshop currently taught in the United States. 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.
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.
All necessary materials are provided - a color prototype, a 9" x 12" flat wood panel prepared with true gesso, brushes, and pigments. With calligraphic lines, students make their own drawings from the model. To make egg tempera paint, we mix raw natural pigments into a raw egg yolk thinned with water. The forms of the body are illuminated by increasingly brighter layers of colors, then completed with inscriptions and a halo.
Every evening students are offered technical demonstrations for parts of the process otherwise impossible to fit into a week’s work. 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.
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. It is recommended, but not necessary, to attend an “Essentials of Iconography” course before this more intensive workshop.
Enrollment is limited to 12, with a minimum of six students; please book any flights to include the possibility of a refund.
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.
All necessary materials are provided - a color prototype, a 9" x 12" flat wood panel prepared with true gesso, brushes, and pigments. With calligraphic lines, students make their own drawings from the model. To make egg tempera paint, we mix raw natural pigments into a raw egg yolk thinned with water. The forms of the body are illuminated by increasingly brighter layers of colors, then completed with inscriptions and a halo.
Every evening students are offered technical demonstrations for parts of the process otherwise impossible to fit into a week’s work. 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.
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. It is recommended, but not necessary, to attend an “Essentials of Iconography” course before this more intensive workshop.
Enrollment is limited to 12, with a minimum of six students; please book any flights to include the possibility of a refund.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
This retreat is being hosted by The Monastery Gallery of Art with space and online registration provided by Holy Family Retreat & Conference Center. Registration fees cover provided art supplies, accommodations, snacks and meals during your stay. The retreat begins with dinner on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. and will conclude after lunch on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
This retreat is being hosted by The Monastery Gallery of Art with space and online registration provided by Holy Family Retreat & Conference Center. Registration fees cover provided art supplies, accommodations, snacks and meals during your stay. The retreat begins with dinner on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. and will conclude after lunch on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
Pricing options include $675 tuition and materials fee as well as all meals during your stay:
Private Room, Private Bath - $2,100 Private Room, Shared Bath - $1,450 Commuter - $985 |
About Marek Czarnecki
Marek Czarnecki is an artist, iconographer, restorer and community scholar for Connecticut’s Polish-American Community. Originally from Bristol CT, Marek graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
An unexpected commission began his three decades studying historical Byzantine iconography. In 1996, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts awarded him its Painting Fellowship, which he received for a second time in 2004.
An 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. His icons are marked by a loyalty to canonical criteria, historical materials and a high level of craftsmanship. They serve many diverse ethnic communities, building an ecumenical bridge between east and west.
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. Thomas More Chapel at Yale University and St. Meinrad Seminary. 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. 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.
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”. 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 continues to work and teach out of his studio in Meriden CT.
Marek Czarnecki is an artist, iconographer, restorer and community scholar for Connecticut’s Polish-American Community. Originally from Bristol CT, Marek graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
An unexpected commission began his three decades studying historical Byzantine iconography. In 1996, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts awarded him its Painting Fellowship, which he received for a second time in 2004.
An 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. His icons are marked by a loyalty to canonical criteria, historical materials and a high level of craftsmanship. They serve many diverse ethnic communities, building an ecumenical bridge between east and west.
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. Thomas More Chapel at Yale University and St. Meinrad Seminary. 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. 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.
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”. 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 continues to work and teach out of his studio in Meriden CT.
History of our spaceThe Monastery Gallery of Art is located on the historic grounds of Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center. The MGA occupies a space on the B floor adjacent to the Public Chapel and that was once used as a dining room by the Passionist Community. |
The Monastery Gallery of ART303 Tunxis rd.
West Hartford, CT 06107 860.760.9766 |