Program Design and Content
The principle on which our school is based is that our students have to receive an essential knowledge and experience of iconography, which includes 4 types of activities:
1. Learning to understand the icon from historical, theological, and spiritual perspectives is realized by the theoretical introductory course “History and Theology of the Icon” (30 hours, 3 academic credits) for begginers and Selected Topics on Sacred Art (12 hours, 1 academic credit).
2. Learning authentic traditional painting technique is achieved through the practical icon painting course (90 hours of supervised painting, or whatever is necessary to finish the individual icon).
3. Being exposed to Eastern Christian liturgy, which is the right home to the art of iconography – an opportunity to participate in daily liturgical services (Eucharistic Liturgy and others).
4. Close acquaintance with the originals of old icons (2-3 study tours to the museums and old churches; a close study of restoration materials of some old icons).
The Practical icon painting course
We take a different ancient icon as a basis for our ‘learning by imitating the original’ approach. This has proven to be the best strategy for learning various aspects of iconography and mastering various techniques. Currantly we have two options: the beginners will be learning to paint the icon Sacrifice of Isaak, which a part of the icon of St Michael (second half of 14th c.) from Ukraine, the advanced students will be painting the Mother of God with the Child (signed by master Oleksiy Goroshkovych in the 16th c.).
