My icons at Bethlehem Lutheran, Minneapolis were well received.

Nineteen of my icons were on display in the Gallery of Bethlehem Lutheran, Lyndale Ave. South, at 41st Street in Minneapolis, and a dozen others were in the show cases, all during Advent 2011.  

The congregation chose one of my icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Jesus on her lap, "Hodegitria" for their annual Christmas card that was reproduced as a full color card and mailed to all families of Bethlehem Lutheran.

I gave two gallery talks, one to a middle school age class and one to an adult forum age group.  Lots of excellent questions and interest in the icons as "theoscopy" - or theology in full color vision!

 This large icon stood at the entrance to the Gallery.  It was dramatically lit and served well to introduce people to the icons.

 Full scale shot of two larger icons hanging on the wall.  The head of the cleric is Bishop Eivind Berggrav, the Bishop of the Resistance in Norway during WWII, and the saint who worked to reconcile Norway and Germany after the war.  The elaborate icon is of St. Olav, the patron saint of Norway.

The plaques below were mounted at the entrance to the Gallery that described the icons and their purpose.  I received many comments about the icons and the links to the scriptures that I had provided.

St. Ladislaus of Hungary - an icon in process.  This is a "naming icon" done on commission for a family.  If I ever figure out how to make him NOT stand on his head, I'll resubmit this blog entry!  But for now I'm still giggling at the silly things this blog does ;-))

St. Olav of Norway

St. Olav (Olaf) of Norway was martyred on 29 July 1030 - killed at the Battle of Stikklestad, near Trondheim, Norway.  My icon shows him as a crowned king, holding the battle ax that killed him, and the orb of the eternal heavenly kingdom.  The large domed nails of the frame add weight and dimension to the icon.  I painted this on a one inch thick wood panel, in acrylics, using 24K gold leaf.  The patron is Norwegian and the icon now lives in Oslo, Norway.  It measures ca. 7.5 inches by 10 inches.

Is this perhaps the oldest Christian icon we know of?

I'm working on, and have nearly finished (for now) a moderately large round icon, ca. 22 inches in diameter, that depicts the Baptism of Jesus.  The original is a huge mosaic in the dome of the Arian Baptistry in Ravenna, Italy which dates to ca. 430 A.D.  And yes, Jesus is NOT wearing anything at all.  Didn't bother them.  Doesn't bother me.  Your mileage may vary.  Since I shot this photo I've worked on the details some more.  I needed to clean things up a bit so that I could hang this icon in the ICON SHOW at BETHLEHEM LUTHERAN, 4100 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls - all during Advent 2011.  When working from a mosaic original I find that I have to fight the urge to "go pontillist" (if that's the right spelling of a word that means refer to the school of French 19th Century painters?) and paint itty bitty dots of paint so I would end up with something that looks like a photograph of a mosaic.  I might try that sometime, but not right now.