“Print your image in my heart, as a mark that will never be erased from my soul”.
Song of Songs (8.6)
Icon School
We are both an adult and children art school, dedicated to training people in Christian liturgical art. The children activities are dedicated to preparing children to becoming spiritual and artistic beings, hopefully interested in becoming professional or amateur iconographers.
The Centre is open for the use of its students Monday – Saturday, 10am – 7pm around the year apart from major holidays.
The School has dedicated classroom and studio space, fully equipped to enable students to paint icons and other artistic activities to the highest professional level.
There is a specialist library dedicated to iconography with wifi access.
There is a small art shop which provides all the supplies necessary to participate in the courses, from pigments to gilding tools, from brushes to pencils.
There is a cafeteria for students to relax and socialise, as well as the tranquility of our courtyard garden.
There is a chapel where we display the icons and works of our students.
Students on all our courses have access to all the Icon Centre’s facilities. All areas of our Centre are wheelchair accessible.
Students
We welcome students of all ages and backgrounds.
We are a diverse community mainly drawn from the Melkite, Latin, Assyrian, Armenian, and Protestant churches of the Holy Land of Canaan, but occasionally augmented by individuals from all faiths and backgrounds.
Courses
Instruction at the Icon School is based on the timeless principles of eastern Christian iconography, commonly called ‘Byzantine iconography’. Of course, this Byzantine iconography is full of Canaanite, Assyro-Babylonian symbolisms, since the Byzantine Empire was built upon a mixture of Canaanite, Mesopotamian, Hittite and Greco-Roman artistic styles. We approach icon writing as an art of the transfiguration of the natural world, as the creation of doorways from heaven to earth. Our specificity is that we don’t belittle the pre-Christian Palestinian heritage that has been profusely used by Byzantine artists throughout the centuries, but on the contrary seek to enlighten our students about the original meanings of those pre-Christian symbolisms.
Here is a display of a Palestinian icon written in our school, using coral cabauchons, and a solar winged-disc representing Adon-El, the Canaanite supreme God of creation. Note the wheat branches border, symbolizing fertility, bounty, and resurrection.
Here an example of our nacre art work, typical of the Palestinian Bethlehem nacre school, which became significant since 500 years with the impetus of the El Tarajmeh Bethlehemite clan and under the guidance of the Franciscan monks. Our school can produce nacre icons of all sizes and of all themes, using an array of noble materials as corals, lapis lazuli, ivory, amber, malachite, turtoise, etc, as well as mastering the 4 techniques of working nacre: Engraving, carving, inlaying, and filigree.
We allow students to work both egg tempera and acrylic techniques, but seek to focus on the exclusive use of natural materials. All our courses cover all or most of the following:
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- Introduction to drawing skills
- The use of geometry and proportion in icon design
- The drawing of the icon and icon design
- A comprehensive introduction to the use of egg tempera paint
- Fundamental painting skills such as brush work
- The use of colour
- The use of gold leaf, both oil and water gilding techniques, and embossing skills
- Lettering and inscriptions
- The theology of the icon
- The place of the icon in the Liturgy
- Praying with the icon and the spirituality of the icon painter
We also have individuals from around the world who join our classes for a shorter or longer period of time, depending on their circumstances. These include priests and religious on sabbatical, art students, and lay people interested in the spirituality of the icon etc. Please contact us directly to discuss possibilities tailored to your situation.