Iconography workshop In Egg Tempera
Mary Jane Miller has been a resident of San Miguel Allende for 40 years. This December 4th to 8th you can sign up for a workshop in her studio. Each participant will paint an image of Mary. “The job of the iconographer is to create an image which acts as a window to the divine, to call people to meditation and life in the spirit. Painting with million-year-old dirt has inspired me for 30 years. I believe the Earth was divinely created, I’m not sure how but one thing is undeniable, the Earth, in all its glory, governs a wide array of infinite colors and diverse forms. To paint an icon is astonishing, the participants watch the hand which paints it, releasing image and spirit simultaneously”.

Gazing attentively at any square inch of the painting, mine or your own, you will find a world layered in meditation, color, mystery, time, and space. The discipline of this tradition dates back 1,500 years and with Miller, you will have the opportunity to explore your unique spiritual life. However, it does take time to experience the medium and understand the image created. The workshop is five days long.

Can anyone take an iconography class? Less experience is better; whether it is theology or another painting technique it can be difficult to unlearn what we have learned. Mixing dirt and mystery is definitely uplifting, every brush stroke reminds you of the moment in Genesis where the breath of spirit and creation meet. Anything can happen. In Mary Jane's class, the painter gets to be the witness.