Anne and Nam, both collectors of Jia's work, were able to pay us a visit this summer, and arrived bearing gifts! Anne is a geriatric psychiatrist in Pennsylvania whose true avocation is orthodox iconography. Both these beautiful images of the Mother of God and St. Michael are by her hand. Each brushstroke is painted with a prayer, and the proportions and colors are in divine proportion and based on ancient, deified prototypes. Church Tradition traces the first icons back to the lifetime of the Saviour, and celebrates the knowing God through the Holy Spirit, as opposed to merely believing that God is. Every step in the creation of an icon, from the preparation of the panel, to the grinding of the pigment and mixing of the paints, to the application of the gold leaf, is performed by the icon painter. "Thus matter too, offered in the icon as a gift to God by man, in its turn emphasises the liturgic meaning of the icon." (Leonid Ouspensky)
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