Immanuel Icons
an orthodox christian iconography studio
in pittsburgh, pennsylvania
 
St. John the Baptist,
The Divinity School of the
University of Chicago Ministry Suite
This Immanuel Icons icon, written in egg tempera and gold leaf, is based on one of the earliest surviving icons (c. 6th-7th century), housed at the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai. This one is privately owned, but one like it can be commissioned.
Immanuel Icons takes commissions and offers classes for individuals, churches, and institutions.  The heart of Immanuel Icons are  traditional Byzantine icons written prayerfully using egg tempera and gold leaf on wood panels. 

Recently, Immanuel Icons has also begun to offer reverse glass iconography, a folk tradition developed in Eastern Europe in the 19th century.

Icons on this website are written in the traditional medium of egg tempera on wood unless specified as "glass icons."
Immanuel Icons presents:
2013 Theotokos Iconography Class

Traditional iconography (egg tempera and gold leaf on wood boards)

Saint George Orthodox Cathedral, 3400 Dawson St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Open to all levels.  Intermediates (who have taken at least one class) can do the full Theotokos of Tenderness;  Beginners will do a close-up of just the faces on a smaller board.

7 Saturday morning classes, 9:30-12:30, Spring:  Feb. 23, Mar. 9, 23, 30, April 20, May 11, 18,
weather make-up class:  June 1

The class is designed so that you can miss a class and not fall behind.  If you will miss 2 or 3 and are a complete beginner, you might consider scheduling a private class to make up what you've missed.

Tuition is $200.
Plus, for first-time students only, add $75 materials fee which includes board, brushes, dry pigments, palette, egg dropper, and tester board.

To register, e-mail or call instructor Randi-Sider-Rose to confirm there is space. 

412-396-9617
rsiderrose@gmail.com

If so, mail a check made out to the same for $75 of your total payment to hold your spot.  Class size is limited so register early.

Randi Sider-Rose
931 N. Negley Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
THE ICONOGRAPHER OF IMMANUEL ICONS

By choosing the name Immanuel Icons I am not trying to hide behind a "royal we" but rather retain the anonymity that is so central to the ethos of iconography.  Iconographers do not sign our names to the icons because we are mere vessels, not artistic geniuses or masters.  Some iconographers write on the back, "through the hands of..." or even "through the sinful hands of..."  I use the name "Immanuel Icons" so you can find me and because Christ is truly the "Icon" (literally image) of "God-with-Us."  Alleluia!

I find the tradition of anonymity freeing and I find that following prescribed rubrics is not only more creative than you might imagine, but also uplifting in a way akin to praying the liturgy amidst your community.  I join other iconographers in not improvising on the style or creating my own subject matter.  Praying my icons into being along with the "cloud of witnesses" of the Church is more uplifting than marketing my own creative genius ever could be!

My name is Randi Sider-Rose and my patron saint is Saint Maria of Paris, a canonized monastic, mother, and iconographer-saint of the Orthodox Church who ran a hospitality house in Paris, taking in Jews during the occupation of Nazis.  She was martyred in the camps herself.  If you do not know her fascinating story, see this website for more details. 

I have been writing icons for about 15 years  since studying at the Mt. Angel Abbey Iconography Institute in Oregon, the Prosopon school, and with a couple teachers here in Pennsylvania, all on a Lily grant (thank you, Fund for Theological Education!).  I have returned to Mt. Angel for the advanced program more than once and as a private student of one of the three wonderful teachers there.

I lived in Russia and Latvia for two and a half years (as a student and later as a Fulbright Scholar focusing on religion) and I completed the M.Div. at the Divinity School at the University of Chicago, where I focused on iconography.  I've led hands-on as well as art historical iconography workshops in Chicago, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and elsewhere for students aged 8 through 80, as well as taking private students.  Now I live in Pittsburgh, where I have been blessed by His Grace Bishop Thomas to pursue the work of iconography.   I attend St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral with my family. 
Saint Maria of Paris (Skobstova) was an iconographer, mother, and monastic of our time (1891-1945).  A leader in civic affairs and mother of three in her younger years, when her little daughter Anastasia died of an illness she resolved to become a mother to the larger world.  Under spiritual guidance, this resolve eventually took a monastic turn.  As a nun active in the world, Mother Maria ran a hospitality house for the poor and marginalized in Paris.  During the Nazi occupation, this became a hospitality house for Jews.  One day, Nazi officials arrived at the doors of her hospitality house and demanded that Mother Maria reveal to them any Jewish person within.  She opened the door still wider to reveal an icon of the Theotokos in the entrance hall and said, "Here she is!"  Mother Maria was taken to the Ravensbruck concentration camp because of her efforts to hide Jews, where she was known to minster to those around her and sustain herself spiritually by trading food for embroidery thread to sew textile icons.  She was eventually martyred in the camps and was canonized by the Orthodox Church.
An Icon by Saint Maria of Paris