Sacred Icons

A Window Into Stillness

March 2nd to 6th, 2020
St Peter´s Episcopal, LEWIS, DELAWARE

February 24th to 28th, 2020
Vero Beach, FLORIDA

Paint a Byzantine style icon with us, the retreat is for all skill levels, absolutely no experience necessary. Those who want to learn icon painting are welcome, regardless of artistic experience or spiritual background. The medium is traditional egg tempera pigments and gold leaf on a wooden board panel, all materials are natural and included in the price. Meditation, artistic experience, calligraphy, or graphic-arts experience is helpful but by no means necessary.

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Artist

The workshop is led by artist and long-time San Miguel de Allende resident, Mary Jane Miller. Follow this renowned icon painter on Facebook.

Egg Tempera

Our workshop offers traditional egg tempera painting, and uses authentic materials such as gold leaf.

Workshop Locations

Please click here for a few more details, where the workshop will be held and what is included in the price.

A 2000 year old Tradition

The icon is an organic and dynamic piece of creation that moves through time to speak to us. The key is to maintain its universality so that it may reach across generations. The creation of each icon is a spiritual journey steeped in tradition and culture.

  • Head of Mary Icon
    Artist's Statement

    "Combining the physical painting and a life of prayer enables us to explore and enter into our relationship with God and His creation." Brush strokes come alive in an icon, while the image and process enables icon painters to share what the mind sees, what is trans-formative, unique and unquestionably true.

    The discipline of iconography allows one to make contact with something deeper than what you're painting. The faces reflect the somber, the challenged and the martyred. The color and texture is visual delight. Mary Jane Miller is always wondering, "What, besides spiritual awe, are icons trying to tell us about the highest and best experiences of our human condition?"

    I have a mind full of classic and contemporary icon images, it represents a cacophony of fragments brought together and ultimately expressed in colored dirt. So very simple. You might add or change one layer of color and it is like adding the final stroke to Gods creation. Words and ideas become like paintings for me, I get to see what i think.

    Gallery Read More

  • Retiro de Silencio
    Books Available

    Books are Available through Amazon or Lulu.com. CLICK the IMAGE Icon Painting Revealed is a concise step-by-step introduction to egg tempera painting. Mary Jane Miller discusses her technique as well as, the history and meaning of icon painting and iconography. Her more detailed book Icon Painting Techniques is an indispensable tool to enjoy the Art of Icon Painting at home or in the professional studio of any iconographer. Book on Lulu.

    In Light of Women is her latest contribution to traditional iconography, 72 pages displays one of her icon painting collections and commentary. An exploration of women in iconography and the absence of their voices in the church and icon image. Exquisitely painted icons are juxtaposed with text describing the images, their history, religious context and reflections about the world we live in today. This book is a must for any library, for those collectors of icons and those in authority who preserve this great tradition.


    More Info

Gallery

Icons attempt to portray and bear witness to two realities, the divine and the human, united in an undivided manner. The intent here is not to communicate human ideas about humans or spiritual concepts about the truth but rather to ask the question, "Whose are we?"

Pricing and Registration

The workshop is limited to 18 participants. Sign up now to reserve your spot.

Registration:
At St Peters Episcopal Church. Lewes, Delaware $490 USD
jross@stpeterslewes.org 302-645-8479
At St. Cyprian Episcopal. Lufkin, Texas $490 USD
ljmc@consolidated.net
All materials included
All materials included
Lodging and meals other than Lunch not included in price

The icon Retreat and icon Workshops begin after everyone is settled in after arrival the night before. We will meet then for introductions and sharing, why are you interested inconography? The icon classes actually begins 9 AM of the first day. Six hours a day of work and meditation. There will be one evening power point presentation of the artists work open to the public. The retreat ends 3 PM on the last day normally a Friday after the blessing of the icons. Each participant will have a finished icon on completion of this retreat.

San Miguel Icons has well written and informative articles on the blog as well as a book store on Millericons.com We have You Tube videos, a store on facebook, linkedin, Gloria TV, Instagram, the CIVA, Episcopal Visual Arts Council and twitter which are all social media platforms to help you get acquainted with the medium, the teacher and the value of modern catholic and byzantine style icons. I have been published in professional Episcopalians, Temple Divine, The Orthodox Review, Faith and Forum, Up Stream People, and our local paper. Books are on Lulu.com and Amazon. The four 5 day icon retreat is an intense workshop, given 4 times a year, Any books are made available to my students, accompanied by a small assortment of icons for purchase. If you would like me to come and lecture at your retreat center, your church, a museum or school, I am available. OR If you want to host me as an instructor for icon painting this would be a pleasure, please use the contact page.

Contact Us

To register, or for more information, contact:

Mary Jane Miller
011 52 (415-152 5762)
Email: thewayoficons@aol.com

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