Incomplete Icons of Personhood

The body of work that birthed this exhibit explores the experience of home and family within the context of an ancient tradition of image making that is grounded in honoring the intrinsic beauty, the divine image, within every person.

The art is intentionally interdependent with life, patiently gleaned from events and relationships. The persons with whom I share everyday life are my most precious material. Time is a medium. Daily reality is drawn in and held up to the light, in the timeless setting of the painted image. I depend upon what is evident in life, and make art in the hope of what is not yet seen.

This work is intended to change me. It holds me to a commitment to look deeply into life as it is, here and now, through a sacred view of humanity, of the potential of each life. In the ambiguous space between the obvious and the hidden, I find beauty.

Each person is viewed as a jewel, in many facets, translated into the language and materials of the icon: wood and linen, line and color, clay and gold. My work in life and art is to live honestly.

I invite the viewer within this circle, to see these images of personhood within an intimate space for his own private contemplation.

………

This work explores an intentional integration of contemporary artistic practice and ancient sacred tradition, through studio methods and academic research searching out and upholding the intrinsic beauty of every person, expressed in the context of identity, family roles and relationships.