Icon Workshops

Icon Workshops 2024
led by Dom Alex Echeandía Loro

Icon Writing Techniques: Gessoing

Thursday 16 - Saturday 18 May

In this workshop we will learn how to apply gesso (the ground used in all icons) and prepare the wood board.

Beginners Icon Workshop

Monday 20 - Saturday 26 May

The subject of this workshop is St George revered not only in England but all over the world. This is the earliest icon of St. George, represent him simply as a young soldier holding a spear. (See below).

Intermediate Icon Workshop

Monday 27 May - Saturday 1 June

The subject of this workshop is the prophet Elijah’s dram atic ascent into heaven in a fiery chariot. (See below).

We offer a series of six-day workshop, offering an opportunity to learn and practice the art of writing icons, in the contemplative calm of a Benedictine monastery, exploring the techniques and understanding of iconography. Each day will begin with a demonstration of the techniques to be used and the day is spent painting, with support and accompaniment from Dom Alex. The designs will be applied to the board, and the colour layers built up to complete the icon.

The cost for the teaching is £380 for each workshop, with a non-refundable deposit payable when booking. The price includes a gessoed icon board and pigments. The cost of the three-day gessoing workshop is £200.

There is limited accommodation at Belmont, but we have some non-ensuite rooms that we can offer. The cost is £50 per night, including continental breakfast. The cost of meals for residents and non-residents are: lunch £16; supper £11.

Button
Button

To book or for further information, contact Fr Augustine:

Icons Workshops at Belmont

We are happy to run regular Icon Workshops at Belmont run by the Peruvian Iconographer, Dom Alex Echeandía, who is a monk of Belmont and prior of our foundation outside Lima.

These Workshops offer the chance to learn and practice the art of writing icons in the contemplative calm of a Benedictine monastery.

Normally each year there are courses for Beginners and Intermediates. Each day Dom Alex will demonstrate techniques, then offer support and accompaniment in painting. The designs applied to the board will be built up with colour layers to complete the icon.

Dom Alex Echeandia is an Iconographer, trained in the UK and Ukraine. He studied theology at Blackfriars, Oxford. He is currently Prior of the Monastery of the Incarnation of at Lurin. Recent commissions include an icon of St Cuthbert for Buckfast Abbey, and he featured on the BBC4 Programme 'The Monastery' where he prepared an icon of St Michael. He leads workshops and retreats in Britain and Peru.

Profile: Dom Alex Echeandía

Since 1999 I have been a Benedictine Monk of the Monastery of the Incarnation in Lima, Peru. It is the daughter House of Belmont Abbey, Hereford, UK, where I have lived for the last five years, while I read Theology at Blackfriars, Oxford until June 2014. I was ordained deacon in December 2012 at the abbey and I was ordained priest in Peru on 18th October 2014.

I began training as an iconographer in Guatapé, Medellin, Colombia, where I spent six months of my initial formation as a monk in 2002. Then, back in Peru I continued my formation as monk and iconographer.

I went to the UK in 2005 and 2006 for courses in Iconography under Sister Petra Clare and Aidan Hart in Scotland and England, respectively.

Icon Making on the BBC

Then, I joined the Icon and Wall-Painting Course run by the Prince´s School of Traditional Art, led by Aidan Hart, to improve and develop my understanding of icons, especially of frescoes. I am a member of the British Association of Iconographers.

In July 2013 I went to Ukraine to learn a new technique, a combination of the softness of the Russian tradition and the bold strokes of the Greek. I now make use of both techniques to express the development of culture and theology that they represent.

As a Benedictine Monk, the Liturgy of the Hours and the Sacraments define and direct my life in an endless cycle of Ora et Labora (RB 48). Writing icons has come to symbolize this way of life for me. It is a combination of monastic life and iconography that defines me as a Christian.

At the moment I am working on icons for commissions in the UK as well as in Peru. I have had a lifelong love for iconography, and have worked full time as a professional iconographer since 2006. It is with thanksgiving to God and gratitude to my instructors, monastic community, friends and benefactors that I am able to share with you the spirit of iconography as part of God´s continuing expression of love for His people.