Mennonite artist creates icons

Jerry Holsopple studies iconography on sabbatical

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Jerry Holsopple, a professor and photographer, decided to take a stab at a completely new medium this year: icon painting.

Jerry Holsopple works on his icon of Saint Maximilian of Tebessa. Michael the Arch­angel waits for shading and highlighting. Photo provided.

Holsopple, who teaches at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., chose to spend his sabbatical in Lithuania, teaching at LCC International University through a Fulbright scholarship. In addition to teaching, he took on the role of student under a Russian Orthodox priest, Vladimir  Artamonov, who agreed to teach Jerry iconography.

Photography and videography hold few if any common elements with iconography, Holsopple said in an interview on Feb. 1. Still, he wanted to experience this new art form as a Mennonite artist. His interest in iconography began in the mid-1990s. During a video production trip about a peacemaking camp he visited several churches and a large icon museum in Sophia.

He talked with some painters and purchased two icons from one of them to bring home. Since then he often considered how our thoughts tie to visuals. "What does that mean for Mennonites who are so unvisual?" he asked.

Holsopple said Mennonites have few visuals, and those we do have we are not sure what to do with. Martyr's Mirror holds the most powerful visuals but are unfamiliar to many.

He cited two differences between the Eastern and Western approaches to art: First, the Western church took a more text-oriented approach, whereas the Eastern Church embraces a long history with visuals. Second, iconography in the Eastern Church only allows for small interpretations, as artists must work within the traditions or guidelines. In the West, artists attempt to “do their own thing” by creating new visuals and carrying out new ideas.

Now Holsopple works to "find the voice within the tradition" throughout the long process of iconography. The traditions, or guidelines, in iconography include colors used, positions of characters and features of characters. All characters either face forward or sideways with eyes open. Also, icons lack shadows, illustrating their spirituality instead of physicality.

For his first icon, Holsopple chose Michael the Archangel. For his second, he chose Saint Maximilian of Tebessa, a martyr for not joining the military. Holsopple said iconographers pray and fast in congruence with their work, so he now focuses on icons while praying and testifies to increased concentration. He said these types of practices could influence his artistic process in the future. Before he returns home with his icons, the priest will bless them—the final step in the process.

"When you bless the icons, it makes up for your lack of skill," Holsopple said Priest Artamonov told him.


Jerry Holsopple describes the process of iconography:
The process is long. You start with a piece of wood, preferably Linden, which should be quartersawn so it won't warp. After roughing up the surface you begin putting on coats of gelatin and water mixtures.The ratio of gelatin and water keeps changing with the layers as the gelatin gets stronger. After two or three layers of this you soak a piece of linen cloth in the gelatin water and then smooth that onto the board. More coats of gelatin water with chalk added until it is the consistency of Lithuanian sour cream (American would be too thick).  You spread this on the board avoiding any air bubbles.  Between coats you sand gradually using finer and finer sandpaper. After a dozen layers or more (and four or five weeks of work) the board is ready to us. It shines and is smooth like glass.

You then choose which icon you will paint. You look at many photos of old ones, and look at ones in the churches. You make a drawing from the one chosen. I am doing an angel Michael for my first one. I started with a very old one painted by Rublev, seeking to understand how he draped the clothing. I modified the wings to be closer to some of the newer ones.  I just put the gold on the second one, and etched the board for the third one. 

Learning to do the eyes and the hands took the most time. After you have a good drawing on paper you transfer this to the board with carbon paper. You scratch the drawing into the surface with an awl so the lines are evident even after several layers of paint. Then you paint the background of the person in with the darkest colors that would be used. After dusting the image with dry chalk, you put on the gold size (glue) on the halo and the background wait for several hours for it to set up and apply the gold leaf. You can't touch the gold leaf, in fact you can't blow on it since it is so thin that you would blow it across the room with your breath. 

You then repaint the lines, and begin the process of layer by layer shading the image from the darkest to the lightest. After all the shading you will paint in the highlights, the outlines, and the small details.You add the letters and any halo design at this stage as well. After it sets for several weeks you coat the icon with a clear protective varnish. Finally the icon should be blessed by a priest.

If you make your own board instead of buying a prepared one from start to finish is about four months, if you work at it on a regular basis. 

For the me there have been many challenges since I am learning every stage, but I think the shading process is the most difficult, since the paint dries so quickly and you are trying to blend and get very thin coats on the board.

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