The church building is about 3 years old in its current iteration (it was previously an Episcopal church). The back of the altar area has already been decorated.
The aim of the current project is to decorate and gild the inside of the dome. To illustrate the "target" I have done this sketch of the double barrel ceiling, with square cut, inset vertical cylinder with dome on top. On the surface of this complex shape (in red) the iconographers must place a number of saints, which should look in normal proportion to the eye of a parishioner below.
I can't quite work out the math of this. But the iconographer can, even if it's by "eye" rather than instructing a computer program to twist and bend some lines around the inside of a complex shape. Here's an example from a church I visited in Russia last week.
Now back to St. Anthony Church and the current project.
To accomplish their task, the Iconographers must be right up inside next to the ceiling -- which means scaffolding. Its installation was today's main accomplishment.
We started by removing the front row of pews. Then the excitement began as the scaffolding crew and painters arrived.
Imagine 4 Hispanic guys talking to each other in rapid Spanish, while 3 other guys debated and deliberated in Russian. Arms were waved; voices were raised.
Once in a while one or two people on each team shifted to English to decide on the next steps.
Finally, in early afternoon the job was complete, minus drop cloths, fans and other necessities which require a visit to Home Depot and a trip to Dick Blick Art Supplies.
The scaffolding crew left, the painting supplies were unloaded from the truck, and the heavy thinking began. The Iconographers stared at the dome and climbed up and down the pipes.
The following blog posts will document the steps in this 3-week project. Please check in again!
