This is the partial Icon of Saint Catherine with the additional art work to give it balance.
The Icon image has been reproduced and flipped to give a symmetrical form, and the eyes, which I believe to be the very soul of the object, have been enlarged, as has the small "Christ" figure in the upper left of the original Icon and placed on the left side of the frame.
These added elements are all off scale and lighter in contrast from the original to show that they are separate from the original. They are printed and mounted on acid free paper and poster board, with 300 year archival photo inks used to make the prints. The Icon itself is not attached to the added elements, but is floating separate from the materials used. Multiple versions of her official and non-offical biography are attached to back, in addition to the symbolic nature of the Icon's elements themselves.
I am still considering whether or not to recontructing the "wheel" and add it to the work. Opinons?
I have been advised to watch for any traces of "saw dust" in the frame after I close it, to assure that there isn't any live beetles or grubs still in the wood. That will be done, and appropriate measures taken if they are.
Now I will find an appropriate place in my home, away from any direct sunlight or heat for her to reside and rule and bring peace.
Any final suggestions or comments?
Thanks guys, for all the help you have given me, publicly and privately.
I am sure, that Saint Catherine will also bless each one of you for assisting her on her journey from some one's dust bin, to yard sale, to rejuvenation and the light of day.
7 comments:
Very nicely done. We know a little more than before about the mysterious icon. Her maker and travels remain conjecture, but she has been salvaged from the' wrecks of time'....
Nice!
I do believe that we don't "find" icons, they find us. :-) St. Catherine may have meant for you to have this.
Beautiful!
Excellent. Now, I am curious. Different saints performed different miracles. What, specifically, did the icon of St. Catherine bestow upon those who had her image in their homes?
GKS as a partial answer to your question: St. Katherine of Alexandria is the patron Saint of Philosophers, Scholars, Preachers, and Wheelwrights. She was one of the Saint's that spoke directly to Joan of Arc, and is considered traditionally as one of the 14 Helper Saints in the Roman Catholic Church. Saint Catherine or Santa Catalina, has thousands of chapels, churches, and other places dedicated to her in the Catholic and Orthodox branches of Church.
I always knew my grandmother's little brother had been killed in WWI. As I grew older, bits and pieces of info slipped through much of the perpetual silence about him and my father's older brother, killed in an auto accident in 1928.
About ten years ago, during the beginning of my parents' shedding of their horde of things as their years on earth wind down, my father gave to me not only the memorial sent to my great-grandparents (signed by "Black Jack" Pershing) and the one sent by France (signed by President of the Republic Poincare). There was also a letter sent to them by a member of his company, forwarded on from the company chaplain, as my great-grandparents had wanted to know the circumstances of his death. This letter, on YMCA stationery, and dated early 1919, provides few details, and even less solace to my grieving gg's. The letter is now matted on acid-free cardboard, behind slightly polarized glass, out of any sunlight. Written in pencil, it fades more and more each year; we did manage to get a good photocopy of it, though.
Cpl. Everett Shores was initially buried in the American cemetery in France. In the early 1920's, thanks to a War Department directive, my gg's requested his body be returned to be buried in the family plot outside Wysox, PA. My grandfather (his brother-in-law), a railroad man, had to ID the remains at the Army Depot at the Port of NY. Having lain in the open for several days, then buried in a thin, wooden casket in the soaked soil of eastern France, I am quite sure this was not pleasant at all. Yet, my father told me, in relating these events, that his father told him there wasn't a mark on the man's body. No bullet wounds, no explosive exit wounds, so sign of shrapnel. My grandfather figures he was killed by the concussion blast from a nearby shell explosion (the Germans had HUGE anti-personnel shells). As the body was turned over, my grandfather signed a form giving the details of the personal effects on Cpl. Shores, which included a pocket full of coins. Those coins has lain with his body, but now sit in a small jewelry box in my drawer along with the item-list. The coins range from the completely smooth to completely clear. One has a bullet hole through it; my uncle said that Everett would demonstrate his shooting ability by having people toss coins and shooting holes in them.
It's not a Byzantine icon, but they are pretty cool.
That thing is so cool I can't even say. Wow.
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