| Q. | Does the site have anything to do with E-commerce? |
| A. |
No, it has nothing to do with what usually is meant as E-commerce. The site izograph.com does not pursue any mass commercial goals. Therefore we ask that advertisers of powerful web design tools, bulk e-mail devices and other products of the sort not bother sending us their advertisements and offers. Basically they are considered annoying junk mail and subjects to be deleted. |
| Q. | Are the icons presented in the site available for purchase? Do you sell icons? |
| A. |
We do not keep a large store of icons ready for sale. Almost all of the icons that you see on the site were commissioned a while ago and have gone already. But we welcome new commissions for icons from parishes or individual believers on any iconographic subject, not just the subjects presented on the site. Please use the contact information to place an order with pertinent information such as size, design features, the date of completion, etc. |
| Q. | Do you have a price list? Is it available? |
| A. | Yes, we do. The price list is available upon request. |
| Q. | Is it possible to purchase reproductions of icons, either in the form of notecards, or as mounted plaques ? |
| A. |
We do not produce reproductions of icons of any kind for sale. This is not a part of our regular business.
But we do have very good quality photos and slides of some icons. We need them for publishing, particularly on this site.
Therefore, we can make and send out a copy of a photograph upon request. We have granted permission in the past for organizations to reproduce our icons in the form of postcards for charity purposes. We are always open to discuss offers of this kind. |
| Q. |
Do you offer courses/workshops on how to write an icon in the traditional ways? |
| A. |
We do not offer lessons or workshops in iconography on a regular basis. But we welcome and accept people
expressing their desire to take practical lessons in iconography. Usually students come to our house for a couple weeks or so and have
lessons about ten hours every day. The terms are discussed separately in each case prior to arranging the lessons. We accept students
who consider themselves as Christians regardless of their particular confession. As far as it concerns workshops in future, please check for announcements from time to time either our web site or Iconofile->workshops->events for workshops information. |
| Q. | Do you restore old icons? |
| A.
|
Iconographer Xenia Pokrovsky has vast experience in the restoration of ancient icons from
the 13th-19th centuries in Russia. In some cases, her task went beyond restoration to nearly complete reconstruction when
only 20% to 50% of the icon's original painting was preserved and the rest was dramatically lost. Such restorative work
required her not only to identify the icon by stylistic features of place and century, i.e. where and when the icon was
written, but also the original pigments used and iconographic school under which it was created, such as the Novgorod,
Pskov or Moscow schools, etc. When restoring/reconstructing such an icon, she followed the exact style of its particular
iconographic school and used the precise same pigments from clays and stones of the unique area where the icon was written.
The best experts of ancient Russian iconography could not distinguish the reconstructed parts that had been freshly painted
over the naked gesso or wood, because the pigments themselves and their application were undistinguishable from the original
materials and the ancient technique. This experience in restoration work had a deep impact upon Xenia and revealed to her many forgotten "secrets" and techniques used by ancient iconographers. These important discoveries cannot be learned from any contemporary books or other iconology resources on the subject. Returning to the question, we do accept commissions for restoration, although the work is usually uninteresting. We have never received a challenging commission of a real masterpiece from ancient times here in the United States. For this reason, Xenia is often nostalgic for this exalted level of restoration work. Nevertheless Xenia always respects customer's feelings and is ready to help if an icon is considered a family treasure and/or an object of family memory, no matter what the icon's market price is. |
| Q. | Please explain why Catholic saints appear in an Orthodox icon. |
| A. |
The question refers to the icon " Our Lady Enthroned with St. Francis Assisi and St. Dominic". First of all the icon is not Orthodox. This is a Catholic icon. It was written according to the best Catholic examples of the 13th-14th centuries and using, as much as possible, Italian pigments of that period. The icon was written for a special event. We had an exhibition at a Catholic institution and we wanted to demonstrate to Catholics that they have their own rich iconographic heritage, which is almost totally forgotten and neglected. We believe this is important in a time when many western Christians are looking to the East for real iconography, forgetting their own treasures. |
| Q. |
I am not very well artistically talented. Is being a good artist necessary for icon writing? |
| A. |
Xenia has had hundreds of students. A very small percentage of them became professional iconographers. The percentage
is even less among people who started and had been trained as professional artists already, and it was always extremely
hard to teach them. Sometimes it was impossible and they gave up. The reason is quite understandable. The approaches,
methods and philosophy are quite different from what is usually taught in secular art schools. Artists too often lack
the virtues of humility and obedience. Even before starting, too often they are sure that they know everything about
iconography and think what they need is just a little bit of practice. Archimandrite Fr. Zenon, an outstanding contemporary iconographer in Russia, when asked how long it takes to become an iconographer, replied – 15 years. Hardly an exaggeration. Not being an artist perhaps is a plus for starting to learn iconography!. If you do not try to learn iconography you will never know whether you can be an iconographer. But if you decide to try you should be ready to go through a lot of repetitive and seemingly boring work learning elements of technique, with many failures and starting from scratch again and again. Learning the technique only is also not enough. A real iconographer is a theologian, a person having a deep spiritual life, knowledgeable about Scriptures, Christian dogmatics, liturgy, hagiography, etc. Here in America we sometimes encounter a phenomenon which is rather strange for us. Some people having had a course of lessons, often from a dubious tutor, decide that they themselves can teach iconography! Please be aware of that and be vigil and cautious when you are looking for a teacher. |