St Mary’s Icon School – Week 4

Quantum dots, multidimensional space, converse perspective and birthday cake – all rendered meaningless as we are nothing but a holographic projection on the event horizon of a black hole.

Lesson four in a nutshell.

We were studying buildings in iconography and these are great examples of the use of converse perspective; sometimes with multiple vanishing points, let alone multiple dimensions.  The wonderful thing about teaching beginners is that I am able to relive the wonder of discovery through new sets of eyes and I feel that I am learning afresh too.

After a mind-boggling lecture from zero dimensional space where there be quantum dots, through to the tenth dimension of string theory, we settled down to attempt some sketches of cubes and books in normal perspective.  Our only chap wowed us with his cleverly constructed convergent lines within which to draw the image whilst,  his dear wife, was cheerfully throwing out polygon after polygon of exquisite form without any need for such a device.

Having done with representing the real world we adjourned for tea and birthday cake as it was there was a great birthday a few days previously.  Our birthday girl spent rather a long time cutting the delicious lemon drizzle cake and when I mentioned tactfully that we were all beginning to starve to death she retorted, with great wit, that she was constructing some incredible vanishing points towards the middle of the cake if I should care to look!  Such sauce. Our man then proceeded to polish of numerous slices – we have noticed he is a sugar junkie.

It is now becoming apparent that this naughtiness is the thin end of the wedge and certain pair dressed in hoodies and woolly hats are showing signs of being boiling cauldrons of concentrated mischief.  A & C you know who your are.

Mirth aside,  it is heartwarming to see a group of people who barely knew each other four weeks ago gel into such an easy going, lighthearted group.  There is a core of goodwill amongst all the students and it will blossom into something unique as time goes on.

Tackling converse perspective is a lesson in submission in iconography.  Nothing is quite the way you would imagine it to be and therefore making a study of buildings in the icon of the annunciation, for example, require the student to look very carefully at angles and lines.  Memory is no help, whatsoever.  One has to draw what is and not what one imagines.  There are deeper levels to this but I am not giving it away all at once.  The unfolding of wisdom within iconography is  unique to each and will come as it will.

One perceptive student came up with an incredible point this morning during a conversation.  She said she had been thinking about vanishing points and ego; something along the lines that to really experience heaven the ego has to get smaller and smaller.  See what I mean about wisdom coming as it will.  Brilliant.

May Almighty God bless each and every one of my students and as you read this blog over time I hope you get a flavour for some of the characters in the class and how they develop.