Visual Art Experience

By Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Marlene Weisenbeck

Byzantine Iconography is an ancient art form with origins that date back over 1,500 years. It is a powerful, liturgical art that reflects the unwavering traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Its history is filled with controversy and bloodshed throughout the centuries. After over 50 years of Communism and religious oppression in Eastern Europe there was a consequent loss of much religious art of the past, including the loss of many sacred icons. Once again the tradition of iconography was threatened in the East. In 1996 Pope John Paul II wrote on the topic of icons, stating that, “... from the East, where icons had to be defended with bloodshed in the iconoclast crisis of the eighth and ninth centuries, comes a particular call to preserve the specifically religious nature of this art. It is based on the mystery of the Incarnation, in which God chose to assume a human face … sacred art seeks to transmit something of the mystery of that face.” 

In the early 90s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, many religious volunteers began traveling and sharing ministry in Central and Eastern Europe through the United States coordination of arts and culture revival grants. It was through the hearts and minds of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration that Byzantine Iconography experienced a cross-cultural revival in Eastern Europe. The U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious was one organization involved with Eastern European Sisters to help revive the formation, theological education and community life issues in the Church. After attending a gathering of the conference, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Marlene Weisenbeck began to imagine ideas for an iconography school in Eastern Europe. 

Sister Marlene Weisenbeck with Our Lady of Korsun Icon in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, in 1998; Priest and Order of St. Basil the Great Sisters with Our Lady of the Sign Icons in Presov, Slovakia, 2000; Bishop blessing Christ Extreme Humility Icons in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2004.

This iconography revitalization was orchestrated by Sister Marlene in 1998. An icon enthusiast in her own right, she received her Ph. D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987. She wrote the paper, “Contributing Influences to the Disappearance of the Icon in Western Culture,” tracing in her thesis the history of Byzantine iconography and why it did not survive as a prevalent religious art form in the West. Four other Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration including Maryam Gossling, Karen Kappell, Carlene Unser and Joan Weisenbeck joined Sister Marlene in helping to lead and organize the project. Together they traveled to Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, as part of Sister Marlene collaborative project: “A Renaissance of Iconography for Eastern European Institutes of Consecrated Life.”

As head of the project, Sister Marlene focused on teaching history and canonical aspects, the underlying differences of Eastern and Western churches and the artistic imagery used. Sister Joan led daily meditation, emphasizing spirituality and praying with icons. The sisters needed assistance from a professional artist to establish a curriculum and teach the technique of icon writing in the true Byzantine tradition. They found the perfect candidate to share the canons and techniques of writing icons with them: Master Iconographer Philip Zimmerman. Philip is an iconography artist based in Florence, Pennsylvania, who worked at St. John of Damascus Sacred Art Academy at the time. As an iconographer, he has written numerous icons, taught over 2,000 students and completed over 22 iconostasis commissions. In an article in a1999 edition of the FSPA’s Perspectives Magazine, Philip explains his primary classroom objective: “His goal is to give students confidence in their ability to write an icon, to make it enjoyable and to instill the knowledge, discipline and technique necessary for this sacred work … It is important that those who take the class be both technically and spiritually attuned to experience this art form.” As we gaze upon an icon we are brought into awareness of God’s loving presence in all life. They are sacred windows into the Divine.

This first workshop was held at Greek Rite Seminary in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, in August of 1998. With Sisters Marlene, Maryam, Kathleen, Carlene and Joan as well as Philip, seven countries were represented by the 36 total participants in the project. Sisters and lay people from Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Italy and the U.S. all participated. At the end of the project, each participant completed the writing of an icon — Our Lady of Korsun. In the fall of 1999, Sister Joan coordinated the first of many FSPA iconography workshops stateside, located at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Naperville, Illinois. Beginning in the year 2000, Sister Joan took on a leadership role at the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and from that point on, between one and three iconography workshops have been held at St. Rose Convent in La Crosse each year. Eventually sisters from Eastern Europe traveled to La Crosse to participate in more icon writing endeavors, furthering the cultural exchange facilitated by the workshops. This began a long tradition of the exchange of art and spirituality from Eastern Europe to the Midwest Region. 

After the first trip to Hungary, the bond between FSPA and Eastern European iconography was only beginning to form. In the year 2000, a trip to Presov, Slovakia, and the project, A Renaissance of Iconography II, were planned.  Sisters Marlene and Joan, as well as Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Alice Kaiser, Deborah Schwab and Marjorie Wagner, attended with 22 sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great from Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, the Ukraine and Italy. Two seminarians and one layperson from Slovakia joined them. At the end of the course, the participants completed the writing of the icon, Our Lady of the Sign.

After the first trip to Hungary, the bond between FSPA and Eastern European iconography was only beginning to form. In the year 2000, a trip to Presov, Slovakia, and the project, A Renaissance of Iconography II, were planned.  Sisters Marlene and Joan, as well as Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Alice Kaiser, Deborah Schwab and Marjorie Wagner, attended with 22 sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great from Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, the Ukraine and Italy. Two seminarians and one layperson from Slovakia joined them. At the end of the course, the participants completed the writing of the icon, Our Lady of the Sign.

In August of 2004, a trip to Cluj-Napoca, Romania — the final leg of the Eastern European project — was made. Twenty-five program participants included Sisters Marlene and Joan with Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Celesta Day, Karen Flottmeier and Laura Nettles, 19 Sisters of St. Basil the Great and one deacon of the Byzantine Rite. This third and final trip of the Renaissance of Iconography Project expanded on the opportunity to learn a specifically different style of iconography and thereby expand the students' repertoire of spiritual mysticism available in this art form. At the end of this final course, the students completed a Christ Extreme Humility Icon.

Each of these projects was a collaborative effort between FSPA, the Office of Consecrated Life in the Diocese of La Crosse, the United States Catholic Conference Office to Aid the Catholic Church in Central and Eastern Europe, the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great and Viterbo University of La Crosse, Wisconsin.