Several BOLLI members have recommended a trip to the Icon Museum so we have booked a visit there, taking advantage of the mild summer weather for the 45 minute drive to Clinton.  We will arrange car pooling so please indicate your willingness to drive.  The cost is $10 per person, paid at the museum.  Please contact Marina Cunningham montclairmarina@gmail.com to register.  Lunch will follow at a nearby restaurant.

The Museum was founded in 2006. Its campus began with the acquisition and renovation of a late 1800s building which had originally housed the executive offices of the Bigelow Textile Company, enhanced with the addition of a contemporary, aluminum-clad addition which housed the South Gallery, Library, and offices. Another historic building, the adjacent 150-year-old former courthouse and police station (with its jail cells intact), was renovated in 2010 to provide additional gallery space, a terrace with a green roof, and performance facilities to host lectures and concerts.

Lankton created the only museum in the United States solely dedicated to Russian icons, holding the largest collection of its kind in North America, and one of the largest private collections outside of Russia. 

For more information about the museum, please visit their website.

Some background.....

An icon is an image of a holy person or event created by an iconographer who follows the strict standards of the Orthodox Church. Icons range in size from the very small (for home use) to very large (for cathedrals). It is not worshiped, but rather venerated and used in prayer. Traditionally unsigned, icons are considered a window or portal into a divine realm.  

Iconography is a living tradition, and icons today are still painted using traditional, centuries-old techniques and styles. An icon is a complex set of interwoven symbols that have evolved over centuries to form a refined and sophisticated visual language. When reading an icon, colors, clothing, hairstyles, gestures, and objects the subject holds all offer insight into what the iconographer was trying to convey.