8/1/2023 0 Comments Mark dukes iconographer![]() ![]() "We celebrate those whose lives show God at work, building a deep character to match the godlike image which stamps them as God's own from the start," the Rev. They will also find people canonized by various organized religions, such as Francis of Assisi, an Italian mystic and church reformer who is pictured with a gray wolf he had persuaded to stop menacing a town. Visitors may also be surprised by many of the people designated as "saints" in the icon, under the church's broad definition of sainthood, taken from the Bible and the writings of St. It's a wonderful, sort of startling, discovery." ![]() ![]() "When you participate in the liturgy, you realize there is a moment when you find yourself dancing around the altar while the saints are dancing above. "When you walk in and look at the saints, it's not entirely clear at first what they're marching around about," said Margaret Lukens, a member of St. So is the congregation at the church on De Haro Street.ĭuring services, people circle the altar table in graceful side-to-side movements based on Mediterranean folk dances that people of all ages and abilities - even those with two left feet - can easily perform. Its patron - Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth century mystic, humanist and theologian - was a big fan of congregational dancing. Gregory's, a wood-shingled church in Potrero Hill that opened in 1995. The installation represents the latest phase of an ambitious project by St. It would take the 46-year-old artist about three weeks to install the figure, a process that included "feathering" the canvas with plaster, painting the background, and painting a processional cross in the figure's right hand and a 24-carat gold halo around his head. Last week, Mark Dukes, the Emeryville artist who created the Christ figure and the dancing saints, could be found working atop a platform lift, putting the finishing touches on his latest painting. He, too, is dancing, in bare feet, the folds of his burnt-sienna robe flowing with the dance. The 12-foot figure has a handsome dark face, framed by long wavy black hair and a tightly curled beard. They are among the dozens of images in the church's colorful "Dancing Saints Icon," whose larger-than-life figures surround visitors who walk into the church and step onto its wooden floor.Ī new figure recently joined the saintly assembly - Christ, the "Lord of the Dance." Behind each one's head was a shimmering golden halo, fat as a harvest moon, signifying the "holiness" the church is celebrating in each of their lives. ![]()
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