Author: aidan

SCIENCE AND FAITH

Science as a study of God’s creation can be an act of contemplation and wonder, a means of discovering the Logos’s multiple logoi within the world He has made. And conversely, a scientist’s faith and wonder at the mystery of God can make their mind more elastic and open to other paradigms, thereby assisting them to make more scientific discoveries.


Click here to view the article on the website of Orthodoxy in Dialogue

NEW INTERVIEWS ON THE HOUSTON MOSAICS

During a recent trip to St George’s Church, Houston, Texas, Aidan had the pleasure of giving two video interviews on a pair of large mosaics that were installed in the church in 2017.


The Mosaic Apse of Sant’Apollinaire in Classe, Ravenna

There is some iconography that can only be described as miraculous. Such is the sixth century apse mosaic at the basilica of Saint Apollinare in Classe, five miles from Ravenna, Italy. Such works seem to flash forth, and are never – perhaps can never be – repeated. They delight the beholder immediately but at the same time possess layer upon layer of meaning, which reveal themselves only to the patient. In this article I discuss some of these layers.

Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format

You can see this article with images on the Orthodox Arts Journal

Hand and Machine: Making Liturgical Furnishings

A tool in the hand of a craftsperson is an extension of their body, mind and soul. He or she feels the resistance of the stone or wood. Through the tool the material speaks back to them, and they adjust accordingly as they work. There is a dialogue conveyed through the tool…

But what happens when we replace the tool with a machine or some form of technology? How does such mechanisation change the final work, when that intimate connection of the craftsperson and material has been lessened, or even severed? Can the hand and heart keep master of the making?

 
Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
 
You can see this article with images on the Orthodox Arts Journal
 

Lighting in Orthodox Churches, liturgical principles and some practical ideas

What are we aiming to achieve when we choose lighting for an Orthodox church? We need a certain amount of light to see, but lighting also creates an ambience, helps to create an inner state. So what ambience are we seeking to create in our churches? These and other questions face parishes and monasteries when they grapple with what electric lighting to install – if indeed any at all, for so often ‘less is more’…

Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format
 
You can see this article with images on the Orthodox Arts Journal
 

Today and Tomorrow: Timeless principles in the training of future Romanian iconographers

A talk given in Oxford on 27th February 2015 at  Kellogg College, Oxford.  The growing demand for icons, both in Romania and elsewhere, requires more good iconographers, and also the means of training them. This talk therefore suggests some answers to the following questions: What should this training aim for? What theological and aesthetic principles make for a well painted icon? 

Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format

Painting an Icon of a Contemporary Saint

Icons depict people who are full of the Holy Spirit. These saints are radiant with the same divine glory seen by Peter, James and John when Christ was transfigured. But how does an iconographer paint an icon of a contemporary saint of whom photographs exist and affirm both visible and invisible realities? This interview with Aidan was published in an article by David Clayton on the website “The Way oF Beauty”.

Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format 

Click here to read the original article with pictures

The Gospel Through Beauty

A talk given at the conference  ‘Eastern Christian Thought and Practice for 21st Century Europe’ organised by the the Theotokos Institute for Catholic Studies. The subject of the talk was liturgical beauty, especially the beauty of the icon, and the role it can play in drawing people closer to Christ, both in worship and in mission.

Click here to download article in Adobe reader PDF format 

The Annunciation Icons and Wrought Iron Screen for St Michaels and All Angels, Bedford Park, Chiswick.

Finally installed in September after nine months of labour, this massive hand wrought iron screen measures 3.3 x 2.7 metres ( 11 x 9  ft). It was hand-forged by master blacksmith Frazer Picot of Shropshire, and was designed by Aidan Hart. It is probably the largest hand wrought screen of this complexity to have been made for a church in Britain for decades. It bears a large icon of the Archangel Gabriel, paired with another icon of the Virgin placed on the other side of the sanctuary which together form the Annunciation.

For further explanation of the icons’ and screen’s meaning, click here to download an article in PDF format.

 

Patronal saints icon

St James Brother of the Lord, Great Martyrs George and Dimitrios, Martyrs Julitta and Kyrikos, and St Emilianos.

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