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POSTED: Sunday, Apr. 12, 2009

Everson artist enlivens Saint Innocent church with orthodox icons

EVERSON - Heather MacKean is a nationally known painter who doesn't sign her work.

She has lived in Whatcom County the past seven years for her current job, but will quietly move away for her next project.

When MacKean finishes her latest image in a month or so, Saint Innocent Orthodox Christian Church will have two large walls in its nave fully adorned with vibrant, sacred icons.

"People are really proud that this small church in Everson can have this outstanding iconography," said Father Melvin Gimmaka, pastor to the 125 members who attend the church on Goodwin Road.

Because their church calendar is different, Saint Innocent and other Eastern Orthodox churches are celebrating Palm Sunday today, April 12, and Easter, or Pascha, next Sunday, April 19, while western Christian churches are celebrating Easter today.

The icons at Saint Innocent portray important scenes from the Gospels in a style that is centuries old.

"We call them windows to heaven," Gimmaka said. "They take us to the spiritual realm."

The wall behind the altar shows the apostles sharing communion. Above them sit baby Jesus and Mary - called "Theotokos," Greek for "God-bearer." Higher on the wall is a Resurrection scene with Jesus freeing Adam and Eve from Hades.

On the large opposite wall, MacKean's unfinished icon portrays the "The Last Judgment," with nuns and priests among those neck-deep in a lake of fire, a somber reminder that being a clergy member or that attending church, by itself, doesn't guarantee salvation.

McKean, 55, has been painting icons for 33 years. A native of eastern Canada, she was raised a Protestant but converted to Orthodox Christianity in her early 20s.

She studied art at a university in Toronto, but was dissatisfied with the program's lack of rigor. When a priest suggested that she become an iconographer, she hesitated, then agreed and began studying with masters in New York City, Paris, New Hampshire and Toronto.

"It was about 15 years before I started feeling comfortable with the language and the technique of iconography," she said.

Saint Innocent's building was dedicated 11 years ago. Like many other Orthodox churches, Saint Innocent has small icons mounted here and there, but no large icons painted on its walls.

Then church members raised money to hire an iconographer, and Gimmaka contacted MacKean, who was finishing a job in Portland, Ore.

"It was perfect timing for her to move up here," he said.

That was in 2002. While working at Saint Innocent, MacKean has also painted portable icons for other churches, and traveled to present talks and workshops.

MacKean and church members began by gluing large pieces of canvas onto the walls, then covering the canvas with gesso, a primer that is sanded to provide added texture. MacKean sketches her design on a grid, transfers the grid to the canvas, pencils in the details, and starts painting.

She moistens her pigments with a mixture of egg yolks, distilled water and vinegar. Tempera, as the process is called, produces images of rich, luminous color.

The images are full of meaning. For example, the faces are a golden flesh tone, MacKean said, "to show the union of the human and the divine."

Figures are painted to shine from within - instead of being shown illuminated by lights or the sun - to show they are experiencing inner peace from the Holy Spirit.

The solemn, stylized figures are purposefully not realistic, because images that are too earthy or too emotional could district churchgoers from the icons' spiritual purpose.

"If an icon is properly painted, it should help people to prayer," MacKean said.

That's why she doesn't sign her paintings.

Gimmaka said church members value the icons, with an appreciation that deepens over time.

"They continue to speak to you," he said. "It becomes more personal, more real, more enlightening."