Windows to the Divine
People
While plenty of people take up painting as a hobby, not too many choose iconography as their ‘thing’.
But that’s exactly what Sue Orchison did 20 years ago after she saw a brochure about Sydney-based French Russian iconographer Patrick Bernard running monthly classes in Canberra.
She wasn’t sure what an icon was, despite a lifelong interest in art, but she knew it was an image of Christ, who she had always loved drawing, and before she knew it she was “hooked”.
Icon of St Joseph
Since then, Sue has painted hundreds of icons from her studio in country New South Wales and last year she was commissioned to ‘write’ an icon of St Patrick for
St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne.
This month Sue displayed some of her work at the National Liturgy and Music Conference in Adelaide.
She also spoke at the recent Australasian Catholic Press Association Conference in Canberra, relating her work as an iconographer to the theme of ‘Messengers of Hope – Communicating the truth, beauty and goodness of our faith’.
As her interest in icons grew, Sue attended workshops in Melbourne given by another Russian iconographer, Philip Davydov.
This led to a “life-changing experience” when she signed up for a six-month course run by English iconographer Ian Knowles in the Holy Land city of Bethlehem in 2018.
“There I saw the challenges faced by Christian Palestinians with whom we lived, and our Arab neighbours, and the Israel government forces who surrounded the West Bank,” she told delegates
Knowles had gone to Bethlehem to teach Christian Palestinians the traditional art of iconography which was in decline due to lack of expertise and knowledge of the craft caused by the difficulties of living and visiting the Holy Land.
With master iconographer Aidan Hart, also from the UK, he set up a course which enabled the graduating students to then teach others.
“This initiative of Ian and Aidan has brought great joy, hope and purpose to the Christian Palestinians,” she said.
“The Lichfield Cross in England was written by Ian and the students; some of whom were able to go to the 13th century cathedral with Ian to complete the gilding and final details of the work.
“I am chuffed to say I helped a tiny bit in the initial stages of its drafting.”
Sue explained that her preferred medium was egg tempera which involved using egg yolk as the binder for the icon.
“It was used in the tombs of the Egyptian mummies, and the brilliant colours have lasted 2000 years,” she said.
The early Christians followed this painting method for icons, including those of the Madonna and Child attributed to St Luke who, Sue said, was “a very talented young man”.
“He not only wrote a Gospel account and the Acts of the Apostles, he was also a Greek physician and an icon artist,” she said.
“He is held by the Eastern Church as the original ‘iconographer’, responsible for writing the first icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Always a “card-carrying Catholic”, Sue was a member of the Young Christian Students and then the Young Christian Workers movements.
“I loved to paint and when not painting, I would make pottery, when not potting I would make Rosary bracelets, play guitar, and support our parish liturgy committee making banners and preparing the music and PowerPoints,” she said.
“I loved immersing myself in creating objects of beauty that lead me and others to an experience of the beauty of Christ and experience of hope and joy in the Lord.
“When I look at an icon of Christ my heart soars. And when I complete an icon of Christ, I wonder how it became so beautiful.”
Married to a “very understanding husband” in Geoff Orchison, a former Catholic newspaper editor and life member of ACPA, Sue said most days she spent “hours” painting.
“I often receive commissions to paint icons of saints who I am not familiar with such as St Kevin of Glendalough and Hildegarde of Bingen,” she said.
“This gives me the opportunity to explore their lives as I discover the history and traditions that go with each icon.
“Recently I painted St Boniface, patron saint of Germany. He is the reason we have ever green-Christmas trees, representing the eternal life of the Trinity. Who would have known!”
Sue has also written the icon of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop for the Diocese of Sale, using images related to the district.
In an icon of Mary MacKillop for the Apostolic Nunciature she included St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Pius IX and Penola school. She also used images of Kincumber on the Central Coast of NSW where her great, great grandmother met Mother Mary several times.
“An icon is not a painting of a person or a scene. It tells a story. Each part has a meaning,” she insisted.
“Our job as iconographers is to bring the story to the light.”
Sue concluded by encouraging ACPA members to see their mission as storytellers as “a sacred trust”.
“May the icons we create – whether in pigment or in words, in images or in headlines – be windows to the Divine, sources of unity and beacons of hope in this Year of the Jubilee of Hope and always.”
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