Icon Writing with Teresa Harrison
Prayerful meditation & the ancient technique of creating icons
November 4-10, 2023
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All-inclusive rates range from $920-$1,774 depending on your lodging selection. See drop-down for registration, financial assistance, and payment plans. Kanuga endeavors to make its programs accessible. Please note during online registration that financial assistance and payment plans are available.
Join instructor Teresa Harrison for a course in the ancient technique of icon writing. This process inspires prayerful meditation, both while creating the art and reflecting on the finished piece. This retreat includes Eucharist, chant, prayer, silence and lively conversation, free time and social hours. Icons will be painted using Jo Sonia acrylics and 23 carat gold leaf. Beginners and experienced iconographers will find this course rewarding.
The two projects for this year are:
1-5×7” travel icon, Detail of Christ Pantocrator from St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai. An icon of one’s own choosing can be painted on the reverse side.
2-Saint Photini, The Woman at the Well
Attendance cost is calculated during online registration, depending on your lodging selection.
Apply for need-based financial assistance during checkout, and note that payment plans are available. While standard assistance is 20%, further assistance may be offered on an as-needed basis.
It is our goal to welcome all who wish to attend.
Saturday, November 4
4 p.m. Check-in
5:15 p.m. Social
6 p.m. Supper
7:15 p.m. Orientation & Compline
Daily Schedule, Sunday – Thursday
7:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist
8 a.m. Breakfast
9 a.m. Studio
12 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Studio
6 p.m. Supper
7-8 p.m. Evening gatherings
Thursday, November 9
7-8 p.m. Evening gathering
Friday, November 10
7:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist, Blessing of the Icons
8 a.m. Breakfast and departure
Choose from a guest house, historic cottage or a room in Kanuga Lake Inn.
Check out photos of each type of lodging here.
We observe quiet hours from 11 p.m.-7 a.m.
Details can be found in online registration.
Meals are included in the program fee. We serve three meals a day, buffet-style in our dining room. Please let us know of any food allergies when completing your online registration.
- Breakfast: 7:30-9 a.m.
- Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
- Supper: 5:30-7 p.m.
For the health and safety of our beloved community, Kanuga maintains high standards for food service, sanitation, and general cleanliness. All guests must be symptom-free from any communicable disease prior to arrival. Wearing masks is not required but welcomed by all, especially those at high risk or not up to date on vaccinations, or for 5 days after recovering from illness. Please visit this page for information specific to COVID in Henderson County.
In our shop, located next to the Main Lodge, you’ll find soft drinks, wine and beer, snacks, books, apparel, and necessities.
During your stay, we hope you can make time to explore Kanuga’s hiking trails, wooded walks, and lakes. The indoor gym includes workout and weight rooms, as well as a basketball court.
There are myriad worship and contemplation spaces at Kanuga in which all are welcome, including the indoor Chapel of The Transfiguration and the Labyrinth and St. Francis Chapel outdoors.
If you are attending an event at Kanuga and would like to share your photos with our online community, please tag us: #kanuga @kanugaepiscopal. Drone photography is not permitted by guests.
Check-in: 4 p.m.
Check-out: 10 a.m.
Certified service animals are welcome at Kanuga in certain lodging areas.
To communicate with us directly, please reach out: conferences@kanuga.org
About the Instructor
Teresa Harrison of Jacksonville, Florida returns for her 19th year of teaching icon writing at Kanuga. She is a lifelong Episcopalian who has studied with master iconographers Phillip Zimmerman and Ksenia Pokrovsky. Large commissions include Saint Dunstan‘s Episcopal Church in Houston and Saint James American Episcopal Church in Florence, Italy. In 2001 she began teaching workshops, which allow her to combine her faith and her love of art (BA in fine arts, University of the South, Sewanee, TN) and fulfill her vocation of spreading the joy of icons in the world. Teresa has travelled to Cuba, Mexico and many states in the USA leading icon retreats. With her husband Edward (a retired Episcopal priest), they are enjoying their five grandchildren and seeing friends from the 6 parishes they’ve served. Retreat Leaders
Alan Heath (Assistant Instructor and Musician) is a former international schools teacher of art, theatre performance and literature. He currently is a tour manager in Greece, Poland, Italy and other European countries with ETR tours, and has led icon tours with Teresa Harrison, Anne Bridgers and other Kanuga icon writers. He is on the staff of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, U.K., where he leads tours of the area with visiting schools. A native of Nashville, where he graduated from Vanderbilt University and sang in the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, he lives in England where he is an active member of the Church of St Mary, Walsingham.
Jennifer Smith (Assistant Instructor), artist and author of The Descent of Angels and The Fly in the Ointment: The Mysteries of Mary Magdalene, received a degree in Fine Arts from the College of William & Mary, where she focused primarily on oil painting and printmaking. She has been “writing” icons since 2005.
The Reverend Anne Bridgers (Chaplain), is an Episcopal priest who has served in Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, California and North Carolina. Thankfully, geography has never been a barrier to serving as chaplain for Teresa Harrison icon retreats and she looks forward every year to the time of icon writing at Kanuga. She and her husband, Dixon, reside in Asheville, NC and delight in hiking, bird watching and best of all their four granddaughters!