Using art in effort to get closer to God

In these images of Jesus, Mary and all the saints, art and spirituality find a common expression.

Icons – sacred, stylized pictures that are considered “windows into heaven” – are more than just paintings to the Rev. Bill O’Brien. For the pastor of SS Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Church, these images are an essential part of prayer and worship.

“It’s not meant to be a lifelike portrait,” he said, explaining the two-dimensional quality of the icons. “It’s meant to be an object of devotion.”

On Saturday, O’Brien spent the day teaching icon writing to half a dozen students in the back room of his Spokane Valley church. This group plans to gather about twice a month as they create their own icons, which will be displayed in the fall at On Sacred Grounds: Coffee, Tea & Specialty Shoppe in downtown Spokane.

“I wanted to deepen my contact with God while doing something creative,” said Ann Petty of Spokane, who plans to copy the portrait of Jesus in “The Pantocrator,” an image that graces many Orthodox churches worldwide.

A Roman Catholic, Petty said she hopes this experience will improve her creativity while bringing her closer to God.

Before students started working on their icons, they spent about half an hour in SS Cyril and Methodius Byzantine’s small but elegant sanctuary, where they participated in morning prayers called “matins.” O’Brien, wearing a black cassock and matching cap, stood in front of an elaborate altar of gold while singing psalms and other prayers. The students, who were separated from O’Brien by an iconostasis, a wooden partition adorned with small icons, also responded in song.

“For the people of this parish and those who are writing icons today,” O’Brien intoned.

“Lord, have mercy,” replied his students.

When they finished matins, they moved to a back room, covered themselves with aprons and prepared to work.

Although they’re technically paintings, icons are “written” as opposed to “painted” because the images are supposed to be stories or glimpses into a spiritual realm, said Elaine Rising, a student in the class and a parishioner at SS Cyril and Methodius.

Before copying the images onto a plywood board, the piece of wood must be sanded down until it’s as smooth as glass, explained O’Brien. Then the board has to be painted with gesso several times, usually with a “holy number of coats” such as 10 for the Ten Commandments.

While considered an outlet for creativity, icon writing is also a practice in discipline, he said. The painter or writer has to follow specific instructions, which sometimes include making the sign of the cross and praying before getting to work, and paying careful attention to details such as the mixing of paint and the tracing of the pattern on the board.

The painting of the face, the eyes, the skin and the hair must come first, O’Brien said. The garments come at the end. While he expects the class to paint several icons over time, he asked them to make their first one in the image of Christ.

“You don’t need to be an artist, but you have to approach it with reverence,” said Rising, who also owns the coffee shop where the icons will be displayed in September. “It’s what’s in your heart that you’re trying to accomplish.”

Mother Mary Katrina, a member of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, decided to take the class so she can teach icon writing to her own students at Mount St. Michael’s. “It’s not just a work of art, it’s a work of heart and prayer,” said the nun.

Rising, who helped organize the class, hopes the experience will expose a broader audience to this religious art form while bringing together people who share a “common, cultural and religious heritage.”

“It’s education, entertainment and a little ministry,” she said.