Dear friends,
Shortly after Joe died two years ago I began thinking about what I could give or do for the church in his memory. One of the things we enjoyed doing throughout our marriage was going to art festivals. Over the years we have collected an eclectic mix of paintings. Joe had also always had an interest in religious art and icons. I have never particularly cared for traditional icons, but we both were (are) fans of Kelly Latimore, a contemporary iconographer. He uses the same process that has been used for centuries, but his icons have contemporary subjects — like Mr. Rogers and poet Mary Oliver. I have a print of one of his pieces outside my office door, and there are a couple of others by the water fountain.
So I wrote to Kelly in May of 2023, and told him I was interested in commissioning an icon in memory of Joe, that also remembered all who had died in the pandemic. I didn’t have a clue how you could artistically show that people had died from Covid. Neither did Kelly, but he was intrigued and willing to give it a try.
For almost two years now we have been texting and zooming, suggesting and rejecting ideas. Finally, Kelly hit on it. In a visit to a museum in St. Louis he saw a display of icons. One type is called a vitae, which is an icon about the life of a saint. The saint’s portrait is in the center. Around the border are scenes from the saint’s life.
The vitae icons solved our problem. What we have ended up with is a very large icon (5′ x 4′). Around the borders are scenes from life during the pandemic. In the center are the faces of people who died from Covid — Black, white, male, female, Asian, Hispanic, young, old. The intent is to show the scope of those who were affected by this plague. Put together the scenes and the faces tell the story of the pandemic in a powerful way.
The icon is now on its way to us, and should be delivered tomorrow or Thursday morning. This Sunday we will have one service that will include the presentation/blessing of the icon. Kelly will preach. Bishop Wright has rearranged his schedule so that he can be here to celebrate and bless. And the congregation will be asked to put the finishing touches on the painting. I hope you can all be here to participate.
The two links below are to interviews about Kelly and his work. You can see many examples of his artistry there.
https://www.christiancentury.org/article/interview/iconographer-kelly-latimore-sees-god-plain-sight
https://faithandleadership.com/kelly-latimore-what-our-church-art
With love,
Tricia