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SUMMER 2014 NEWSLETTER

The Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln.

CONTENTS


Click on any of the links below to navigate the newsletter

Welcome to our first newsletter. These last 18 months have been very rich in wonderful commissions and events. The biggest completed work has been a 2 metre (7 foot) high stone carving of the Mother of God holding Christ, commissioned by Lincoln Cathedral. Although it is a statue and not a relief carving or painted icon, our aim was to make it work as an icon. We wanted the sculpture to be a place where people could meet the incarnate God and not be merely a mere work of art to look at. Judging by the very moving feedback we have had so far, it seems to be working! The sculpture was dedicated by the Bishop of Lincoln at a splendid Evensong service on Saturday May 31st.

As you will see from the other pages below, there has been a great variety of other work also created in the last year and a half: a mosaic, other stone carvings, panel icons small and large, church furnishings, even a mighty set of doors in oak, copper and gold, and a second book. Also, twelve new students have begun their Diploma in Icon Painting, which I teach for The Prince of Wales' School of Traditional Arts.

Keeping up with commissions has always been a challenge, so over the years I have trained craftspeople to help out. This has been an exciting way of preparing the next generation of people to further the revival of traditional liturgical arts.  Most recently Martin Earle joined me as an apprentice in December 2012, and has rapidly become indispensable. He has shown great ability in both stone and wood carving, and is currently doing the part-time three year Diploma in Icon Painting. Some years ago I trained Imogen Maxfield to do my water gilding, which she now does with great aplomb.  Dylan Hartley has been making my icon panels for some time, and now supplies quite a few other painters as well. He now also does much of the cabinetmaking for church furniture which I have been commissioned to design.  Iulia Clow does the bookkeeping, helps with graphic design, and was of great assistance with the mosaic commission and completing the Lincoln sculpture. 

STOP PRESS! 

 

SPACES HAVE JUST BECOME AVAILABLE on my five day icon painting course this September (8-12th). This, and the yearly May workshop, are usually booked up over a year in advance, so this is a rare opportunity.  All the details of the course can be found on my website... 

ICONS

Two important icon commissions of the Saxon Saints Wilfrid and Etheldreda were completed this year for Hexham Abbey. Now a parish church, the abbey was founded by St Wilfrid in 674 AD as a Benedictine monastery on land donated by St. Etheldreda, then Queen of Northumbria.  The extant crypt is part of this original building. 

An icon of the Annunciation was commissioned by Gonville and Caius College of Cambridge University and was completed this year. On the footrest of the Mother of God are various symbols representing some of the numerous great scientists and scholars who have been members of the college, among them Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the DNA, and John Venn of the Venn diagram. God is incarnate not just in human flesh, but in human cultures.

A large icon was completed in July 2013 of Our Lady of Capel-y-Ffin, for the church of St Mary the Virgin, Haye-on-Wye in Powys, Wales. This icon depicts the appearance of the Mother of God to two children in 1880's, and was commissioned as part of renewed pilgrimage to Capel-y-Ffin.


See other recently commissioned icons here.


From top: St Wilfrid (detail) and Saint Etheldreda (60 x 45cm / 23.5 x 17.5 inches), Hexam Abbey; The Apostle Paul, private client; The Annunciation (73.5 x 43cm / 29 x 17 inches), Caius College Cambridge; Our Lady of Capel-y-Ffin, Church of St Mary the Virgin.

NEW BOOK OUT NOW

"Reviving the traditional art of the essay, Aidan Hart has also revived a sensitivity for God’s presence in all things—God, one of whose names is Beauty. This book is rich in wisdom drawn from the iconographic tradition, illuminating the material cosmos, history, the virtues, and the challenges of contemporary life.”

 

- Stratford Caldecott, Editor, Second Spring Journal.

 

"...This is a profound and arresting book, full of insights and surprises.

-Revd. Prof. Andrew Louth 



A long awaited collection of essays on contemporary issues as seen through the theology of the icon, covering subjects such as ecology, the role of the material world in the spiritual life, beauty, the revival of liturgical art, the nature of the human person, and abstract art. RRP £14.99. Gracewing Publishers.


 


 

OUR LADY OF LINCOLN

In a solemn and moving service on 31st May, the feast of the Visitation, The Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln was dedicated in Lincoln Cathedral by the Rt Revd Christopher Lowson, Bishop of Lincoln.

The 7ft tall stone carving of the Christ and the Virgin Mary, in whose name the historic Cathedral is dedicated, is one of the largest works commissioned by the Dean and Chapter since The Reformation. The sculpture now sits in a chapel at East End of the cathedral, looking down the length of the magnificent South Aisle. It is hoped that this corner of the cathedral will become a little Bethlehem, a place of contemplation and prayer for reconciliation for the whole Christian family.

Martin and I carved this major commission over four months from a single block of Lincolnshire limestone.  In the tradition of Romanesque and Gothic carving, the work was polychromed using egg tempera and natural pigments. The design is a unison of many influences, in particular the ‘Our Lady of the Sign’ icon and Romanesque carvings of the Virgin enthroned and Christ in majesty. Above all it is an icon not only of the Virgin Mary, but of God Incarnate who, through Mary, has forever united Himself to our human nature.


From you, O Virgin, God was incarnate and became a child, our God before the ages. He made your body into a throne, and your womb He made more spacious than the heavens. All of creation rejoices in you, O Full of Grace! Glory to you!


To read notes from a lecture given by Aidan at Lincoln please follow this link.

See more images of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln

PANTOCRATOR OF ROATH

For years I have studied mosaic, travelling to Ravenna, Rome, Venice, Mount Athos and Thessalonika to try and understand the secrets beneath the masterpieces found there. Finally an opportunity came to put some of these lessons into practice when Father Irving Hamer commissioned a mosaic for the outside his church of St Martin's, Roath, in Cardiff, Wales. 

Beauty can draw the soul closer to God, and Fr Irving wanted to embellish his church to show that life with Christ, although it invariably does entail suffering, is beautiful and beautifying. In an interview he said: “We wanted something to crown the entrance to the church and bring some colour to the front of the building, which this mosaic does really well. The whole project has completely transformed the front of the building and people’s perception of it." 

It measures 1.4 metres (55 inches) in diameter, and is made of about 18,000 smalti tesserae made in Venice, all cut by hand. 

 

MADRID DOORS


These mighty oak doors were commissioned by the newly built Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, Madrid. The carvings, mainly carved by Martin, are inspired by early Spanish designs with plants and birds that evoke the garden of Eden. On the inside of the door sixteen icons in gold leaf on patinated copper depict the major feasts of the Christian year. Aidan worked on the project with Worrall Joinery, and master blacksmith Frazer Picot who hand forged the iron fittings. 

OTHER CHURCH FURNISHINGS


 

This kivot was designed and made by Martin and installed in St Mary Magdalene Russian Orthodox Church in Madrid in spring. I carved the figurative panel at the base of the kivot with a scene from the life of St Nicholas. The mosaic, a copy of the famous Athonite icon Saint Nicholas of the Oyster, was made for the parish by the Russian mosaicist Pavel Otdelnov. The decorative elements of the carving, and the kivot's distinctive arch, draw on early Spanish Visigothic works.

See more images of the kivot here.

A case for an icon of St Mary Magdalene, for the Russian Orthodox Church of St Mary Magdalene, Madrid, Spain. The woodwork was executed by Dylan Hartley and the carving by Aidan and Martin. You can see other examples of church furnishings made by Dylan on his website, and a close up of the carving here.

For years I have rather despaired of the quality of design and craftsmanship in much church furnishing. The elegance and simplicity of Byzantine and medieval Western work seems to have been lost. This simple chandelier of cast brass and hand blown glass was commissioned for a chapel in Texas. It is inspired by Byzantine oil lamps, though is fully electric.

OTHER NEWS


 

ICON DIPLOMA COURSE

Icon diploma students in a gessoing workshop with Dylan this summer.

Demand for icons has been steadily increasing for some decades, but this has not been matched by growth in the number of skilled iconographers. To this end, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales encouraged me to start an icon course as part of his Prince's School of Traditional Arts, so in 2009 I founded and began teaching the four year part-time Diploma in Icon and Wall Painting.  

The students did splendidly, and so last year a new set of twelve students were selected for the next programme. Three of them even come from overseas for the sessions, from Germany, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland. 

If you know of anyone interested in applying for the next intake, due for 2016, then please email me. More information is available on the PSTA website.

 

Hearty congratulations to Martin on winning a prestigious Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust grant. I have asked him to write a little about himself...

"Before starting work as Aidan's apprentice and assistant, I made animations at the Royal College of Art and went on long adventures in Israel and France where I worked as an assistant to adults with learning disabilities. My love of icons has grown over the last decade, fired by visits monasteries and, in particular, stumbling upon the great Romanesque carvings of Autun, Vezelay and Cluny in Burgundy. 

I was delighted when Aidan agreed to take me on as an apprentice . . . and instantly plunged into the deep end  –  carving a pair of massive oak doors and a towering stone icon stand. Learning to paint panel icons is a rather more delicate process, so the scholarship from QEST is a great help.

God is Beauty, and I would love to praise him, and serve the church, by making beautiful things."

Martin and his new wife Katherine.

Aidan Hart Icons


ICONS, CARVING, WALL PAINTING, MOSAIC & CHURCH FURNISHINGS

Websites: www.aidanharticons.com  and www.aidanhart.co

Mobile telephone: (+44)  07910 246774

Home: (+44) 01743 240112

Address: 94 Underdale Road, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 5EE, UK

 

Aidan Hart Icons Limited. Registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 6995115. 

VAT registration number 993496848

 

 

  
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