Failures & Discoveries
Notes from an icon workshop
$35.00
On the 3rd of December 1985, while we were working on the murals in the chapel of St Silouan, Father Sophrony told me: “Later, you have to write a book about our experiences; which colours were used, the mistakes you made and so on.” Thirty three years later I set myself to the task. The problem was how to present it all. Finally I decided to deal with my time of apprenticeship as a story, copied out from my notes and adding a few explanatory notes.
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Thirty-three years ago the author of this book promised her tutor, Father Sophrony, that she would publish an account of her creative apprenticeship under his tuition at an Orthodox monastery in Essex. Here is that publication, full of first-hand experience wonderfully recorded and preserved in a journal of projects, working with ancient techniques and reviving recipes used for icon painting, murals and mosaics.
In these collective workshops, innovations and competition were put aside by painters who were content with anonymity. Their spectacular achievements now fill the monastery and continue to make a daily contribution that deepens its communal life.
Orthodox monasteries often have icons, murals and mosaics, but this monastery is relatively new. It was founded by Father Sophrony as late as 1959. As a Russian painter called Sergei Semionovich Sakharov (1896-1993) he had studied art at the Moscow College of Painting. After fleeing to Italy, Germany, France and Greece, he eventually founded the monastic community in Essex.
Here the making and painting of icons, murals and mosaics became prolific, emerging from modest workshops to become essential features of the community, its life and its beliefs.
This intensely interesting, well-illustrated, and informative book reveals a devotion to traditional means and orthodox imagery, which in turn produces a beautiful art with no signatures. But this new art is also ancient, and its vitality remains far removed from the frenetic competition of modern art. Instead it illuminates and accompanies every stage of the monastic life.
John Milner
Honorary Professor in Russian Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
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Sister Gabriela
Sister Gabriela joined the Community of Saint John the Baptist in 1983 after studying iconography in Paris on Saint Sophrony’s insistence. She was part of the team which was painting the murals of Saint Silouan’s Chapel and worked closely with the saint. After the mural work, Saint Sophrony continued to teach her the art of icon painting, and she assisted him in some larger works. Since his repose, to the extent that she has been able to understand them, she has tried to further his vision and ideas in various artistic projects.
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Tony Martin (verified owner) –
What a blessing to read and eavesdrop on conversations involving Father Sophrony and the artistic workshops of the Monastery. This is due in no small part to the generosity of Sister Gabriela who shares from her personal notebooks made during her apprenticeship to Father Sophrony. She is also kind enough to supply forensic detail of paints, surfaces, techniques and her ongoing experiments with pastel, canvas and egg emulsion, for example. This sharing of knowledge is a tonic in comparison to the often selfish and ego driven spirit of the art world.
Sister Gabriela also debunks any myths of an effortless artistic inspiration. Instead we encounter challenges regarding plasters, plasterers, paint consistency, resurfacing and repainting of a chapel ceiling, pictorial composition, appropriate biblical imagery and the teachability of younger artists. The wise, firm and gentle input of Father Sophrony is ever present.
The physical format of the book has the chunkiness of a working sketchbook which this pastor/artist reader found very appealing!
However, for all its working detail, the book is chiefly an illustration of the practical and the prayerful: the labour of the humble artist and the ample supply of God’s wisdom and grace. These elements have combined to produce spaces of welcome and wonder.
Tony Martin