Flight to Egypt by Philip Davydov
Newsletter February 2025:

Topics:
1. Courses & Workshops
2. New Article & Media
3. News and Images
Versione Italiana

Paths to the Result

Dear Friend!,
In this newsletter I will mainly speak about a new article and a new media, but first a list of our next courses & workshops with available spots.

WORKSHOPS IN PERSON:
Advanced course Study Two Icons of Christ. The New Skete, Cambridge (NY, USA) May 13 - 17, 2025. (taught in English) https://iconography.online/advanced-icon-course-new-skete-ny.html
——————— Annunciazione. Modello per corso di iconografia.
Corso di approfondimento: Volti asimmetrici e a tre quarti. Seriate (BG) Italia, 19 - 27 Luglio 2025. Per tutti, insegnato in Italiano
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Corso professionale (in due fasi) Annunciazione. Dallo schizzo all’icona finita. Seriate (BG) Italia, 07 - 13 Luglio 2025. Per iconografi di livello avanzato.
———————
COURSES ONLINE:
For those who's done the Frontal Faces: Asymmetrical Faces . April 17 - June 26, 2025
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For everyone: Half Figure. Garments. July 03 - August 14, 2025

NEW ARTICLE & MEDIA
I’m not sure if you feel the same way, but for me, the more I work, the more I realize that it’s not the technique that makes a painting visually compelling! It took me a quarter of a century to separate the technical aspects from the deeper layers of iconography. Once I achieved this, my focus completely shifted.

We’re all familiar with the phrase about learning the rules so we can break them. But now, I would rephrase it entirely. I’d say we need to learn how to write every letter, because we never know which one we’ll need. We should know them so well that when we begin to write or speak, the words and sentences flow effortlessly. It’s the words and sentences that tell the story, not the beauty of the letters.

Giornale di Arte Liturgica The same goes for painting and drawing. We must first learn anatomy and other fundamentals, so we can freely manipulate them as we wish. Only then can we direct our energy and resources toward creating meaningful icons, rather than getting caught up in the execution of highlights and gilding. In the end, these are just tools—letters in a phrase—that are valuable only if they carry meaning, not mere appearance.

To capture this shift in my perspective, I wrote an article. It was finished by the end of January, and initially, I planned to publish it in the Orthodox Arts Journal. But as the weeks passed, the editor remained busy with other tasks. I began to wonder if this delay was a sign to move forward. Last July, while teaching iconography in Seriate (BG, Italy), I realized that Italian iconographers lack a dedicated platform to share professional news. I searched for something akin to the Orthodox Arts Journal, but couldn’t find one. That’s when the idea struck: maybe we should create it ourselves. After speaking with several Italian iconographers, they all confirmed that no such platform existed, making it a promising idea.

I didn’t have any new content to share over the following months, so I put the idea on hold. But last week, I decided to take the plunge. I created a temporary page on our website, which serves as a prototype for how this platform might function. Since most Italian iconographers are Catholic, I thought it would be best to choose a name that could unite both Orthodox and Catholic iconographers under one umbrella. I propose the name Giornale di Arte Liturgica. Feel free to check it out if you're interested—so far, I’ve published two of my own articles: one old piece from OAJ and the new one I mentioned above. Here’s the link: Giornale di Arte Liturgica.

We have many friends who are iconographers across the globe, so I thought it would be wonderful to publish all articles in both English and Italian simultaneously. If you have an article about the visual aspects of iconography as liturgical art, we would love to consider it for publication. Please share it with us!
NEWS AND IMAGES
We have two little pieces of personal news. First is that today our son Lev flew to Saint Petersburg as he wants to finish his last year of bachelor studies in person and return to Tbilisi. We could not convince him not to go there, so now we are praying that nothing happens to him. And the other one is that some weeks ago I applied for a Residence Permit in Armenia and hope to get it in the last days of March. Flight to Egypt by Philip Davydov.

Yet there is no special news about the Svaneti film. So far Alla could not find any more money for post production, and in her free time she works on a trailer which can be used to apply for international grants to finish the film. She says the trailer should be ready by the end of February and as soon as she makes it I will immediately publish it on our Film Page: https://gogetfunding.com/filmsvaneti/. Next thing needs to be done is the logging, - itàs when someone distributes all the footage on one timeline and labels the fragments according to their content. This will cost $200 and then itàs time to start physically mounting the film which should cost about $1200. There is also work with sound and other things, which all unfortunately have to be paid for, but we hope to find some support and make it happen. Just like you, we are terribly eager to see this film and when we have any news, we will share it right away.

Our work continues, we dedicate most mornings to creative work and afternoons to other types of activity, so I am happy to share some icons weàve painted since our last Newsletter. The first three icons on the left were painted by Olga and the 2 on the right by me:

The Harrowing of Hell by Olga Shalamova. Christ the Savior by Olga Shalamova. The Holy Trinity by Olga Shalamova. The Harrowing of Hell by Olga Shalamova. The Harrowing of Hell by Olga Shalamova.


. Thank you for your invaluable support of all kinds!

With warmest wishes and gratitude,
Philip and Olga

P.S. If you missed our December Newsletter, here it is: Merry Christmas
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