Mary Jane Miller
Sacred art invites the soul to see and question a shift in your understanding. After reading through the book, Iconography is a Visual Language, the next time you are in a museum you will be comfortable questioning your thoughts and conclusions as you view sacred art. You will have a new freedom to imagine who made that image and why. This alphabet of sacred art imagery will help stimulate the viewer into bewilderment and awe.Visual language is ancient and the various meanings and symbols are designed for a particular audience who seek another world. Iconography images are not political they are experiential. Some are archetypal and some are historical but all are curious as they have been born out of the hearts of people who pray and converse with spirit. To live without active questioning would make sacred art flat and predictable. We need inspiration, imagination, and creativity to provoke the mind and heart into areas yet to be punctuated with surprise. Miller’s book is a great resource and a beginning for merging the past and the present, as interpretations are limitless. 127 pages with color photos is an alphabet of imagery that helps stimulate the viewer into bewilderment and awe.The tradition of Byzantine-style iconography has honored martyrs, saints, and mystics, both named and unnamed, who have carried forward humanities divine story of peace, love, goodness, light, and unity. The individual attributes of each saintly portrait are many and are crucial to interpreting the overall message. For the past 2,000 years, the basic visual form has remained consistent. Yet there is an exhilaratingly wide area left open for interpretation and design. The entire art form is an expression of God’s creativity etched into color and hopefully will continue to grow and change for another millennium. The A to Z alphabet has been written both to honor the past and give rise to the future, to help fledgling iconographers and those who find gazing at icons to be curious and hypnotic.
