STORY - "Images of the sacred"
By Ursula Betka

Iconographer Ursula Betka’s design was chosen for the 2005 Christmas stamp. Here she shares some of her artistic story.

I came to icon painting through my academic research into medieval sacred art. I was drawn to the piety which surrounded ancient icons in both the Roman and Byzantine Churches. As a painter I was searching for a subject and painting method which would satisfy my yearning to know and love God more profoundly.

Ursula Betka

Having explored the traditional techniques of icon painting and their sacred imagery, I found the process deeply prayerful and an illumination of many mysteries of the Christian faith.

The word “icon” has been misappropriated in modern usage. In the early church, the Greek word eikon – an image or portrait came to describe specifically an image of a divine or sanctified being in a state of spiritual transfiguration. Icons are essentially Christian, because for us the image of God as a man is not idolatrous, rather it verifies the theology of the Incarnation.

Icons can be distinguished from other religious painting because Christ and the Virgin Mary must be portrayed in a way which respects and perpetuates the prototypes, believed to be the first divinely inspired portraits of them. For example, tradition says that the prototype of the Virgin Mary and Child was painted by St Luke in the presence of the Holy Family while his hand was guided by an angel.

Therefore an icon painter’s own personality cannot be infused into the work. Variations of the image to satisfy the desires of the patron mean that such painting is not an icon. Icons represent the divine realm of heaven. An image cannot strictly be called an icon if it depicts events in historical time, without leading the viewer to contemplate the cosmic importance of Christian salvation history.

An icon is wrought in and through prayer. The painter contemplates the meaning of the icon and prays that the work will bring blessings to those who gaze on it with a sincere heart. The age-old techniques of icon painting begin with a wood panel, prepared with white gesso (chalk). Pigment mixed with egg (tempera), a fast drying medium, is then applied in a hatching of fine strokes. In this way, the “expressive hand” of the artist is not apparent. Goldleaf is used to symbolize a spiritual realm. When illuminated by candlelight the play of tempera and gold aim to inspire a deeper prayerful union with God.

I have painted the icons for this year’s stamps in the traditional way. Mother and Child touch tenderly at the cheek, a loving gesture which appears in icons from the 13th century. Jesus holds a goldfinch, signifying that the Child had foreknowledge of His suffering and death. The gold finch was seen to feed on thorns and thistles, so traditionally was a reminder of the Christ’s crown of thorns. The tender love Mary shows Jesus as both her Son and Saviour reaches out to the whole world in loving compassion to touch each individual soul.

The $1 stamp depicts an angel, bringer of the good news of Christ’s birth, in a traditional gesture of humble adoration. Angels, neither male nor female, are ethereal creatures who understand fully the mystery of Christ’s birth. My adoring angel directs us to the adored One, and has the physical strength to protect each vulnerable and uncertain soul. Both icons have been specially blessed in the tradition of the church. This brings to fulfilment the purpose of iconic images - to open up for each person a “window” to the eternal realm of heaven.

I believe that icons celebrating a Christian feast, or at least a feast of love, grace and peace, bring a blessing as they are circulated as stamps on letters, cards and gifts sent with loving goodwill.

In painting the Australian Christmas stamp images, I aimed to convey both the rich theology and contemplative power of icons, and the deep experience of universal human love, which traverses the bounds of religious affiliation.

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