BLOOMFIELD – On the seventh day, presumably, the teachers and students will put down their brushes and rest. 

The Archdiocesan Center at St. Thomas Seminary will host the "Six Days of Creation Icon Painting Workshop" March 7-13 with master iconographer Xenia Pokrovsky and a team of iconographers.

The six-day course annually draws a steady flow of students to workshops in various locations around the country. Eager to learn the ancient technique of icon painting in the egg-tempera medium from the perspective of traditional Orthodox Church iconography, students in previous years have come from 28 different states, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela.

The course to be taught at the archdiocesan center is designed for beginner and experienced iconographers. It will provide a unique opportunity to work closely with Ms. Pokrovsky, widely known as a teacher of teachers, whose wealth of accumulated knowledge spans four decades. By the time she left Russia in 1991, Ms. Pokrovsky had trained hundreds of students, many of whom are now master iconographers in her homeland. Her reputation as the author of new icons and restorer of 15th- and 16th-century icons attracts students from all over the world to her studio in Sharon, Mass.

Also teaching will be Ms. Pokrovsky’s daughter, Anna Pokrovskaya Gouriev, and Marek Czarnecki, an iconographer whose studio, Seraphic Restorations, is in Meriden.

Mr. Czarnecki, who studied with Xenia Pokrovsky for years, gave the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the rights to use an icon that he wrote of Christ the Eternal High Priest during the Year for Priests (June 19, 2009-June 19, 2010).

The icon, done in egg tempera and gold leaf on wood panel, measures 28 by 22 inches, is based on a 15th-century Greek prototype. Christ is shown in Latin Rite vestments with a gold pelican over his heart, the ancient symbol of self-sacrifice. The borders contain a winding grapevine and altar prepared for the celebration of the Mass. In the borders are smaller icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney, declared by Pope Benedict XVI as the universal patron of priests.

"I wrote this icon about seven years ago [for seminarians and priests] to be able to see Christ in themselves, and themselves in Christ," said Mr. Czarnecki, who grew up in Bristol as a member of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish.

"We often hear that the icon is called a window. In this case, it's also meant to be a mirror," he added. "The Good Shepherd reminds the priest that he is to "lay down his life for his sheep."

The "Six Days of Creation" courses are said to provide an educational experience that is immediate, practicable and of high quality in terms of comprehensiveness, authenticity and faithfulness to the craft.

During the course, Ms. Pokrovsky leads students through the entire process of icon-painting, including gesso preparation and application, instruction on how to create pigments from stones and define the image with assiste gold lights, gild prescribed areas, calligraph inscriptions, and apply olifa varnishing.

The $1,150 fee includes lodging, meals and materials.

Hexaemeron, a non-profit 501c(3) organization specializing in sacred arts education, sponsors the "Six Days of Creation" work-shops. A full schedule of 2010 courses and registration informa-tion is available on the organiza-tion’s Web site at http://hexaemeron.org.  Information also is available by calling (859) 608-3608 or sending an e-mail to icon@hexaemeron.org.