Institute Faculty - Classical Iconography

Father Jon Buffington
Master Iconographer

Fr. Jon Buffington, a Chaldean Catholic Priest, began his priesthood in 1981 as chaplain at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. For three years, he served as secretary to the new Chaldean Bishop and Chancellor of the new Chaldean Eparchy in Detroit, returning to San Francisco to begin a 30-year career in hospital chaplaincy.

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Father Jon Buffington

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In 1990, Fr. Jon became a Chaplain at Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.

Intrigued by iconography, Fr. Jon began teaching himself from books until two years later he discovered the Iconographic Arts Institute at Mt. Angel, Oregon where in 1999 he began his formal iconography training. In 2007, Fr Jon spent his three-month sabbatical studying with master iconographers in Florence, Rome, and Siena. In Evian les Bains, France, Fr. Jon studied with Fr. Egon Sendler – the recognized authority and leading figure in 21st century iconography who authored a seminal book on the subject used at the Iconographic Arts Institute for instruction. Fr. Jon concluded his sabbatical with an additional three months in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey and Greece, studying the development of the icon.

Father Jon in front of his Cathedral sized icon of the Resurrection, consecrated August 18, 2019 at St. Therese of Child Jesus Catholic Church, the second half of a diptych.

Father Jon has written countless icons in various styles, which are now in churches, chapels and in private collections in more than six countries on three continents and in over twenty US states. Many of the beautiful devotional icons on display in local hospitals where he served as chaplain were painted by him.

In 2012, Fr Jon began teaching at Trinity Iconography Institute where he converted instruction from a contemporary acrylic medium to the traditional egg tempera method used at the Classical Iconography Institute. Subsequently, Fr. Jon was designated the Institute’s Master Iconographer.

In 2022, he joined the Classical Iconography Institute at St. Mary’s as its Master Iconographer where he is responsible for instructing advanced students, teaching complex techniques, sharing over twenty years of painting experience, theology of icons, and his encyclopedic knowledge of patristics with students and teachers at the Institute.

Fr. Jon is currently working on a large, commissioned triptych icon of the Baptism of Christ icon for St. Peter’s Church in Portland, along with numerous other private commissions.

Ania Kocurek Williams
Lead Iconography Instructor

Ania Kocurek-Williams was born in Poland where she received her formal education in art and art history.

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Ania Kocurek-Williams

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She came to the US in 2001 and shortly thereafter, began her studies in iconography at the Iconographic Arts Institute in Mt. Angel, Oregon where she became an instructor in 2006. For over thirteen years, Ania’s primary responsibility was teaching the foundation of iconography to beginning students. Her passion for drawing and sacred geometry served as a strong foundation to teach not only painting, but drawing within the rubrics of underlying geometry.

To further her evangelization of iconography, she welcomed the invitation to join the faculty at Trinity Iconography Institute in 2019 until 2022.

In 2022, she became the Lead Iconography Instructor for the Classical Iconography Institute at for the Beginning Iconography Program, instrumental in directing the development of essential iconography skills that serve as the foundation of our pedagogical program.

Ania directs instruction for all year-round Beginning Iconography Levels, the Beginning Summer Intensive Programs, as well as Byzantine Drawing courses which focus on utilizing the ancient art of geometry to develop placement drawings that are scalable and dynamic, focusing on the Byzantine iconographic Style.

Ania drew the cartoon of the Myrrh Bearing Women icon after scaling it to Cathedral size (42″ x 48″) from a 12” prototype by Leonid Ouspensky and assisted in painting the icon with Fr. Jon Buffington, Master Iconographer, and Christine Thum Schlesser, Director. This icon is located at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland and is featured on the cover of the Kyr All Night Vigil CD produced by Cappella Romana. Ania also works on private commissions in her time outside the Institute.

Fernanda DeClercq
Beginning Iconography Instructor

Fernanda De Clercq was born in Argentina to Belgian parents and has lived in Oregon for over three decades. Her art education began at Reed College including studies under Professor Michael Knutson.

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Fernanda DeClercq |Beginning Iconography Instructor

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In the early 2000’s, she pursued her interest in Iconography beginning her studies under the tutelage of Kathy Sievers, Master Iconographer of the Iconographic Arts Institute at Mt. Angel and student of Fr. Egon Sendler whose goal was to bring iconography back to the Western world. This began a twelve-year relationship at the Mt. Angel Institute where her skills were developed and refined as she worked in collaboration with three master iconographers on icons for St. Clare Parish and Resurrection Catholic Church. Simultaneously, Fernanda completed her own commissions for the chapel at St. Michael Catholic Church.

Fernanda continues to participate in Fr. Sendler’s goal to bring iconography back to the Western world, by joining Classical Iconography Institute, where the Master Iconographer and other instructors also share this common background. Fernanda taught iconography to Middle School Students, offers private lessons and joined the Classical Iconography Institute where her wealth of experience, love of iconography and deep faith is shared with the community as a Beginning Iconography Instructor.

Fernanda has five children and is passionate about her Catholic Faith, her family and Iconography!

Emma Fitzgerald
Byzantine Drawing Instructor

Emma Fitzgerald (Coley) began studying with the Classical Iconography Institute in 2021.

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Emma Fitzgerald |Byzantine Drawing Instructor

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The following year, she began apprenticing with lead instructor Ania Kocurek-Williams, with a focus on iconographic drawing. Emma now teaches the Byzantine Drawing I classes and is training to teach Byzantine Drawing II next year.

Emma moved to Portland in 2020 after graduating from Princeton University with a degree in religious studies. In addition to teaching and assisting with technology at the Institute, Emma is a live-in volunteer at the Simone Weil Catholic Worker in NE Portland.

Alice Bolgova
Iconographic Calligraphy Instructor & Institute Librarian

Alice Bolgova was born and raised in Moscow into a Polish-Russian family.

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Alice Bolgova |Iconographic Calligraphy Instructor & Institute Librarian

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She holds an engineering degree in computer science and has been studying theology at St. Thomas Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Moscow. She arrived in Oregon in 2017. Being far away from home she rediscovered her interest in traditional Slavic culture including embroidery, traditional costume, and subsequently, iconography.

Alice is the Classical Iconography Institute Librarian and teaches traditional Russian iconographic calligraphy.

Nachi Kobayashi
Institute Icon Board Specialist

Nachi is originally from Hiroshima, Japan and moved to the US in 2001. She was baptized into the Catholic Church with her newborn first child, Luca, in 2003.

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Nashi Kobayashi |Institute Icon Board Specialist

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Since then, she has been looking for ways to connect with God and the church. One day, she attended Mass celebrated by Institute Iconographer Fr. Jon Buffington and learned that he taught iconography classes. She enrolled in her first iconography class at the Iconography Institute in 2019 and has been involved ever since. During this time, Nachi discovered the tactile process of making gesso boards to be very peaceful and healing. She has become the Institute’s specialist in producing professional quality icon boards. She currently purchases European Linden wood boards, applies linen, and gessoes the icon boards for Institute classes and her icon family.

Christine Thum Schlesser
Executive Director

Christine grew up spending summers with her family in Germany, where ancient churches and monasteries inspired her love of antiquity and sacred art. Christine earned a BA in International Studies, Russian and German at Willamette University.

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Christine Thum Schlesser | Executive Director

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She was captivated by religious art, having exhausted every Art History course offering at the University, particularly icons, not realizing that icons in the authentic, traditional style were being written in modern times. In 2017, she began her studies in traditional egg tempera iconography with Fr. Jon Buffington, one of the only living students of Fr. Egon Sendler, who is credited with bringing icons to the Western world, and later studied at the Iconographic Arts Institute at Mount Angel.

In 2019, she was appointed Director of the Trinity Iconography Institute, enabling her to combine a passion for sacred art and iconography with entrepreneurial and corporate management experience, managing administrative operations for a $250MM nonprofit. Her objective was to grow the iconography program, standardize the curriculum and develop faculty. During the pandemic, she built the iconography community online through international enrichment programs, forging relationships throughout the world, while working on the cathedral-sized icon of the Myrrh Bearing Women for a local Cathedral. This icon is now viewed worldwide as the cover of Robert Kyr’s All Night Easter Vigil CD, music inspired by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

In November 2022, following significant program growth and a desire to operate an independent nonprofit dedicated specifically to preserving the cultural heritage of iconographic liturgical art, Christine assumed operations of the historic Iconographic Arts program that originated at Mount Angel Abbey to become the Classical Iconography Institute, a fine arts nonprofit.

The Classical Iconography Institute blends the richness of 62+ years of combined years of iconography instruction from two of the oldest programs – the Iconographic Arts Institute founded at Mount Angel Abbey in 1987 and the Trinity Iconography Institute founded in 1986. The program at Mount Angel developed from the most ancient tradition of sacred iconography from firsthand instruction by some of the world’s master iconographers while the Trinity program received distinction and commendation by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew for bringing icons to the Western world.

Classical Iconography Institute offers in-person and online courses in Iconography, painting and drawing courses rooted in foundational sacred geometry, Summer Retreats at Mount Angel Abbey, week-long Intensive programs, and custom-curated Sacred Art Pilgrimages to culturally significant, religious UNESCO world heritage sites.

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Father Jon Buffington Master Iconographer

Ania Kocurek Williams Lead Iconography Instructor

Fernanda DeClercq Beginning Iconography Instructor

Emma Fitzgerald Byzantine Drawing Instructor

Alice Bolgova Iconographic Calligraphy Instructor & Institute Librarian

Nachi Kobayashi Institute Icon Board Specialist

Christine Thum Schlesser Executive Director

Father Jon Buffington
Master Iconographer

Ania Kocurek Williams
Lead Iconography Instructor

Fernanda DeClercq
Beginning Iconography Instructor

Emma Fitzgerald
Byzantine Drawing Instructor

Alice Bolgova
Iconographic Calligraphy Instructor & Institute Librarian

Nachi Kobayashi
Institute Icon Board Specialist

Christine Thum Schlesser
Executive Director