Aidan Hart, a member of the Greek Orthodox Church living in Britain, has been a full-time liturgical artist for over thirty-five years. His passion is to create works and church interiors that reflect something of the beauty of life in Christ, and help people experience that union of heaven and earth that is the ultimate purpose of liturgical art.
Aidan works in a wide variety of mediums, including egg tempera for panel icons, stone and wood carving, mosaic, wall painting, and brass and wooden church furnishings. He has works in over twenty-five countries of the world, commissioned by Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, monasteries, and individuals. Due to the number and scale of commissions, he has a network of highly skilled craftspeople whom he can call upon to assist in executing his designs, including mosaicists, ironsmiths, icon painters, architects, and cabinetmakers.
For inspiration, Aidan draws on the Byzantine, Romanesque, Russian, and early Roman and British traditions. He also offers consultancy and church interior design, and lectures, teaches, writes, and has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes. You can find links to his three books on the Publications page. He founded and still teaches the three-year part-time Icon Painting Certificate programme for The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, as well as training people through apprenticeships.
AIDAN HART
BIOGRAPHY
Aidan was born in England in 1957 and grew up in New Zealand. There he worked as a full-time sculptor for a number of years, after completing a degree in English literature and a Diploma in Secondary Education teaching. In 1983 he became a member of the Orthodox Church, returned to live in England, and began to work as a professional iconographer.
While continuing to work as an iconographer, from 1988 to 2000 he tested his vocation as a monk, including spending a total of two years on Mount Athos and six as a hermit in Shropshire, UK. This life dedicated to prayer had a profound effect on his work. He is now married with two children, his best icons yet. To meet the liturgical needs of the churches commissioning him, over the past forty years Aidan has gained extensive experience in a wide range of media: egg tempera panel painting; fresco; mosaic; stone and wood carving; illuminated manuscript painting; church furniture design. Seeing the lack of specially trained liturgical artists, both skilled in their craft and knowledgeable of theology and liturgics, Aidan has also been passionate about helping raise a future generation of specialists in liturgical art.
In 2009 he founded and still teaches the part-time Icon Certificate programme for The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts (www.kings-foundation.org/school-of-traditional-arts). In 2012 Aidan was joined in his studio by an apprentice, Martin Earle (www.martinearle.com). Martin rapidly developed into a highly accomplished liturgical artist in his own right, and now trains others. In 2018 the equally gifted Dr James Blackstone (www.dunstanicons.com) joined Aidan’s studio as an apprentice. Since the beginning of 2022 Martin and Jim have operated the Chichester Workshop for Liturgical Art (www.chichesterworkshop.org).
In demand as a writer, lecturer and teacher, Aidan has had numerous articles published on the subjects of iconography, ecology and Orthodox spirituality. In 2015 he was elected a Fellow of the Temenos Academy, and in 2023 received the St John’s Pax Christi Award for his work on the St John’s Bible (https://saintjohnsbible.org), the Coronation Medal for his design for the Anointing Screen for the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, and was made a Research Associate of The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge.
Aidan has published three books: Festal Icons: History and Meaning (2022); and a collection of essays Beauty Spirit Matter (2014), and Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting (2011, 2015, also in Polish), the most extensive work on the subject. All are published by Gracewing, Leominster. He is currently working on a novel about an architect building an Orthodox church.
SELECTED
COMMISSIONS
2023
Designed the embroidered Anointing Screen for the Coronation of HM King Charles III.
Painted the apse of St Christopher’s RC church, Codsall, UK. 28m2.
2022
Icons of Christ and the Virgin for the Anglican monastery of The Servants of the Will of God, Crawley Down, UK.
Icon of St Mary Magdalen, for Magdalen College, Oxford.
Large mosaic (20 x 2.6 metres/65’ x 8.5’) for a private house in Kuwait (2022-2023).
2021
Apsidal wall painting for St Edward’s RC church, Lees, UK. 3x8m.
Icon of St Anne, Mother of the Virgin, for Bene’t’s Church, Cambridge.
Icon of Chinese martyrs, Houston, Texas.
Brass choros chandelier (2.5 metres/8.2′ wide ) for St Gregory Palamas Monastery, Ohio.
Archangel Michael, commissioned by The Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Massachusetts.
Frescoes of 17 roundels of saints for the Orthodox Church of the Holy Fathers, Shrewsbury, UK.
2020
Icon of St Ethelburga for All Hallows by the Tower, the oldest church in London.
Beda College, Rome. Icons of St Peter and St Paul.
St George’s Orthodox Church, Houston Texas. Mosaic of Christ with the Children (1.3×0.9m).
St Mary Magdalene Church, Oxford. Hospitality of Abraham icon.
St Clements, Cambridge, for the Orthodox parish of St Ephraim. Retractable ironwork icon screen, with its five icons (2019, 2020).
2019
Selby Abbey. Icon of St Germanos of Auxerre.
2018
Christian Heritage Centre, Stonyhurst College. Stone altar.
St. Helen’s Orthodox parish, Colchester, U.K. Consultant and designer for interior refurbishment.
Painted decoration for rood screen, commissioned by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (now King Charles), for St Mary’s, Anmer, Norfolk.
2017
Lancaster University chaplaincy. Wall painting of the Transfiguration, 10.5×4.8 m.
Canterbury Cathedral. Icon of St Giles for the St Gabriel chapel.
Birkdale intermediate School, Auckland and The Hundertwasser Foundation, Vienna, bronze portrait bust of Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
2016
Houston, Texas, St George’s Orthodox Church. Two mosaics 5x4m.
Private chapel, London, three mosaics.
Silver episcopal staff for His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Russia
2015
Cambridge University, Fisher House chapel. Stone altar.
Consultant for refurbishment of Russian Orthodox Cathedral, London
Designed chandelier and kiots for above.
2014
Lincoln Cathedral. Polychromed tone sculpture of the Mother of God and Child, 2 metres high.
Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College chapel. Icon of the Annunciation.
London, St Michael’s and All Angels, Bedford Park. Icons, wrought iron screen.
Hexham Abbey. Icons of St Wilfrid, and St. Etheldreda.
2013
Madrid, St Mary Magdalene Russian Orthodox Church. Stone and wood carvings, fourteen gold on copper festal panels for west doors.
Vatican, Pope Francis, gift from Archbishop of Canterbury. Icon of St Peter and St Paul.
Cardiff, Roath, St Martin’s Church. Mosaic roundel of Christ, 1.2m diameter.
2012
Leeds, Our Lady of Lourdes. True fresco of the Transfiguration, 9.5×5.5m.
Leeds, private chapel. Icons and oak icon screen.
2009–2011
Amsterdam, St Nicholas Orthodox Church. Designed, carved, and installed limestone icon screen, and painted five of its icons.
2008
Minneapolis, USA, St Johns Abbey. Icons.
2007
Keswick. True fresco of private chapel.
Shrewsbury School. Six true fresco in chapel of standing saints.
Carlisle Cathedral. Icon of Christ’s Bpatism.
2006
Cardiff, Roath, St Martin’s. Icons.
2005
Newcastle-on-Tyre Cathedral. Icons of Christ and of St Nicholas.
2004
HRH The Prince of Wales (now HM King Charles III), Highgrove, Gloucester. True fresco in apse of Sanctuary, and numerous icons.
2003
Evia, Greece. True fresco in private chapel of Agia Skepi.
Cumbria, UK. True fresco of the Annunciation in a private home)
2000–2009
Minnesota, USA. Illuminations for six of the seven volumes of The St John’s Bible.
1999
Hereford Cathedral. Icon of the Mother of God.
1997
Lichfield Cathedral. Icon of St Chad.
1996–2012
Shrewsbury, Church of the Holy Fathers. Designed and carved oak icon screen; painted all its icons; painted in secco the east wall with Christ in Glory.
1995–2000
Shropshire, Hermitage of St Anthony and Cuthbert. Restored its old stone buildings; painted all walls of itschapel in true fresco (96 m2); made oak icon screen and painted its icons.
1993–1994
Mount Athos, Iviron, Greece. Designed and made numerous works, including: the casing for the Portaitissa icon; designed the icons embroidered festal surround; made silver lamps; carved two icons for the Ecumenical Patriarch.
1984–1992
Around 300 painted and carved icon commissions from UK and abroad.
1983–1978
While living in Auckland, New Zealand: fulfilled numerous church and private commissions for sculptures in bronze; participated in numerous group and one-man sculpture exhibitions; founded the Auckland Christian Art Group; ran and taught in the sculpting department of the Auckland Arts Society 1981-1983.
Over 1,100 commissioned works are found in churches and private collections in the UK and abroad, including in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Turkey, USA, and The Vatican.