https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=bBkkb05XjPk
My name is Jonathan Pagiot and I am a professional icon carver. The art of icon carving finds its root in the earliest Christian catacombs, and it has a lively history from miniature ivory carvings to monumental carvings on buildings. I am continuing this art today, and for the past 10 years, my work has been commissioned by individuals and churches all over the world, it has been put into publications, into museums and galleries, and for the past 7 years I have also been teaching this art through the Hexameron School of the Turgical Art. But now with the difficulty of travel due to COVID, I have been pushed, I guess, to make an online version of this class. But at the same time, I am excited to see this opened up to anybody in the world who wishes to follow me through a very step-by-step process in learning this art. And so even if you’re not an expert woodcarver, if you only have a little bit of woodcarving experience, I will take you step-by-step in a proven method to learn to make these sacred images that I make. This course has already been used and tested by a group of icon carvers, and so I’m pretty confident that if you follow the steps, you’ll be able to come out with something that will participate in this history, in this tradition of icon carving. The first image we will be doing will be an image of St. John the Baptist, St. John the Foreigner, but in this image you will learn the basic techniques to make any other icon that you would like to make. Because we are doing woodcarving, the materials and tools are readily available. I will give you a clear list and some places where you can actually buy the different materials that you need. Because this art of creating sacred images has been such an integral part of our history, I’m hoping that this class will help to create a new generation of icon carvers which can take this art into the future. So please join me in the rediscovery of this ancient art.