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October 16:  International Iconographer visiting Cowan Arts Center

Sister Eliseea Papacioc, an Orthodox nun from Romania, will discuss her iconography work following her recent tour of Moscow, Beijing and New York.  This will be a special opportunity to meet her, see and discuss her work and the ways it brings together faith, belief, art and expression. 

A wine and cheese reception will take place at the Cowan Center for the Arts Theater on Friday, Oct 16th, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

How often does one have the opportunity to meet a world renowned iconographer?  Sister Eliseea Papacioc, an Orthodox nun from Romania is coming to the local area in October. Her work has just completed an international tour of Moscow, Beijing and New York. She will be delivering commissions in New York and Washington and then will be visiting longtime friends, Father Dennis and Sandy Kezar, here on the Cumberland Plateau from Oct. 14th through the 20th. There are two special occasions scheduled for meeting her, seeing her work and hearing her talk about her process.

The first will be a wine and cheese reception in Cowan at the Cowan Center for the Arts Theater on Friday, Oct 16th, 5:30-7:30 pm.

A second reception will be held at St. Mary’s Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development from 3:00-5:00 pm on Sunday, Oct 18th, Sister Eliseea will speak again and also exhibit her work. Just follow the signs from TN 41A south on Sherwood Road (TN-56) to St. Mary’s Sewanee.

Sister Eliseea is an amazing woman especially if you know her background. Her childhood was one of crushing oppression under the communist regime. Her father, an Orthodox priest, did not survive imprisonment and her uncle, a bishop, had his health broken. She, her mother and her brother endured severe ostracism and deprivation. After the fall of communism and the rebirth of the church and the arts she was discovered by the Smithsonian and brought to America for her first visit. Then, crossing denominational lines she had several exhibits at the John Paul II Cultural Center. Daniel Callahan writing for Faith and Culture, the magazine of the Cultural Center described her work as “firmly rooted in the ancient icon painting tradition, (but) infused with modern revelations and techniques.”  Since then her patronage has expanded to include not only museums and churches but also private commissions.

When her work recently returned from the international tour a New York critic, Maureen Mullarkey observed, “Sister Eliseea eclipses pious sentiment and rises to compelling sacred art. She is not a copyist, not merely replicating older work. Rather, she inhabits the icon tradition infusing historic patterns with a quality of concentrating precision, and refinement distinctly her own. It is said that to write an icon is like standing in prayer. Looking at her work you trust the truth of these words.”

In Sister Eliseea’s icons faith and talent are in communion with each other.  Her gifts, however, are distinct from her faith. Were she not in religious life, not an iconographer, whatever she turned her attention to would be extraordinary. She has an eye for the subtleties of surface quality and a remarkable hand.  The entire community is invited to attend these events.