Two Greek artists have been coming to Santa Fe for about 15 years to adorn the walls of a local Greek Orthodox church with elaborate paintings, and the couple recently completed their newest additions.
The new paintings, referred to as icons, at St. Elias the Prophet in Eldorado, cover five previously blank walls with images of saints such as St. Elias, the church’s namesake saint, riding a chariot of fire into heaven and notable scenes from the Bible, such as the resurrection of Lazarus.
Artists Maria Sigala and
Nikolaos Spanopoulos have been coming to St. Elias since 1998, when they
first installed the paintings on the church’s dome. They have since
come back in 2004 and 2006 to add more icons to the church’s blank
walls.
“We always feel like we’re part of the family,” Spanopulous said.
The icons are similar to
the retablos, paintings on wood, that adorn local Roman Catholic
churches, but the saints’ facial features appear more European.
Moreover, icongraphers don’t have a lot of room for improvisation, and
instead strive to recreate the saints from established images, said the
church’s priest, the Rev. Dimitrios Pappas.
Sigala and Spanopoulos
have spent the past five weeks putting up their paintings. But the
majority of the artwork had been completed before the artists flew into
America. Sigala and Spanopoulos sketched out the figures on paper before
transferring the designs to canvas.
They then painted the icons — a five-month process — and carefully packed the canvas for shipping from their studio in Athens.
When they arrived in New
Mexico, they only need to glue the canvases to the walls and add touches
of gold leaf. Pappas said they also touched up their previous paintings
in the church.
The married couple has also done work in parishes in Greece, England and Jerusalem.
Pappas has been with the
church for about two years now, but he’s made it his goal to cover the
church’s few remaining blank walls with creations from Sigala and
Spanopoulos.
“Icons help in our worship,” Pappas said.
He also said icons were
helpful in the past when the majority of parishioners couldn’t read.
Icons would depict key scenes in the Bible and serve as aids for the
priest.
Three blanks walls remain, and Pappas said he hopes to bring Sigala and Spanopoulos back within the next year.
The artist added he and
his wife will be a bit disappointed when they finally finish covering
the church’s wall with icons, because it means they probably won’t
return.
The church is open to
public viewing most Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Pappas said
the congregation will host a special viewing celebration for the public
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 22.
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