A new exhibition of religious art including icons by a parish priest
from the diocese of Cloyne has just opened at the European Commission
buildings in Dublin.
‘Sacred Presences – an Exhibition of Icons’ comprises work by two
iconographers from Crete, Nikolaos Griniezakis and Eftychia Ilia, and an
Irishman, Fr David O’Riordan, who has been engaged in the practice of
writing icons for over twenty years.
The exhibition was officially opened by Abbot Mark Patrick Hederman
of Glenstal Abbey during the week and will continue until 29 November.
Fr David O Riordan, is parish priest of Ladysbridge and Ballymacoda.
A native of Midleton, he took up the practice of icon writing in 1992
when Guillem Ramos-Poqui gave a series of courses in Dublin.
Later, he took part in workshops held in Ireland under the aegis of
the Irish Society of Byzantine Painters given by the Paris-based Greek
iconographer, Eva Vlavianos, and he attended many of her workshops in
Boulougne, Paris, and in Le Bec, Normandy.
The Dublin exhibition provides a unique opportunity to see the work
of present day iconographers who use the ancient techniques of egg
tempera paint on wood panels when writing or painting an icon.
Nikolaos Griniezakis has lived at Moni Toplou Monastery, Vai, Crete
and was apprenticed to Manolis Beteinakis, renowned iconographer who
painted to frescoes there.
He later worked with Michelis Beteinakis.
Nikos has worked professionally as an icon painter since 1996.
Eftychia Ilia has been studying with Nikoloas since 2009.
She worked
with him and renovated and restored the original iconostasis at Ieros
Naos Metamorfosis tou Sotiros (Metamorphosis of Holy Saviour), Agios
Ioannis, Ierapetra.
The exhibition has been organised and curated by Bernadette Burns, lecturer in Fine Art at Dublin Institute of Technology.