by David Clayton on November 4, 2011
Andrew Wilson Smith has now completed the capitals for Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma. Shown here are the clay models he made as part of process. Unfortunately I do not have photos that I can post on this site – some sort of technical difficulty that I don’t understand! However, you can [...]
by David Clayton on May 27, 2011
Here are photos of work in progress by American sculptor Andrew Wilson Smith. They are for capitals at Our Lady of the Annunciation Benedictine monastery at Clear Creek in Oklahoma (well worth a visit at any time). His style here reminds me of medieval relief carvings. Andrew tells me that he expects to be finished in [...]
by David Clayton on March 25, 2011
Here is some relief carving by Jonathan Pageau, an artisan based in Canada. Jonathan is Orthodox and is working very much within the iconographic form, the principles of which he will not compromise, as one would expect. However when I chatted with him about his work, it struck me that as well the more familiar [...]
by David Clayton on January 14, 2011
The tradition of the Eastern Church is not to have statues in its churches. A statue occupies three-dimensions of space, unlike a painting, which only occupies two-dimensions (but can create the illusion of a third). Given that the iconographic form, which is the only artistic liturgical tradition that the Eastern Church will permit, seeks to [...]
by David Clayton on July 16, 2010
I was disappointed recently not to be able to get to see exhibition that was recently at both National Galleries (Washington DC and London) called The Sacred Made Real. It featured the Spanish baroque naturalism that I love, painters such as Velazquez and Zurburan. It also had a number of examples of Spanish baroque sculptors [...]
by David Clayton on July 9, 2010
The first name that comes to mind when thinking of great sculptors is Bernini. When we look at his sculptures there are parallels to the baroque approach to painting. Although he is creating form in three dimensions, he still ‘paints’ in light and dark so that the baroque symbolism of the Light overcoming the darkness [...]
by David Clayton on June 11, 2010
Matt Collins is an American, originally from Chicago, who was my teacher when I studied portrait painting in Florence. Aside from the daily critiques of my work, he was always very happy to answer questions about the baroque style and direct me to further reading. He has been therefore, very influential in giving me what [...]
