Marek Czarnecki, a Polish-American from Meriden, Connecticut runs Seraphic Restorations and writes icons by commission and holds iconography workshops. Mr. Czarnecki studied under the tutelage of Russian Orthodox iconographer Ksenia Pokrovsky, within the Izograph School which she founded in Moscow. He received the 1996 & 2004 Artistís Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, recieved the American Council for Polish Culture’s Jan de Rosen Award, and an apprenticeship grant funded by the National Endowment for the Arts through the Southern New England Traditional Arts Program.

Mr. Czarnecki’s studio is located at 464 Pratt Street Extension, Meriden CT. He can also be contacted by telephone at 203-238-7553.

He notes:

All icons are custom made to order. Special deliberation must be made by the client in selecting an appropriate image. The iconographer collaborates with the client to consider the careful integration of each icon into the specific architecture or ethnic tradition of the site where it will be placed.

The icons of this studio are made with natural materials; the foundation is linen glued to a wood panel, primed with a marble-based gesso. Painted with egg tempera mixed with natural earth and mineral pigments, the halos and backgrounds are gilded with 22 kt. gold. The icon is then varnished with copal resin.

Every effort is made to follow the canon of rubrics governing icon-writing.