Maday completes iconostasis for Calgary's St. Vladimir Church (09/15/96)

Maday completes iconostasis for Calgary's St. Vladimir Church

CALGARY, Alberta - Icons for a monumental three-tier floor to ceiling iconostasis recently were completed by artist Andrij Maday of Maday Studios in Cleveland.

The iconostasis, commissioned by St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Calgary, comprises 42 hand-written icons and took two and one-half years to complete.

Besides the customary primary lower row, the iconostasis also includes a second row of detailed icons of the major feasts, as well as an expanded Deisis Row (Order of Prayer) on the top.

The inconostasis is 17 feet high, 30 feet wide and 1 foot deep, and weighs 2 tons.

All of the icons were executed in the ancient traditional approach and style. The inscriptions on each icon are in both Ukrainian and English, thus facilitating their access to all segments of the parish community.

The woodwork and carving of the structure itself was done by Gene Stefaniw of Magna Woodcraft Ltd. in Alberta, and the whole project was coordinated by the parish's Iconostasis Committee, chaired by E. Shirley Din.

Mr. Maday, a freelance artist for the last 25 years, is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he was a scholarship recipient and majored in graphics.

Mr. Maday has received numerous awards, among them the Lewis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant for his woodcuts. Over the years he has completed a number of independent icon study tours throughout Italy, Jerusalem/the Holy Land, Ukraine as well as here in the United States.

Today he lives in the Cleveland area, where he continues to work in the art field, specializing in woodcuts, painting and traditional iconography, as well as lecturing extensively.

He may be contacted at: Maday Studios, P.O. Box 33315, Cleveland, OH 44133-3315; telephone, (216) 885-2842.