The Dialogue: Iconostasis for World Peace

Mary Jane Miller and Valentín Gómez

Definition of Iconostasis
The classic architectural iconostasis found in the Orthodox Church of Western Europe, is a wall covered by icons, created to separate the Sanctuary from the Nave. The Dialogue is a new iconostasis, a beautiful visual history, created for meditation and prayer, which encourages humanity from all religions to break free from what divides us. The exhibition contributes towards promoting peace on earth and the idea we are all one. Its aim is to align our thinking with that of great teachers and philosophers who have stepped thru the barrier separating humanity from the divine.  Seventeen paintings of Gods and Goddesses are at the top, followed by ten paintings of master teachers. The third tier is forty prayer wheels in forty different languages, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. Lastly, there are seventy archetypal symbols. Three steps ascend to a doorway. Above the doorway is a portrait of planet earth.  Below are a few selections from the paintings of “master teachers.” To see all the paintings, visit: http://www.peacebestill.net/

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Left to right: Atisha, 980 AD; Buddha, 600 BC; Confuscious, 551 BC

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Left to right: Jesus, 100 AD; Moses, 1200 BC; Mother Teresa, 1910 AD

Mary Jane Miller and Valentin Gómez have worked as artists collaboratively for 30 years. Currently they create contemporary Byzantine icons full time. Mary Jane Miller is an expatriate painter living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she paints in the tradition of artists such as Andrev Rublev, Theophane, among others. Miller articulates her vision by creating icons that draw their inspiration from history yet she interprets for herself the nature of these images as they represent particular moments or parables from Biblical history. Her medium is egg tempera and dirt—what Miller calls, “Egg yolk and million-year-old dirt.” Working from religious history and deciphering its codes, myths, tales and pertinent moments, Miller brings us a focused and particular vision of her ideology but marks it carefully through her use of historically significant artistic techniques.