Icon & mosiac
Aidan Hart
Icon (2006) and Mosaic (2013)
Aidan was born in England in 1957 and grew up in New Zealand. There he worked as a full-time sculptor after completing a degree in English literature and a Diploma in Secondary Education teaching. In 1983 he became a member of the Orthodox Church, returned to live in England, and began to work as a professional iconographer. While continuing to work as an iconographer, from 1988 to 2000 he tested his vocation as a monk, spending two years on Mount Athos and six years as a hermit in Shropshire, UK.
This intense life of prayer has had a profound effect on his work. He is now married with two children, his best icons yet.
To meet the liturgical needs of the churches commissioning him, over the past thirty years Aidan has developed expertise in a wide range of media: egg tempera panel painting; fresco; stone and wood carving; illuminated manuscript painting; church furniture design; and most recently, mosaic.
In 2012 Aidan was joined in his studio by the highly gifted artist, Martin Earle (RCA). Since then, Martin has worked with Aidan on all his subsequent major projects, as well as working on his own commissions.
To meet growing demand (he has over 900 commissioned works in private and church collections in over 25 countries of the world) and to help execute his designs for church furnishings, Aidan also works with a team of highly skilled craftspeople, including cabinetmaker Dylan Hartley and blacksmith Frazer Picot.
In demand as a writer, lecturer and teacher, he has had numerous articles published on the subject of iconography, ecology and Orthodox spirituality. In 2009 he founded and teaches The Certificate in Icon Painting, a three year part-time programme run by The Prince's School of Traditional Arts, London. In 2015 he was elected a Fellow of the Temenos Academy.
Aidan has published two books "Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting", widely regarded as the foremost work on the subject, and “Beauty Spirit Matter”, a collection of essays, published by Gracewing.
email: mail@aidanharticons.com
phone: In the UK 07910246774