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Writing icons leads artists to meditation, contemplation and deeper understanding

Sister Joan Weisenbeck examines details in an icon of St. Fiacre, which she painted last summer.

To the untrained eye, an icon may seem like a simple, albeit beautiful piece of artwork. In fact icons are much more than a holy subject depicted in paint. Noted spiritual writer Henri Nouwen explains that an icon is like a window looking out upon eternity, a sacred window to the Divine. Through this window, we are offered access to the garden of God.

When Sister Joan Weisenbeck works in her office at the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, she does so under many watchful eyes. Yet, she welcomes the apparent attention; it radiates from the many icons that adorn her walls. Some she has painted, some are painted by others. Altogether she estimates she has painted more than a dozen icons. "I have a creative spirit, and I love beautiful things. And there is something about the spirituality of the icon that's very attractive to me."

Her interest in icons began about 25 years ago, when she was given one for her silver jubilee. In the following years, friends presented her with icons from around the world. Since then, her personal experience with icons has grown substantially. From 1998 to 2004, she and other FSPA accepted invitations to three countries: Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, to fulfill an important mission. "We started a program in Eastern Europe to teach a group of Byzantine Catholic sisters, lay women and seminarians how to write icons, how to paint icons," Sister Joan explains, "because there was a 40 year communist domination in Eastern Europe, they had lost much of the tradition. They lost the art of doing this." The project allowed the sisters to return the tradition of writing sacred icons to Eastern Europeans, a rewarding venture. Now several sisters in Eastern Europe have gained sufficient proficiency in the art to teach others and continue the tradition.

Back home in La Crosse, the ancient art of painting icons is crossing all sorts of borders. The Franciscan Spirituality Center offers two icon writing workshops each year, usually in May and July. The workshops draw people from all walks of life: clergy, lay men and women, sisters and individuals of all religious backgrounds. Icon writers need not have prior experience in the medium, and they don't even have to be particularly artistic. However, Sister Joan says, an interest in icons is important, and motivation is vital.

With the help of master iconographer Phil Zimmerman, groups work at least six to eight hours every day for a week to complete a single icon. While similar workshops are available elsewhere, the spirituality center workshops offer advantages: Sister Joan or other FSPA offer meditations on the icons and Zimmerman educates participants about the history of the icons. That education, says Sister Joan, is integral to the process.

"It's really important to understand the icon that you're painting, to know what the story is," she explains. "Sometimes people will say 'They're so stiff, they're so rigid, they don't have any emotion.' But they're not supposed to evoke emotion necessarily. They're meant to show the eternal presence, the illumination of the spirit of the person, the mystery of the event. So it's very important to understand the story, because when you understand the story, you can connect with it much easier."

The process of writing or painting an icon requires immense dedication. Even "beginner" icons can take 40 hours to paint. The more involved icons, even those just a square foot in size, can take up to 80 hours. But the journey of writing an icon is as valued as the final project for participants. Sister Joan explains, "For me, whenever I sit down to write an icon, it is a prayer, and I become very focused. Everything else tends to fall away," she says. "Some people don't do that. But for me, I consciously attempt to close out whatever's going on around me. I need to do that in order to create the prayerful image."

The process is involved, even complex. It typically starts with a prototype, or pattern, says Sister Joan. "Those patterns come down to us through hundreds of years, through the centuries and are officially approved by the Eastern churches." Some master iconographers will take certain liberties and combine elements from more than one image to create a new image.

Icon writing requires immense dedication as it can take 40 to 80 hours or more to complete.

Using carbon paper, the artist copies the prototype on to a white board, which is comprised of several layers of marble dust and glue, known as gesso. Within those layers is a cotton cloth to help prevent cracking and warping. When the pattern has been drawn, the artist begins painting the background, which often requires several layers of paint to obtain the level of vibrancy desired. The pattern is then placed back on the board so the icon writer may trace the intricate lines within the main pattern. Shading of the images follows, which is done by lightening the background colors. Later in the process, hands, feet and faces are painted. Lastly, 24-carat gold leaf is placed within halos on the icon, the icon is named, and the entire work is finished with varnish. With many layers of paint and numerous special techniques and tools to employ, painting an icon may seem an insurmountable task. However, the master iconographer assists program participants every step of the way.

Sister Joan says it's not uncommon for icon writers to become frustrated. "There have been times when I've become very discouraged. When I think back at those times it's usually because I worked at it too long or I tried to do it too well," she says. "I have learned that accepting the image that I have painted is like embracing who I am.
"I find that people try to help each other out, and if someone is going through a frustrating time, that you try to encourage them."

Together the program participants celebrate their projects with a special blessing of the icons. In Eastern Europe, the tradition is more formal, and often involves a bishop. "I remember so clearly the very first project," says Sister Joan of the icon painting project in Hungary. "At the end, the bishop said, 'you've painted these icons, now you need to be an icon to each other.' What he was saying is that you need to be the presence of Christ in the world, to live out the mystery of what you just painted in your own life. That's bringing the presence of Christ into the world through this medium, through these beautiful images."

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