Image: Sigiriya
Image: Peter Harris / Harry Bertoia, Altarpiece Commissioned for Eero Saarinen Chapel, MIT
Sacred Art
Painting workshop
I led a three-part workshop series on sacred art traditions at St. James' Episcopal Church, exploring the technical mastery and spiritual significance of Italian Renaissance painting techniques.
Drawing from my formal painting training at Accademia Italiana in Florence, I guided participants through both theoretical understanding and hands-on application of these historical methods.
The second session delved into the intersection of folk traditions and formal techniques, examining icon creation, altar aesthetics, devotional images, and ritual symbolism across cultures. We explored retablos, architectural integration, and the technical mastery of light and shadow representation that defines Renaissance works. I integrated my firsthand experiences exploring Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, highlighting parallels between Eastern and Western sacred artistic traditions.
One of the most rewarding aspects was witnessing participants reveal their paintings and hearing the personal stories behind their choices of subject and technique. Despite my intimidation presenting to clergy, the evening was a generous exchange of artistic expression and spiritual reflection.
This workshop series was a way to play with the concept of knowledge transfer. By connecting Renaissance techniques to today, participants gained both practical skills and a deeper understanding of art's role in meaning-making across civilizations.
I remain deeply grateful to St. James' Episcopal Church for providing both the space and community trust necessary for this exploration. The idea was to examine the movement of culture across barriers of time, space and discipline… to inspire, inform and connect.
Challenge: Designing and delivering an accessible workshop series that bridges technical art instruction with spiritual significance, connecting Renaissance painting methods to contemporary practice while making sophisticated artistic traditions accessible to a community audience that included clergy members with theological expertise.
Methodologies: Hands-on instruction in historical Italian painting techniques, theoretical presentations on Renaissance artistic approaches, comparative analysis between formal and folk art traditions, cross-cultural examination of sacred symbolism across Eastern and Western traditions, integration of personal experiences from temples in Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka, facilitated participant creative expression and reflective sharing.
Connected projects: Formal painting training at Accademia Italiana in Florence, The Present Age, Truly Human Technology, Smellbound, Myrrh
Insights: Renaissance techniques retain contemporary relevance through their integration of technical mastery and symbolic meaning, sacred art traditions share underlying patterns across seemingly disparate cultures and time periods, artistic creation facilitates personal meaning-making and community connection in spiritual contexts, knowledge transfer requires both theoretical understanding and embodied practice
Outcomes: Successfully delivered three-part workshop series to community participants, facilitated creation of participant paintings with personal spiritual significance, developed framework connecting technical practice with symbolic understanding, established cross-cultural appreciation for varied sacred art traditions, created meaningful community engagement with historical artistic practices
Applications to future work: Model for effective knowledge transfer across disciplinary boundaries, framework for integrating technical instruction with philosophical understanding (and potentially leadership development), approach for community engagement through participatory artistic practice, methodology for connecting historical traditions with contemporary meaning-making, foundation for cross-cultural exploration through comparative artistic analysis
Themes: Technical-spiritual integration, knowledge transfer, community through creation.